Damocles on the Couch : How Simple Logic and Humorous Stories Can Lead Us to Healthy Living

Damocles On The Couch, is about getting your life straight,and it is about stories. Throughout history humans have used stories as vehicles to communicate and pass along information. Herb Stricklin, therapist and educator, has found that stories are a tremendous tool for relaying information regarding sound principles to live one's life by. Stories afford the listener an opportunity to take the information that they are hearing and apply it to their lives on a much deeper level than just hearing cold hard facts. Jesus used parables to relay some of his most powerful messages. Ancient Greeks and Romans used plays to both entertain and educate those witnessing the performance. Morality plays, such as The Sword Of Damocles, help us to learn life lessons and understand the human condition. In this story, Damocles finds himself placed in a chair with a sword dangling over his head suspended by a single hair. The angst and fear that he experiences is a universal experience for humans (not necessarily a sword, but we have all had things "hanging over our heads"). Stricklin uses stories such as this to paint a picture for people regarding healthy and unhealthy ways of confronting life's many challenges.