I read 102 pages in The Brain Mechanic by Spencer Lord.

What I like about the Spencer Lord's writing style is that it's easy to understand. Feeling Good by David Burns is another book written about Cognative Behavioral Therapy or CBT. Feeling Good is written like the report of a medical study or a doctoral thesis; it is very difficult to read and understand, and thus it is difficult to apply. Spencer Lord's style of writting is conversational, so it is easy to understand and quite applicable. Because of this writting style, Spencer Lord opens up CBT to everyone.

Lord breaks down the process of how emotions are formed in order to understand how to change emotions. A simple summary of the book would be: EV+b=EM. In other words, Event plus belief equals emotions. This shows how you can take unhealthy, or irrational beliefs and change them into rational beliefs in order to obtain healthy emotions.

Recently I was forced to use these concepts. My brain was overloaded by emotions and my amagdalae sent my a signal or fear. It was fight or flight, and because I do not fight, my brain immediately told my body to run away. I ran as if running for my life. It felt like my brain was hijacked. After about five minutes, though, I managed to get my pre-frontal cortex in control and replace the irrational belief of having to run with a rational belief of the need to return home. I was home within fifteen minutes of my departure. These cognative concepts can be lifesaving.