Lessons for Living

What Only Adversity Can Teach You

By: Phil Stutz

Narrated by: JC Mackenzie

Profound essays that cut through the messiness of life to help you get the good from the bad—by famed therapist Phil Stutz, the New York Times bestselling co-author of The Tools and subject of the Netflix documentary Stutz

“Is there another way? Can you live life with its conflicts, uncertainties, and disappointments and somehow feel good about yourself? You can. But it requires a completely new orientation.”

There are issues, and there are issues—love, loss, success, failure, hope, regret, life, death. How can we even begin to think clearly about dilemmas so universally confounding? Phil Stutz has spent his life pondering the big challenges that we all face, and this profound book puts the conclusions he’s reached at your fingertips.

Stutz has been writing these remarkably insightful short essays since the late 1990s, which are collected here for the first time, along with new insights specific to the unique challenges of today. Each one will change the way you think, but taken all together, this book becomes something far more than the sum of its parts: a compendium of human experience and knowledge that will reframe your worldview. There are hard truths here—the acknowledgment that life is full of pain and not a single one of us is special enough to escape it—but we need to understand and accept them in order to realize our full potential.

While The Tools explains the general concepts and five specific practices that Stutz employs in treatment, Lessons for Living addresses real-world circumstances, such as the needs of children, rising above envy, defeating your bad habits, the positive side of anger, and facing insecurities, offering a new way to think about life itself.

Critic reviews

Praise for Lessons for Living

“Stutz lays a clear path to self-acceptance and self-love. . . . makes for compelling reading.”—Booklist



Praise for Phil Stutz

“His psychology has an otherworldly dimension. . . . His existentialist teaching is as much a spiritual education as it is a therapeutic endeavor.”—Los Angeles Times

“Throughout his career, Stutz has earned a reputation as a go-to Hollywood therapist who’s helped everyone from Gwyneth Paltrow to Adam McKay unblock their creative channels. It is not difficult to understand why these people turn to Stutz, who rejects the approach of conventional therapy. Rather than remain neutral, he has concrete tools that provide some relief in the first session.”—The New Yorker

Light bulbs going off

So many relatable and understandable lessons, in ‘regular people’ terms that were easy to practice! Thanks Phil.

Super useful insights!

I really liked the way Phil sets up the helpful insights with real examples. So much in this short book that is helpful for moving you from stuck to unstuck.

Solid material.

One of the best tools I've found on this app. I encourage everyone to read it. Sending it as a gift to people.

The best wisdom for living in todays world

Wonderful concrete tools for not just surviving but thriving in todays broken, disorienting and unbalanced world.

Real life talk, actionable advice and life impacting read

Real life talk, actionable advice and life impacting read. Listen and learn-your future life will thank you.