The Holy Sh*t Moment: How lasting change can happen in an instant

The Holy Sh*t Moment: How lasting change can happen in an instant
James Fell

From internationally syndicated fitness columnist and author, James Fell, comes a no-nonsense guide on how to get in shape, fix your finances, alleviate depression and change your life for good.We’ve all been there. Wanting to change your life forever, but only doing it in fits and starts. Feeling inspired to be disciplined one day, then falling back into old habits on the next. Or changing for a few weeks or even months, but then slipping back into familiar behaviours. Bad habits are hard to break for a reason. But you still try because the goal is worth it: slowly and painfully forming new habits to the point where you are able to adhere to a new lifestyle, long-term.Not only do we struggle with all of it but the failure rates of these models are staggering.What if there was a different way? What if sudden moment, which happens to be a surprisingly common occurrence among those who succeed would allow you to skip the struggle of behaviour change and just become a different person in a moment? What if all the motivation they would ever need to change could arrive unbidden because of a life-altering flash of insight? It is the power of epiphany – a triggering event when drive and clarity of purpose for changing one’s life is instantly attained. James Fell’s THE HOLY SHIT MOMENT is about that who have sustained change. The stories outlined in this book examine an abrupt awakening, where a person’s purpose switches course in the space of a few seconds; their life is partitioned into the time before that moment occurred, and what comes after. In an instant, the gradual steps of behavior change are bypassed and life transformation takes hold for good. But is an epiphany something that can be generated?Yes. THE HOLY SHIT MOMENT is a self-help book written in a brash, audacious and informal, your-good-friend-giving-you-the-scoop style, but with the knowledge, research, wisdom and personal anecdotes to back up James’ words in the vein of Jen Sincero’s You Are a Badass.

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_b5e94724-eca8-5fd8-9d91-46386e87e469)

Thorsons

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First published in the US by by St. Martin’s Press 2019

This UK edition published by Thorsons 2019

© James Fell 2019

Cover layout design by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

James Fell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780008288686

Ebook Edition © November 2018 ISBN: 9780008288693

Version 2018-12-07

DEDICATION (#ulink_7b11c628-26b8-5d79-9664-71e7e0785e76)

Hi, Mom

CONTENTS

Cover (#u792bf4e7-a04f-5756-b055-c2fda7374b0e)

Title Page (#ufee62e3e-0931-5f8c-8e67-2a0807899513)

Copyright (#ulink_c75161f5-0186-5095-95e3-e6d831c57f63)

Dedication (#ulink_3c30004b-c797-5adf-b1e2-fae35c3ec0a7)

Preface (#ulink_283360af-3603-51db-b81f-476924e931ca)

Introduction: The Librarian Who Put Down the Cigarettes and Picked Up a Sword (#ulink_ff61b994-97b5-5c45-bd61-ac9cee22ffe6)

PART ONE: EPIPHANY AND COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR CHANGE (#ulink_ed8b1730-f071-5ec4-a6d0-917bb7ba7207)

1 The Antidote to Despair: The Euphoria of the Life-Changing Moment (#ulink_432c42ac-62e6-5b08-b240-728394934c71)

2 Embracing Chaos: Quantum vs. Linear Behavior Change in the Role of Epiphany (#ulink_92135222-507b-5553-8518-1eb98fb99034)

3 You, Part 2: Finding Purpose via Epiphany (#litres_trial_promo)

PART TWO: EPIPHANY AND THE EMOTIONAL SELF (#litres_trial_promo)

4 What’s Going On in There?: The Brain Science of the Holy Shit Moment (#litres_trial_promo)

5 The Rock-Bottom Hypothesis: The Power of Epiphany to Battle Addiction (#litres_trial_promo)

6 The Hand of God: Exploring Religious Epiphany (#litres_trial_promo)

7 The Power of Love: How Passion for Life and Love Inspires Sudden Change (#litres_trial_promo)

PART THREE: HACKING EPIPHANY (#litres_trial_promo)

8 Dreamers Aren’t Doers: Making Positive Fantasies Work for You Instead of Against You (#litres_trial_promo)

9 Nudging Toward the Leap: Battling the Status Quo and Preparing Your Mind for Epiphany (#litres_trial_promo)

10 Shamans, Drugs, and Rock and Roll: External Assistance in the Reevaluation of Reality (#litres_trial_promo)

Conclusion: The Love We Found (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)

Notes (#litres_trial_promo)

Resources (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

PREFACE (#ulink_eda7535b-2ab5-5169-93a2-891798ebdcf5)

Psychology is not an exact science.

It is a field that Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory would deride for its lack of mathematical verifiability, and he’d be right. After all, when Sigmund Freud was pulling stuff out of a lower orifice to describe the “anal stage” of psychosexual development, Albert Einstein was creating theories of the universe that remain valid to this day.

Humanity’s understanding of physics allows humans to build rockets that only sometimes explode. Our understanding of psychology allows us to … uh … wait.