Thank You for Being Such a Pain: Spiritual Guidance for Dealing with Difficult People

Thank You for Being Such a Pain is a pioneering spiritual self-help book for dealing with difficult co-workers, neighbors, and family members. Its insights, anecdotes, and guidelines will help you to overcome the distractions and energy drain, the minor annoyances and major distress that difficult people can cause. Based on the author's popular workshops, the book includes many instructive, practical, and spiritual exercises for doing inner work, enabling you to transform your difficult encounters and relationships into surprising and powerful sources of spiritual growth.

Mark Rosen shows readers how to go beyond just trying to cope with difficult people. His evocative and penetrating perspectives lead you to the deeper meanings that underlie your encounters, based on four basic premises: (1) life's seemingly random encounters are not so random; (2) pain and suffering are just as important for personal growth as love and joy; (3) learning how to transform enmity is one of life's most important lessons; and (4) healing relationship problems requires one to pay attention to the ongoing spiritual lessons that life presents.

From explaining why people are difficult and how your own personality causes you to view others that way, Rosen gently leads you to a deeper understanding of the spiritual forces at work in your life. Each chapter contains a section called "Explorations," composed of engaging exercises to strengthen inner knowing and change the nature of the troublesome relationship. For example, Rosen shows how bestowing a silent blessing on the difficult person can benefit you both, and he gives
illustrative scenarios with nasty co-workers and intrusive in-laws that show the principles of the book in action. Drawing on spiritual practices, psychological principles, and entertaining stories for this innovative practical approach and its enlightening exercises, Thank You for Being Such a Pain will change forever the way you see the difficult people in your life.