Life Is a 4-Letter Word: Laughing and Learning Through 40 Life Lessons
By David A. Levy and Kristine Carlson
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
Veteran psychologist Dr. David Levy has appeared everywhere from CNN to National Geographic, providing psychological perspectives on current events. In Life Is a 4-Letter Word, Levy approaches readers on a more personal level, sharing stories from his own life that combine a dose of humor with practical life lessons.
The path to living a smarter lifestyle is not always smooth. Levy encourages readers to embrace all the feelings his book may bring out as they read his stories, from laughing to wincing, and learning along the way. Discover the power of positive thinking as Levy shares a lifetime journey of personal reflections, growth, and wisdom.
David A. Levy
Dr. David A. Levy has extensive experience as a professor, therapist, author, actor, researcher, and media consultant. Levy is a Professor of Psychology at Pepperdine University, where he has been teaching graduate psychology courses since 1986. Dr. Levy holds professional licenses both in psychology and in marriage and family therapy and has worked in a wide range of private practice and inpatient settings. Levy’s book, Tools of Critical Thinking, (acclaimed as “the thinking person’s self-help book”), garnered widespread acclaim for its innovative approaches to improving thinking skills. As a media consultant, Levy has appeared on over 70 television and radio broadcasts (including CNN, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, Fox, NatGeo, A&E, and E!), providing psychological perspectives on current events, and examining issues and trends in the mental health fields. He has also worked as a professional director, producer, writer, and actor in motion pictures, television, and stage. He received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Performance in a Network Television Series, and he was a guest star on the television series Cheers, where he portrayed the leader of Frasier's low self-esteem group (a role which he adamantly maintains is not “type-casting”).
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Book preview
Life Is a 4-Letter Word - David A. Levy
Critical Acclaim for Life Is a 4-Letter Word
David Levy has nailed what it means to glean all the greatness out of life’s masterful lessons.
— Kristine Carlson, co-author of the Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff books
Professor David Levy’s book is insightful, profound, funny, and thoroughly original. Meaning in life is everywhere, he reminds us, and whether it changes us profoundly or sails right over our heads, it’s nice to know it’s there.
— Lewis Colick, screenwriter (October Sky, Ghosts of Mississippi, etc.)
David Levy’s warm, funny and wise reflections on his life’s journey offers both comfort and hard-won advice for readers looking to improve their own lives.
— Dennis Palumbo, therapist, screenwriter (My Favorite Year), and author (Daniel Rinaldi Mysteries)
Levy has masterfully gleaned wisdom of the ages and packed them into bite-sized and thoroughly enjoyable morsels of literary delight.
— Tom Greening, Editor Emeritus of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Dr. Levy’s brilliant, touching, and humorous collection of stories showcases his well-honed, multi-faceted skills as a storyteller, educator, and psychologist. Readers will delight at the relatable snapshots of people, relationships, and events and find wonderful treasures of expertly distilled learning points embedded within.
— Judy Ho, board certified clinical and forensic neuropsychologist, associate professor, and author (Stop Self-Sabotage)
Meticulously crafted, these engaging, funny, and often moving vignettes perfectly set up the brief but potent shots of distilled wisdom that follow.
— Drew Erhardt, psychologist, codeveloper of the Moodnotes and MoodKit apps
A tour de force of wisdom nestled in a pithy, enjoyable and profound package.
— Louis Cozolino, author (Why Therapy Works and Timeless)
This is a very special book that I predict will find thousands of eager readers. The stories combine David Levy’s wonderful sense of humor with insights and wisdom about life. It is well written and a kick to read!
— David N. Elkins, psychologist and author (The Human Elements of Psychotherapy)
Life is short. You can either suffer the pitfalls of life’s lessons on your own — or you can learn those lessons by reading Dr. Levy’s sharp-witted and insightful book.
— Marilee Bradford, producing director, The Film Music Society
Chicken soup, with a few dashes of Tabasco, and laced with scintillating humor.
— Eric Shiraev, cultural psychologist, George Mason University
Also by Dr. David A. Levy
Tools of Critical Thinking
Cross-Cultural Psychology
Family Therapy (Russian translation)
Copyright © 2019 by Dr. David A. Levy
Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.
Cover & Layout Design: Elina Diaz
Mango is an active supporter of authors’ rights to free speech and artistic expression in their books. The purpose of copyright is to encourage authors to produce exceptional works that enrich our culture and our open society.
Uploading or distributing photos, scans or any content from this book without prior permission is theft of the author’s intellectual property. Please honor the author’s work as you would your own. Thank you in advance for respecting our author’s rights.
For permission requests, please contact the publisher at:
Mango Publishing Group
2850 S Douglas Road, 2nd Floor
Coral Gables, FL 33134 USA
For special orders, quantity sales, course adoptions and corporate sales, please email the publisher at [email protected]. For trade and wholesale sales, please contact Ingram Publisher Services at [email protected] or +1.800.509.4887.
Life Is a 4-Letter Word: Laughing and Learning Through 40 Life Lessons
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2019948609
ISBN: (print) 978-1-64250-154-4 , (ebook) 978-1-64250-155-1
BISAC category code SELF-HELP / Personal Growth / Happiness
Printed in the United States of America
To my mom and dad, who are in every one of these essays — even the ones they aren’t.
To my kids — Jacob and Briana.
To Mary Jane — at long last, true love.
And to the memory of Zorro Levy.
Table of Contents
Foreword: Life — Don’t Sweat It
Prologue: The Shot
Introduction
The Challenge
The Nature of Attachment
The Empty Threat
Bridging the Racial Divide
…And Nothing but the Truth
Worse and Worser
The Zen Stripper
Testing the Limits
A Short Story
The Ticking Clock
The Stoned Wall
The Marvels of Cynicism
Kiss Quest
Passing the Ultimate Buck
The Impostor Syndrome
15-Zip
Hedonic Greed
The Shell Game
Empathic Failure
Tincture of Time
It’s Just a Four-Letter Word
Uncool Effort
The Booby Prize
Obviously
Inverted Self-Esteem
When Intuition Goes Awry
The Prozac Dilemma
Pseudo-Worries
He Just Doesn’t Understand
Lying or Crazy?
We Hold These Truths…
Biofeedback
Journey B. Goode
To Love, Honor, and Betray
Zorro Goes Home
Perfectly Flawed
The Third Act
Final Request
Epilogue: The Shot — Redux
Appendix: The Lessons
P.S.
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Foreword
Life — Don’t Sweat It
David Levy has nailed what it means to glean all the greatness out of life’s masterful lessons in his new book, Life Is a 4-Letter Word. Laugh along with him, as I did, while drinking in these warm-hearted anecdotal stories that will help you keep life in perspective.
Kristine Carlson, co-author of the
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff books
Prologue
The Shot
I can still remember the antiseptic smell of the doctor’s office and the feel of the cold metal examination table underneath my naked six-year-old legs. My white jockey shorts provided the only shroud of protection and dignity I had left, barely buffering me from utter humiliation. My mom sat close by, patient but helpless.
Of course, every kid hates shots. But I especially hated shots. The mere thought of that cold, shiny, spiky tool of torture nearly paralyzed me with terror. But I was also a very verbal kid. And when I was anxious, I’d talk. A lot. It was my best defense — in fact, frequently my only defense.
The nurse’s name was Gabe. I know that because I can vividly picture that ominous name embroidered in dark red stitching on her crisp white uniform. Outside of the office, Gabe was probably a decent enough woman. But when armed with that wicked weapon, Nurse Gabe was nothing more to me than a heartless bureaucrat, whose only function was to inflict her merciless will on me before moving on to the next hapless child.
The door flung open with a thud, followed by Nurse Gabe, holding The Shot with the nonchalance of a mailman merely delivering the next package. Instantly, I felt that familiar raw panic coldly surging through my tiny veins. She made her approach, ready to stab me with her bayonet. I counter-attacked with a barrage of questions: No, wait! What kind of shot is it? Wait! Is it a booster shot? Wait, wait! Is it a tetanus shot?
Nurse Gabe turned to me and said simply but firmly: "David, you can ask me all the questions you want. But you’re going to get the shot."
She had me. Checkmate. I realized there was nothing more I could do or say. I had run out of escape routes. I reluctantly offered her my arm, wrenched my head away, scrunched my eyes, held my breath, and prayed it would be over quickly…which, to my surprise, it actually was.
Don’t get me wrong, it was really bad. But not nearly as bad as the gut-wrenching agony of all that waiting. When there’s no getting around something, it’s best just to go through it. And when it’s inevitable, the sooner the better.
Introduction
Although my experience with The Shot happened nearly sixty years ago, it still lives inside me. And the lesson I took from it has carried me through decades of life’s challenges: Why put off the inevitable? In a very profound sense, Nike had it right: Just Do It.
The power of this lesson inspired me to start collecting other stories from my life that captured some important moral. Whenever I’d recall one, I’d grab whatever was handy — a Post-It note, a scrap of paper, a napkin — and scribble down a few key words as a reminder:
•what do women want?
•beat by a computer at tic-tac-toe
•press button for better sound
•you are NOT going to