BARRY NEIL KAUFMAN

Exploring, teaching … happiness and well being
for more than 40 years…

MY FOCUS

AUTHOR

OPTION INSTITUTE

AUTISM TREATMENT CENTER OF AMERICA

Family

See Updates About Bears' Cancer Journey

TEACHER … PHILOSOPHER

Core Philosophy

We live in a ‘victim culture’. We’re taught that our environment determines who we are. I act the way I do because of my childhood, my boss, my spouse, the weather. So we try to change our environment,including the people around us. Sometimes we get downright controlling. Or we just feel like passive victims: if only this or that would happen, everything would be just fine.

It doesn’t work that way.

Why? Because the ‘if onlys’ are always beyond our reach. There’s always something else that comes down the road: the loss of a job, conflict with children, catastrophic illness, not to mention the day to day difficulties of life. Here’s the twist. The Option Institute takes the classic stimulus-response model and adds one element: beliefs. What we believe filters every stimulus we encounter. Change your beliefs.

  • Happiness Is A Choice

    Though many of us speak as if our emotions happen to us, we believe that they are responses we choose in an effort to take care of ourselves. Misery, fear, anger, distress, anxiety, and discomfort are optional, not inevitable.

  • You have your own answers

    Oftentimes, we look for our answers from experts – everyone but ourselves.

  • Changing the way you see things changes everything

    Most of us think that events in our lives are inherently good or bad, and we can only hope for more good than bad.

  • We do not teach "the truth"

    We do not teach "the truth." We do not teach "the right way to live."

ENDORSEMENTS … TESTIMONIALS

GET IN TOUCH

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
Name
↓