We cannot see it, yet it is tangible, even measurable: it is our soul. Through our nervous system, it affects our entire organism. It encompasses our overall perception, influences the activity of our brain and organs, defines our personality, determines our emotional bond with others, whether we are happy or unhappy – and it can even make us gravely ill.

Behavioral psychotherapist Sabine Wery von Limont fascinatingly describes the strategies that the soul has to communicate with us, as well as how we can turn towards it in order to better understand ourselves and others. Many of my patients come to me long after their souls have been wounded. Several endure mental anguish for decades. Only when this becomes visible and perceptible on the stage of the body do they take it seriously.

The path that leads to the causes of mental pain offers us the opportunity to understand how we operate. This book could serve as a kind of personal manual, a user guide for each of us. I wrote it as an introduction for anyone who wants to think, reflect on themselves, accept and appreciate themselves. The effort to put an end to what causes them suffering can begin. Changes will thus become an exciting adventure aimed at a life defined by the individual itself. We only have this one life. If we see it differently, it may be better.