This section is called “Before You Begin Your Journey Through the Five Gates”. Dr. Kesselman suggests that you ask yourself some important questions.
The first question is really hard to answer; are you happy? Before you answer that take a personal inventory of how you live your life and most of all how you feel when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. If you wake up happy and go to bed at night happy, you are happy! You don’t need therapy and I will not accept you as my patient.
Please don’t tell yourself that you’re happy if your lifestyle is overtly self-destructive or you are troubled by your poor performance in the important things that matter to you. You may seem to be in good spirits but dysfunctional or self-destructive. This is a symptom of trying to run away from things, possibly things that are deeply buried, which are troubling to you. If you decide that this is true of you, I can help you.
Do you get very angry often? Do you experience rage? Do you visualize harm to other people? Do you later regret your decisions or how you treated other people? All of these are symptoms that your spirit is not at peace and the five Gates program will likely be able to help you become better centered, more at peace with yourself, and happier.
Do you think that this little self-quiz is awfully short? Read through it a few times and give yourself a chance to become really honest with yourself. I hope you said yes, it is really short. The best communication and the best therapy have something in common; they get right to the real point and you know how to answer the questions they raise.