Add Prime to get Fast, Free delivery
Amazon prime logo
$17.90 with 6 percent savings
List Price: $18.95
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Friday, January 10 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 15 hrs 51 mins
Or fastest delivery Thursday, January 9
In Stock
$$17.90 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$17.90
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Facing the Truth of Your Life Paperback – December 5, 2017

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$17.90","priceAmount":17.90,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"17","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"90","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"F1Uk5z4PsqvBaMoeHerftU1ZhVnmnpctbaFKVAXFXXWh7%2Bu4Q%2FjlAPDUmNOjjNp0iTp6Az%2FJBLkmGZL2EHrGI3VLzRL63gx%2FFlzZZBS51jFMDIDbDlDhOWOjM5VY4aD4iyEIK0z1Ds3xwmR4r96fLA%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

The bad news: Your parents lied to you about who you are and what life is about. The good news: Most parents didn’t do it intentionally. They told you what they learned from their parents. Are you ready to: Look at the world differently? Challenge the beliefs that you were force-fed as a child? Live life on your terms, being free and at peace with yourself? Stop passing fiction to your own children and their children? … then you are ready for Facing the Truth of Your Life. Some self-help books promise simple solutions that sound easy and might even feel good. Yet the fact about your personal truth is that getting down to it, facing it, and getting to the other side of it, involves some pain. There’s no way around it. The way out is through. Facing the Truth of Your Life is a tough, enlightening and demanding book that delivers. If you’re ready to grow fast, then it’s time to read this book.
The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Reviewed by Gisela Dixon for Readers' Favorite
Facing the Truth of Your Life by Merle Yost is an excellent non-fiction self-help book. Facing the Truth of Your Life is like having one's own psychotherapist at hand and, indeed, addresses a lot of the questions that psychotherapy does. The book is divided into several parts, each with its own set of short chapters such as Reframing Your Life, Digging In, Walking Through the Darkness, Childhood Re-imagined, etc. These focus on the Self and how, why, and when we became who we are today; all of the internal and external influences that worked on us and are still working on us, the links to childhood especially in the case of traumatic childhoods, and how to overcome these obstacles that prevent one from feeling happy and exploring one's potential. There are also several lists, questions, and short case histories throughout this book.

Facing the Truth of Your Life is an extremely well written and empathetic book. I constantly felt that it is probably more worthwhile reading and absorbing this book than going to a counselor or therapist. Therapy certainly can be and is a money-making business at the end of the day while, on the other hand, reading a book like this allows one to process one's feelings at one's own pace and essentially be one's own counselor. I especially liked the section on Victim Identity Disorder as well as the section on how to raise happy, healthy, functional children and not continuing the cycle of dysfunction into the next generation. All in all, the useful subject matter and the compassionate style of writing make this a worthwhile read!

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Merle Yost (December 5, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0999154702
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0999154700
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Merle J. Yost
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Merle James Yost, LMFT

April 2019

Having completed a 2.5 year sabbatical with the publication of Facing the Truth of Your Life, I am living just outside of Santa Barbara, CA and launching new projects including workshops and classes. The book is a summary of what I have learned over the past 35 years both as a client and as a psychotherapist.

The current workshop is Unspoken Boundaries. You can learn more about it at unspokenboundaries.com

This is an interview I had on Relatable:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rp5CJVrmk0

I also do Intensives, 10 hours over five consecutive days, where we focus on resolving or at least, impacting a problem in your life.

Merle

Sept 2014

Born in MO, moved to AZ when I was 13, AZ is where I think of home. High School in Tucson, an undergraduate degree in AZ and a Master’s in CA.

(This is a modified excerpt from a biography that I wrote for my 2011 HS Reunion.)

My close friend, Bruce Hyland, and I enjoyed collaborating and we both had a management background. After I finished grad school, we decided to write a book that would tell new managers the basics of how to manage people. We wrote a book proposal and sent it to 40 publishers. We received 39 rejections and one yes, from McGraw Hill. The first book, Reflections for Managers, was very successful and started a whole series of books from McGraw Hill. We wrote the next two, More Reflections for Managers, and Reflections for the Workplace, a few years later.

After completing 3000+ hours of counseling experience and passing written and oral exams, I was licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in 1995. Professionally, I have been a successful full-time psychotherapist for many years. It is a passion and something into which I bring all of myself. In 2007 I had the privilege of spending a month in Germany working with veterans and families of soldiers returning from Afghanistan. I have also worked with veterans in my private practice. It has been an honor to assist these men in their healing.

My fourth book was an anthology I edited. When Love Lasts Forever is about 14 long-term male couples who have been together for 10-45 years. Each couple wrote its own story. Given my own experience in a long-term male couple, I wanted to bring light to this invisible part of the gay community. Pilgrim Press, which is the publishing arm of the United Church of Christ, published the book in 1999. I supported the book with a national book tour. I called it a tour of closing bookstores.

My last book, Demystifying Gynecomastia, was self-published in 2006. When I created a website for my psychotherapy practice around 1995, I included a section on gynecomastia. I had my first breast reduction surgery in 1993. There was very little information available on the web, and I wanted to let others know that they were not alone.

The gynecomastia section of my website was a huge hit and got so much traffic that I created a separate website just for that topic. After my relationship ended, I decided the gynecomastia website should pay for itself, so I monetized the site. It was very profitable, as well as rising to #1 on Google. I sold it October 2010.

I have been in many newspaper and magazine articles and radio interviews on gynecomastia. I have been in two major documentaries, one by Channel 4 in London, and the other by the BBC in Great Britain. In 2006 I was approached by an Australian TV show that was looking to do a show on someone with gynecomastia. I happened to have contracted to do my second breast reduction to correct the problems with the first surgery and the partial return of the gynecomastia.

So, I was briefly a reality TV show person. They interviewed me and followed me around for a few days, then came back for the surgery and then again about two months post surgery. The largest newspaper chain in the Bay Area also covered it. When I went for surgery, I had a film crew, a newspaper reporter, and a photographer all in the operating room with me. YouTube has a video of my segment on the TV show. Much of the gynecomastia press and the video are posted on my website at myost.com. The most amusing press was when I made the cover of a British tabloid.

I often get told that I am really brave to have been so public with my gynecomastia. I can appreciate that perspective, but from mine, I was sexually abused and caught up in the fantasies of a severely mentally ill mother, so the gynecomastia was way down on the list of issues in my life. Compared to others whose gynecomastia is the main issue in their life, it was not even in the top three for me.

Probably the most important thing I should note was my entering psychotherapy as a client. My first therapist in Tucson began the work of digging into the layers of my psyche and beginning the process of healing. It would be a long road of 17 years and three therapists. Each therapist played a key role in pushing through my denial and helping me to see that the craziness of my childhood was not my fault and I could recover.

I bring to my clients, the knowing that it is possible to recover from really horrible things happening in childhood. It is possible to leave the pain and the fear behind and embrace and enjoy life.

I specialize in working with men in general. Specifically, I am known locally for working with men that were sexually abused as children and with bi and gay heterosexually married men. Internationally, I am better known for my expertise on gynecomastia. I give a canned talk called: ‘Shedding Light on the Sexual Abuse of Boys and the Men they Become’ to therapists and the public. Assisting in the healing of these men and supporting them in reclaiming their lives is humbling and awe-inspiring. I have learned we are truly capable of healing from almost anything.

I hope it gives some idea of my journey. I am happy. I can honestly say that each decade has gotten better and I am happier. For play, I spend time with friends and traveling to places I have not been, attend live theatre and explore the San Francisco Bay Area, near and far. I have great friends and a wonderful home on an island in the San Francisco Bay. I can honestly say, I enjoy each day and I look forward to tomorrow.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
16 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2019
    Facing the Truth of your life engages you on your basic feeling of “I” and gives a safe way to experience seeing who is there. No book can tell you what is in your heart however this book gives you tools to help you on your journey.

    It offers a way to stay curious, heal yourself and be responsible for your own actions. The author shows us that pain, far from a threat, is a message showing how to gain faculty and awareness when you accept it. He takes you through the depth of pain to come out on the other side trusting you can survive being authentic and giving us a way to see habitual actions.

    I don't agree with all of his conclusions or think cosmology is needed in the book but different ideas give a chance to explore what you believe. I also like his idea that knowing yourself allows you to know others better and give them more respect and care; increasing intimacy in relationships. This allows for not just honest relationships but healthy caring relationships that can survive emotional upheaval and hard truths that must be accepted and grieved when necessary. This basis of intimacy comes from ownership and responsibility in relationships.

    The author makes a clear message that freedom comes from awareness, action and acceptance of responsibility .Self awareness and acceptance is a constant process. Being open to our ordinary, daily experiences and challenges guide us to to authenticity. This book makes these often avoided, mundane experiences, that many consider not worth our time, both manageable and digestible. Any person looking inward owes it to themselves to take this book's journey.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2018
    Facing the Truth of Your Life ...
    Merle James Yost LMFT
    Posted publicly as Deborah Franklin
    | Clear
    Insert product link
    What's this?

    I've lived a long varied life, working within the healing field and of course on self and feeling pretty settled at this age that I had covered most of the hurts/bumps of life..With "Facing The Truths," I was able to only read the first 9 pages & had to stop, for the intense Knowings I was reading took me by surprise..I then would jump from chapter to chapter, landing where I needed to understand me/situation the most. I had to put the book down for days at a time to mall over what I was rediscovering about self/events/others. Merle writes clearly and directly, with the inner knowing of what this is all about, not just a taught subject, this is real. I gifted this book to a senior neighbor needing help, as we do at certain ages and wow, he repeated to me the same help & thoughtful thinking the reading created within us...For me, this book stays within close range, for I go back to it often to double check or to find a new insight on something that has come up to surface to heal.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2018
    I just completed a first reading of Merle’s book and worked through the exercises. It gave me a much clearly view of who I am and why, insights into my motivations and the needs drive me. It is very valuable and helpful! I will definitely be going back to this book several times for further insights.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2019
    While not all sections of the book resonated with me, but the ones that did -- Wow! Worth the read/listen!
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2019
    I call Facing the Truth of Your Life “the last self help book anyone needs.”
    This book has changed my life, my relationships and my relationship to my past. The brilliant writing and compassionate approach to the topic is a warm welcome to your new life. The exercises at the end of each chapter are where the rubber hits the road; if you can put time in to contemplating and writing the answers to the questions the author asks, you are half way home. But that is just the start of the journey.

    “Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing.”

    Some people will need to read this book with the aid of a therapist because there will be things you will need to talk about with a safe listener and then the skill of a seasoned therapist can help you make sense of what you have unraveled. This book will give you a lot to talk about.
    Other people, especially those of us who have been through a lot of therapy, perhaps have a grounded spiritual practice and a good journal can definitely get a lot out of a solitary journey through this book. Having been through a veritable lifetime of therapy, I can say reading this book is like having a great therapist in your back pocket.
    I highly recommend this book to everyone, and regularly recommend it to my friends.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2019
    Merle’s book will give his readers invaluable wisdom to live by. If you have been trapped in emotional pain and are ready to heal, this book will challenge you to get out of your comfort zones and finally begin the inward journey of healing your childhood traumas. Merle’s openness about his own personal journey of life’s struggles will empower you to look into the mirror and embrace your own imperfections. No matter what age you are, it is never too late to face the truth of your life. Merle will help you begin a new path of healing, forgiving, acceptance, loving yourself and offering compassion to others. For it is Merle’s sincere hope that as each one of us awaken to facing the truths in our lives, we can ultimately make the world a better place.
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2018
    As a practicing psychotherapist and educator for 20 years, I am always looking for a good book to recommend to clients. Merle Yost distills a wide range of complex psychological concepts into an accessible book, teaching the reader how to get over the past, grow up into authentic adulthood, and get on with creating your life. His thoughts are well grounded in the current research of the field of attachment and trauma, and informed by his own experience of practicing what he is preaching. Much like Jungian author, James Hollis, he is embodying the archetypal "good father", urging the reader to be an accountable, compassionate, creative grown-up.