The Unwanted Friend

"“The Unwanted Friend is a delightful story based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, that illustrates how powerful your mind can be. It provides a range of helpful skills for dealing with your thoughts, doing the things you care about, and befriending your mind.” -- Tamar D. Black, PhD, Educational and Developmental Psychologist and author, ACT for Treating Children. “Dr Carrie Hayward has done such a good job of writing these stories to help make important, complex ideas understandable and relatable” -- Lucy Durack, Actor, Writer and Co-founder of Hey Lemonade. 'This charming and wise story teaches a counter-intuitive life lesson: If you are not willing to have the emotions you have, that is what you'll get. Highly recommended.” -- Steven C. Hayes, Ph.D. Originator of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy “Dr. Hayward captures beautifully the struggle that is all too familiar to many of us - the desire to be happy and comfortable at the cost of our contentment and connection on a moment-by-moment basis. Through the protagonist Winnie, you will learn to find your internal sunshine once more.” -- Aisling Leonard-Curtin, Chartered Psychologist with the Psychological Society of Ireland. Peer-reviewed ACT Trainer. Co-author of The Power of Small. ""The latest in Dr. Carrie Hayward's Being Human series, The Man and the Flower in his Pocket, is a tender and touching tale about the power of emotional acceptance and the costs we pay when we're not able to make space for difficult emotions. We see in Wilbur the paradox of experiential avoidance-- when our lives become oriented around controlling or avoiding painful thoughts or feelings, we are no longer focused on what we would truly want to make important in our lives, what really matters to us. This is such an essential lesson in leading a well-lived life. At the end of the book, Dr. Hayward also gives the reader concrete tools for developing emotional acceptance making this book both a pleasure to read and a practical resource."" -- Tamar D. Black, PhD, Educational and Developmental Psychologist and author, ACT for Treating Children. “Carrie has an incredible ability to clearly identify and articulate the complexity, the struggle and the beauty of the human experience. As a result, reading these books/this book can help us feel less alone in our sometimes challenging journey of life. She harnesses the power of story, and adds evidence-based theory and accessible strategies. In doing so, she offers us both a companion for life and a practical resource to support us to live with more purpose, passion and connection. I cannot wait to recommend these beautiful books/this beautiful book to all of my clients as well as savor my very own copies” -- Liv Downing - Psychologist, Meditation & Mindfulness teacher, Author. “We can all relate to Winnie… the power of connecting to story telling has a profound impact on our acceptance of the experience we are living. Asking the question “Who is the person I want to be right now” should be noted everyday, and then connecting the answers to your emotional experience so that you can choose your process as best you can. Thanks Carrie for sharing what can be a complex ideology into a simpler practice of acceptance.” -- Lance Picioane, Founder and CEO of Love Me Love You"