HOW DO PEOPLE MAKE RADICAL PERSONAL OR LIFE STYLE CHANGES?
I have been fascinated by people who have made radical changes in their lives. When I meet such people, I find out all I can about what caused them to make these dramatic changes. I have interviewed dozens of these people and have been amazed at the similarity of their reports. Almost all of my interviewees can point to a brief time period–often the exact day or hour–when they believe they made some new commitment to change. Another similarity was that they made this new commitment the most important value in their lives. It became like Tillich’s ultimate concern. One woman, Ann, had weighed more than 300 pounds for years. She had tried everything–including surgical removal of fatty tissue. Ann had lost large amounts of weight on numerous occasions. However, she had always regained her weight. The way she described her previous state of mind is that she always knew in the back of her mind that enjoying food was more important than being healthy and trim. Inside, Ann knew she wouldn’
