Funk to Fabulous in Fourteen Days: A Neuropsychologist’s Tool Belt for Finding Brain Happiness was written to share the tools that I have developed in over 20 years of practice as a neuropsychologist to decrease worrying and increase happiness during a fourteen day program. Funk to Fabulous (F2F) is a summary of actual techniques I teach my patients who are successful in beating a funk and increasing their happiness and fabulousness. Each section of the book not only describes concepts related to mood, but also gives tools the reader can use. As the reader completes a section, she rewards herself one at a time with the fourteen letters in “F-u-n-k-t-o-F-a-b-u-l-o-u-s” so that when she has completed the phrase, she has completed the program. This fourteen day journey will help the reader reduce everyday worries that pull her into a funk, reach a new level of happiness, reduce negativity and increase positivity, see possibilities instead of impossibilities, and know what to change and how to change it. My goal with Funk to Fabulous in Fourteen Days is to deliver smart and helpful material, in a manner that is easily consumable, fun, and not ungodly boring.

In neuropsychology, we evaluate and diagnose brain dysfunction. I am one of the few to apply neuropsychological concepts to therapy with my patients. I also have a unique perspective about how the brain is involved in our moods. Not only do I have knowledge about the brain, but am good at making treatment fun for my patients. My intent was to reflect this approach in F2F. When talking about being happy, I refuse to be stuffy. My vision is to supply psychological strategies in an engaging and easy to read way, which still have a useful message. I have found through my Facebook page that people do not like to read long narratives on one psychological topic, but instead, quick tidbits. Chunks of information are easier to consume when one is in a funk. Additionally, as a neuropsychologist, I am aware that more people are visual than not. Visual presentation helps people remember. So, photos are mixed in generously to aid in giving the brain a “visual” for the tools listed. I also have written a companion workbook, I call a Funbook, to use in conjunction with Funk to Fabulous in Fourteen Days. The Funbook lists “trinkets” from Funk to Fabulous as memory joggers to remain on task with the fourteen day plan and beyond.

Sample chapter headings include Funk Production, Don’t Try, Yes But, Worrying and Control, Don’t Should on Yourself, Tapping into your Fabulous Brain, Worrying is Like Brain Erosion, Fab Good Stuff, How to Worry, Being Happy is Like Resisting Chocolate, and more. In my program, I emphasize that reducing worrying and increasing happiness are actually two different tasks. When one reduces worrying, one does not automatically become happier. Happiness is a separate state of being that takes work. Another premise of my program is that we all worry more as we are trying to maintain control when life feels more chaotic.