New book titled Lessons Learned: How to Negotiate the Life You Want to Live

CALABASAS, Calif. - April 25, 2013 - PRLog -- When I first received Lessons Learned: How to Negotiate the Life You Want to Live by Dr. Harris R. Cohen, I thought to myself, “Good, a book on how to negotiate.”  I thought it would be similar to Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal, which had literary coinages stuck in my memory regarding financial dealings and how to gain the upper hand.  However, after paging the first few chapters I realized this book was not about any negotiation skills regarding bargaining with other people; rather Dr. Cohen dealt with the negotiation within one’s self.  Lessons Learned is a collection of memoirs, chapters of his own life, which in each case bestowed upon the author a lesson of knowledge gained through experience; hence he developed the wisdom he now sought to share.

Although not blatantly a funny book, Dr. Harris R. Cohen writes from an inner voice of humor combined with humble honesty in a non-judgmental way.  He’s not embarrassed to discuss his mistakes, fears and the challenges he needed to overcome to gain his self-actualization which he obviously achieved evident in his literary persona.  From stories including recaps of how he needed to deal with bullies as a child, odd teachers in school, dating and marriage, his professional development as a chiropractor, he then morphs his thoughts into reminiscing events such as skydiving, sports, and one of my favorites, “Where’s the Pony,” dealing with attitude.

One story had a twist about a young man playing football.  He was slightly below average as an athlete so the coach would keep him on the reserve sideline.  One day the young man asked the coach if he could miss practice to take care of a family issue, and the coach agreed, thinking it wouldn’t be important if he played or not.  When the boy returned just prior to a big game, he asked the coach if he could be picked for the kickoff return.  The coach saw “something different” in the young lad so he allowed him the opportunity.  Well, the ball was kicked, the young man received the kickoff and ran over 90 yards to score a touchdown.  To paraphrase the story’s moral, when congratulated by the coach, the boy said, “Do you remember meeting my father during the Parent’s Day?”  The coach said, “Yes, he is blind, I remember you Dad.”  The boy replied, “My father passed away.  That was the reason I needed to skip practice.”  The young man continued and said to his coach, “This was the first time my Dad was able to see me play.”

Lessons Learned: How to Negotiate the Life You Want to Live is an impeccably written fast moving book with terse, to-the-point stories, each of only a few pages in length.  It can be picked up and started again or read in one sitting, making it an ideal book to accompany a reader on a trip.  The stories, albeit dealing with Dr. Harris R. Cohen’s life, are by no means unique to only him.  Often while reading this I thought of my own instances which paralleled the situations described.  By choosing the book’s milestones as examples, I feel the author purposely wanted to make his lessons more a reflection of “What worked for him,” instead of preaching to others what they should or should not do.  Dr. Cohen interleaves questions for the reader to ponder from time to time, as well as quotations from famous people with insightful realizations; lingering readers to pause and reflect.  This book would make a good gift for a young adult, as well as an addition to a family library or even a professional waiting room for others to pick up and enjoy, story by story, until the messages of faith, kindness, relentless perseverance and honesty becomes imprinted as Dr. Cohen’s Lessons Learned.