Learning from the Heart: Lessons on
Living, Loving, and Listening by
Daniel Gottlieb
A Moving Read, Highly Recommended
In the nearly 30 years since the accident that made radio personality and
columnist Dan Gottlieb a quadriplegic, he developed a finely-tuned quality
of awareness that most people never achieve: he became an outsider
among us—”like a foreign correspondent,” as he puts it. From that vantage
point, he has acutely observed the way people act, think, feel, and live—in
short, he studied and learned exactly what it means to be human. Here,
Dan shares his insights, written with humor, honesty, a gift for storytelling,
and breathtaking compassion.
Learning from the Heart looks at what divides as well as unites us,
including the problems of family life; difficulties confronting today’s parents;
challenges faced by the disabled and the aging; and issues of injustice that
affect the way we understand the world and our lives.

Although Dan is now speaking directly to the reader, rather than to his own
family, you’ll recognize the distinctive voice and format that caused an
outpouring of e-mail from fans of Letters to Sam: short anecdotal chapters
rich in wisdom, generously revealing and deeply personal, and resonating
with universal truths.
Personal Review: Learning from the Heart: Lessons on Living,
Loving, and Listening by Daniel Gottlieb
Daniel Gottlieb's LETTERS TO SAM was one of the best
books that I've read over the past few years . . . so when I
saw that the author came out with something new, LEARNING
FROM THE HEART, I rushed to get hold of it.
And was I ever glad that I did . . . I was hooked after
just seeing the cover and the subtitle: LESSONS ON
LIVING, LOVING AND LISTENING . . . Gottlieb, a practicing
psychologist, presents this information via short
essays on a wide variety of topics . . . best of all,
he brings in his own personal experiences and openly
shares them.
I especially liked his view about not always having to be
best in everything:
* I've ended up feeling a great deal of gratitude for my failures. Of
course, there are people who don't believe me when I tell them
I belong in the last seat in the second row. They challenge my position
by reminding me of books I have written and the many wonderful
accomplishments I've been fortunate to achieve. Over the years I have
learned that there are some aspects of my humanity--perhaps my
kindness and my ability to understand others--that probably belong
in the first row. But there are many other aspects of Gottlieb that belong
in the last row--technical skills, attention span, and
memory (to name a few).
Gottlieb also got me thinking about how good life can be--and is--when
he related this account of a friend's visit:
* I do believe in coincidence, and I was involved in a quite a fortunate one
when my friend Amy came over to visit just two days before that phone
call.
At one point, she asked if I believed in heaven. Without giving it any
thought,
I said, "Yes. You're in it right now."
I saw the dazed look on her face that I often see when I make
proclamations,
so I went on: "What were the chances of that sperm fertilizing that egg and

producing your life? And what were the chances that you would have lived
all
the years you have lived in relative good health? And what were the odds
that
you would have so many people in your life whom you love and who care
about you? And what were the possibilities that you could look out of
almost
any window and see the beauty of nature? Heaven? You bet."
Of course, my version of heaven is not the perfect one we read about in
mythology or that many believe in. There is great pain and suffering and
loss
in this particular heaven. But deep inside, most know it-heaven, life-is
precious. It just takes some careful noticing.
Lastly, the author had me laughing when I read passages such as this
one:
* Even trauma like my accident carries good news and bad news. I suffer,
still get frustrated and sometimes depressed, and yet there is good news
about being a quadriplegic.
The good news about being quadriplegic?
Well, first, there is the obvious--great parking spaces.
Then, think shoes. I don't have to spend a fortune on comfortable shoes,
and they last as long as I want them to.
But the great news about quadriplegic is that I don't have to get up to pee
in
the middle of the night. So, in the middle of the night tonight, when you are
sitting or standing. I'll be sleeping. (And they say I have special needs!)
On a serious note, this disability has helped me become the man I am. The
image I have carried for nearly thirty years is that when my neck broke, my
soul began to breathe. Because of my differentness, I have not been
intimidated by my need to be like everyone else. I might not have become
the man I am today were it not for this trauma.
After reading LEARNING FROM THE HEART, you'll feel like you know
Daniel Gottlieb much better . . . in fact, in reading it, I thought I was
having a one-on-conversation with him that made me realize that
if I was ever in need of a therapist, I'd certainly want to seek him out.
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