Greater Balance, Greater Reward

Through a fictional narrative, a musician shares the vision and process by which he achieved lasting life improvements and a joyful, balanced existence.

Musician and debut author Kooz felt he was “constantly living a repeat episode of past failures.” Then he had a “vision in the park” that led him to transform his life, including losing—and successfully keeping off—50 pounds. He then spends the bulk of this book unspooling the “allegory” that he finds helps others to “discover the same magical secret that I experienced over ten years ago.” Ray, dealing with weight, work, and relationship issues, approaches Cal, the elderly customer at a cafe toward whom people seem to gravitate. Cal tells Ray about his own earlier despair and encounter with an enigmatically astute older person that led to him improving his life. Cal then shares with Ray what Kooz calls the “five specific steps anyone can take to dissolve inner resistance to change”—pick an area of life that needs improvement and see it as a current reality; visualize balance in life; become aware of hidden resistance to balance; question assumptions; and take just one step toward balance and see what happens. Ray then goes through the process, grasping that a better diet is needed for balanced health (not just exercise) and realizing how an imbalanced, egotistical sense of power after achieving success can result in setbacks. By tale’s end, a happier, wiser Ray pays it forward as a guru to others. Finally, the author deftly wraps up the book with a recap of his concepts. Kooz, an appealing and relatable Everyman, offers an inspiring personal story as well as a simple, yet illuminating fable that takes readers through the journey of learning to focus on a “timeless vision” instead of “time-based goals.” While some of his steps are similar, the author effectively demonstrates through Ray’s odyssey how each is worth considering (as well as reconsidering) to pinpoint the particular obstacles in improving one’s life and avoiding extremes in the process.

A succinct yet insightful tale of achieving sustainable goals.