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Praise for Zen Bender
“I laughed and related to every page of this crazy mission to fix everything…that didn’t need fixing. A wise, witty, and thought-provoking book that ends in just the place you’d hope it would. A great read whether you have a Reiki healer on speed dial, or, well, not.”
—Marianne Power, author of Help Me! One Woman’s Quest to Find Out if Self-Help Really Can Change Your Life
“Inspiring and hilarious, Zen Bender perfectly captures our misguided quest for perfection, as well as Stephanie’s amazing spirit. I face the same daily struggles, so her writing really hit home with me, as I’m sure it will with everyone who has tried (and laughed about) all the fixes out there.”
—Patricia Velasquez, actress on Arrested Development and The Mummy, author of Straight Walk, supermodel, and UNESCO Artist for Peace
Copyright © 2019 Stephanie Krikorian
Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.
Cover, Layout & Design: Morgane Leoni
Author Photo Credit: Erin Turner Photography
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Zen Bender: A Decade-Long Enthusiastic Quest to Fix Everything (That Was Never Broken)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2019941762
ISBN: (print) 978-1-64250-029-5, (ebook) 978-1-64250-030-1
BISAC OCC010000, BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Mindfulness & Meditation
Printed in the United States of America
This story is factually accurate to the best of my recollection. Still, at times, I’ve changed a name, or a situation, or been intentionally vague, so no story or conversation should be taken as exactly correct or that there is an exact person with the name given.
I’m also a truth seeker who goes out of my way to give credit where credit is due. My biggest panic when writing this book was that I inadvertently repeated an idea that I read somewhere else. Most of this book is what I have gleaned from my own experience. As you’ll see from the pages you’re about to dive into, I read and read and read and read a lot of articles on self-help and books on self-help. I’ve tried to give credit where due for thoughts that inspired me, but no one but me is responsible for the content of this book.
Stephanie Krikorian
To Julia and Donald Krikorian for: Every. Single. Thing. This great life of mine and all of its joy is 100 percent thanks to you both.
To my mom’s late brother, Billy Harvey, for the most important introduction of my life. Without you, I might never have met and fallen for the bright lights of the Big Apple.
Table of Contents
My Gateway Drug: The Vision Board
You Can Eat Your Dinner or Drink Your Dinner, But You Can’t Do Both
Chapter 5
Numerologists, Clairvoyants, and Healers, Oh My!
Chapter 6
The Melrose Place of It All
Chapter 7
The Life-Changing Magic of Tapping into an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder You Didn’t Know You Had
Chapter 8
Never Judge a Clairvoyant by the Lampshade on Her Head
Chapter 9
No Diet Left Behind
Part 3: Healing
Chapter 10
When A-Types Spa
Chapter 11
Any Direct Flight
Chapter 12
The Beginning of Everything
Chapter 13
When Your Healer Jumps the Shark
Acknowledgments
About the Author
A New York magazine cover story in the summer of 2018, simply entitled 2008, examined what’s happened in the United States since the financial crisis, including a glossary of terms that have emerged as a result of the Great Recession. Along with One Percent, the Sharing and Gig Economies, Millennials, Occupy, and Survivalism, the term Wellness went mainstream.
The World Health Organization defines wellness as “a state of complete