At some point, many of us feel the desire to change — or even to change everything about our lives. Many of us fantasise about the changes we would make, before giving up our dreams as unreasonable, too risky, or too difficult. And so our daily routines take over and we stick to the same old habits, keep the same friends and carry on doing the same job. And life remains unchanged... What would happen if, instead of stifling our dreams, we took the desire to change seriously? What would happen if we really gave ourselves the means with which to transform our lives and ourselves? Willy Pasini, a psychotherapist, and Donata Francescato, a social psychologist, have brought together their respective skills in order to show us how to succeed in making both our inner and outer “transformations”. Whether we seek to make changes in the personal or the professional spheres, the authors help us understand the main factors that can facilitate or block change: family history, partner’s personality, and how we relate to work and money. They show how — with the help of our own inner courage and a bit of flexibility and daring — each one of us can reconstruct our lives or, at the very least, see it with fresh eyes.

Willy Pasini, a psychotherapist, teaches psychiatry and psychology at the University of Geneva. He is the author of many books including À Quoi Sert le Couple? and Les Casse-Pieds, both published by Editions Odile Jacob.

Donata Francescato is a psychologist and teaches at La Sapienza University, in Rome.