Feeling stressed, depressed, or anxious this political season? If you're stymied, worried, or just plain despairing, Dr. James Gordon's new book, Unstuck (Penguin 2008) has some valuable strategies and insights for anyone who turned on the TV this week and felt like tossing the remote into the garbage.

In his book, Gordon offers a wealth of techniques and wisdom for coping with the many faces of despair, but in this blog, I'll focus on one particular insight he offers, one that seems particularly appropriate for these times-- the role of the daimon vs. the demon.

Have you ever noticed that certain people resonate with personal authenticity? It's because somehow these folks embody what Gordon calls the "daimon" in themselves. This ancient Greek concept of the "daimon," Gordon reminds us is a "life-enhancing, life-enriching force that can guide" each of us. This guide is especially important "in times of trouble and confusion."

Unfortunately, there was an historic decline in the wisdom traditions that showed ways to connect with our daimon to calibrate our destiny. Instead arose a narrower expression of daimonhood--the all too familiar "demon," which Gordon call an "evil spirit manifesting malevolent thoughts and cruel behavior."

Demons can manifest as inner tendencies, such as fear, doubt, self-undoing, low self-esteem, rage, and other disabling emotions. They can also manifest outwardly in the difficult, harsh, or oppressive people you may find yourself dealing with. Moreover, they can appear on a collective level showing their faces in public life.

The question is: how do we call forth our daimons to empower us to deal with our demons?