CRI Compassionate
Rational
Inquiry
A method by bestselling author David Zulberg

Stop losing yourself in what happens outside you.

CRI is a practical method for separating what is yours, what is theirs, and what belongs to life — so that what happens around you stops deciding who you are.

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ME YOU LIFE INNER LIFE OUTER LIFE
Bestselling author
The Life-Transforming Diet & The 5 Skinny Habits
Featured in
ABC · CBS · mindbodygreen · Reader's Digest
Background
Columbia University · Harvard Coaching · 10+ years
The moments

Does this sound familiar?

I keep replaying that conversation. I know it's done. I can't stop.
My partner shut down again. I should let it go. I can't.
I made the right call at work. I still feel sick about it.
I know what's logical. My body still reacts as if it isn't.
The relationship ended months ago. I'm still arguing with it in my head.
I've done everything right financially. The fear that it's not enough never leaves.

These moments feel random. They aren't. They follow a structure — and a structure, once you can see it, can be reversed.

The method

There is a map.

Everything in your life belongs in one of three circles — ME, YOU, and LIFE. Suffering begins the moment they blur into each other.

And when they blur, the mind runs a loop. Four moves, always in the same order:

I
→
D
→
B
→
R
The loop runs forward on its own: Identity → Demand → Blame → Reaction. CRI walks it backward — that reversal is the heart of the method, and the book teaches it step by step.

What the method gives you

  • A way to catch the loop while it's happening — not hours later.
  • A clean line between what you can author and what you can only influence.
  • A practice for meeting the identity underneath the reaction.
  • A synthesis of psychology, philosophy, mindfulness, and neuroscience — woven into one practice, not six.
  • Grounded in the thinkers the book draws on: Albert Ellis, Daniel Kahneman, Maimonides, Marcus Aurelius and the Stoics, Ramana Maharshi, Krishnamurti, Alan Watts, David Hawkins, Richard Schwartz (IFS), and Steven Hayes (ACT).

The eight questions that reverse the loop — and the practice that makes them second nature — are in the book.

CRI — Compassionate Rational Inquiry, book cover by David Zulberg
The book

The full method, taught the way it's meant to be learned.

  • A guided two-week program — one short read, one real-life practice at a time. No theory dumps.
  • The CRI 5 — the heart of the method, distilled into five moves you can carry anywhere.
  • Practical application, made simple — built for real moments: the conversation, the decision, the 2 a.m. replay.

By the end, you will know how to pause the loop, locate the demand, separate the circles, and return to your resilient identity.

The book isn't out yet — join the list for early access, the first worksheet, and a short Monday email: one principle, one practice, one question.

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David Zulberg
About David

Behind the method.

David Zulberg is the bestselling author of The Life-Transforming Diet and The 5 Skinny Habits, with work featured by ABC, CBS, mindbodygreen, and Reader's Digest. CRI — Compassionate Rational Inquiry — is the method he developed over more than a decade of study and practice: a single map drawn from psychology, philosophy, mindfulness, and neuroscience.

The Life-Transforming Diet book cover The Life-Transforming DietFeldheim Publishers · BestsellerView on Amazon → The 5 Skinny Habits book cover The 5 Skinny HabitsRodale Books · BestsellerView on Amazon →
Columbia University Harvard Coaching 10+ years of practice
Private coaching

Work through your real loop — with David.

David works with a small number of private clients at a time. Not a theoretical example: your situation, your loop, your life.

Personal
3 months

Weekly 50-minute sessions — virtual or in person — walking through the full CRI practice.

Executive
2 months

Bi-weekly 60-minute sessions for leaders carrying weight that doesn't show.

Apply to work with David A short application · David reviews every one personally · If it's a fit, you'll hear back to schedule a call

The loop is already running. Learn to see it.

Start with the book — early access, the first worksheet, and one short email a week. Or, if you're ready to work through your situation directly, apply for private coaching.

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