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Who knows how long I had been standing on the top deck of the Victoria Rose, transfixed by the emerald green hills and rusty cliffs rising from the Yangtze River. Soon the massive Three Gorges Dam would unleash the final flooding and this spectacular scene would be no more. My tears mingled as one with the Yangtze mist.

The night before, I could barely pull myself away from the window where a nonstop parade of lighted ships, makeshift boats, and sparkling new towns—freshly built on the hillsides to accommodate 1.5 million displaced people—had kept me awake for hours. Shortly after sunrise I awoke to a perfect configuration of boats and their occupants all assembled, or so it seemed, to greet me.

Only after I was away from the magic of the river did I fully realize the obvious: I had been forever transformed by a three-day peak experience.

The power of peak moments to bring us into profound contact with ourselves and the larger world has been one of my fascinations, personally and professionally, since the 1970s. The signs of a peak are unmistakable:

total involvement free of self-consciousness
absence of fear, worry, or inner conflict
delight in what is—nothing more is needed
transcendence of usual limitations and barriers
an expanded sense of oneself and life's possibilities
feelings of humility and gratitude

In recent years, with a growing body of research from positive psychology, many therapists are beginning to pay more attention to peak experiences and how they offer us glimpses into our most authentic, healthiest selves, and thus can serve as guides to personal growth. It's terribly easy to get lost in the struggles and challenges of living. How often do we forget that we're so much more than the sum of our problems? For me, this realization is the bedrock of effective psychotherapy, couples therapy, and sex therapy.