Why We Sleep is a groundbreaking exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker charts the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs and, with his decades of research and clinical practice, provides actionable steps towards getting a better night's sleep.

Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood, and energy levels; regulate hormones; prevent cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes; slow the effects of aging; and increase longevity. He also delves into the importance of dreaming, how caffeine and alcohol affect sleep, and why our sleep patterns change across a lifetime.

The book is a revolutionary exploration of the vital importance of sleep, transforming our appreciation of the extraordinary phenomenon that safeguards our existence.

Are you an Upholder, a Questioner, an Obliger, or a Rebel? From the author of Better Than Before and The Happiness Project comes a groundbreaking analysis of personality type that will immediately improve every area of your life.

Gretchen Rubin realized that by asking the seemingly dry question "How do I respond to expectations?" we gain explosive self-knowledge. She discovered that based on their answer, people fit into Four Tendencies:

• Upholders meet outer and inner expectations readily.
• Questioners meet inner expectations, but meet outer expectations only if they make sense.
• Obligers (the largest Tendency) meet outer expectations, but struggle to meet inner expectations.
• Rebels resist all expectations, outer and inner alike.

Our Tendency shapes every aspect of our behavior, so using this framework allows us to make better decisions, meet deadlines, suffer less stress, and engage more effectively. It's far easier to succeed when you know what works for you. With sharp insight, compelling research, and hilarious examples, The Four Tendencies will help you get happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative.

The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, enduring the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society.

In this groundbreaking work, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of body-centered psychology. He argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans—our police.

My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.

This book paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy—how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system. It offers a step-by-step solution—a healing process—in addition to incisive social commentary.

Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, is a therapist with decades of experience currently in private practice in Minneapolis, MN, specializing in trauma, body-centered psychotherapy, and violence prevention. He has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil as an expert on conflict and violence. Menakem has studied with bestselling authors Dr. David Schnarch (Passionate Marriage) and Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score). He also trained at Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute.

Too many Americans are taking too many drugs—and it's costing us our health, happiness, and lives.

Prescription drug use in America has increased tenfold in the past 50 years, and over-the-counter drug use has risen just as dramatically. In addition to the dozens of medications we take to treat serious illnesses, we take drugs to help us sleep, to keep us awake, to keep our noses from running, our backs from aching, and our minds from racing. Name a symptom, there's a pill to suppress it.

Modern drugs can be miraculously life-saving, and many illnesses demand their use. But what happens when our reliance on powerful pharmaceuticals blinds us to their risks? Painful side effects and dependency are common, and adverse drug reactions are America's fourth leading cause of death.

In Mind Over Meds, bestselling author Dr. Andrew Weil alerts readers to the problem of overmedication, and outlines when medicine is necessary, and when it is not. Dr. Weil examines how we came to be so drastically overmedicated, presents science that proves drugs aren't always the best option, and provides reliable integrative medicine approaches to treating common ailments like high blood pressure, allergies, depression, and even the common cold. With case histories, healthy alternative treatments, and input from other leading physicians, Mind Over Meds is the go-to resource for anyone who is sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Anne Lamott explores the concept of mercy in her enthralling and heartening book, Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy. She delves into the idea that mercy is radical kindness. It's the permission you give others—and yourself—to forgive a debt, to absolve the unabsolvable, to let go of the judgment and pain that make life so difficult.

In this profound and caring book, Lamott ventures to explore where to find meaning in life. She suggests we begin by facing a great big mess, especially the great big mess of ourselves. It's up to each of us to recognize the presence and importance of mercy everywhere—within us and outside us, all around us—and to use it to forge a deeper understanding of ourselves and more honest connections with each other.

While that can be difficult to do, Lamott argues that it's crucial, as kindness towards others, beginning with myself, buys us a shot at a warm and generous heart, the greatest prize of all. Full of Lamott’s trademark honesty, humor, and forthrightness, Hallelujah Anyway is a hopeful book of hands-on spirituality.

A powerful and inspiring examination of the connection between the potential for great talent and conditions commonly thought to be “disabilities,” revealing how the source of our struggles can be the origin of our greatest strengths.

In The Power of Different, psychiatrist and bestselling author Gail Saltz examines the latest scientific discoveries, profiles famous geniuses who have been diagnosed with all manner of brain “problems”—including learning disabilities, ADD, anxiety, Depression, Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and Autism—and tells the stories of lay individuals to demonstrate how specific deficits in certain areas of the brain are directly associated with the potential for great talent.

Saltz shows how the very conditions that cause people to experience difficulty at school, in social situations, at home, or at work, are inextricably bound to creative, disciplinary, artistic, empathetic, and cognitive abilities.

In this pioneering work, readers will find engaging scientific research and stories from historical geniuses and everyday individuals who have not only made the most of their conditions, but who have flourished because of them. They are leaning into their brain differences to:

• Identify areas of interest and expertise
• Develop work arounds
• Create the environments that best foster their talents
• Forge rewarding interpersonal relationships

Enlightening and inspiring, The Power of Different proves that the unique wiring of every brain can be a source of strength and productivity, and contributes to the richness of our world.

ParentSpeak is a provocative guide to the hidden dangers of “parentspeak”—those seemingly innocent phrases parents use when speaking to their young children.

Imagine if every time you praise your child with “Good job!” you’re actually doing harm? Or that urging a child to say “Can you say thank you?” is exactly the wrong way to go about teaching manners?

Jennifer Lehr is a smart, funny, and fearless writer who takes everything you thought you knew about parenting and turns it on its ear.

Backing up her lively writing and arguments with research from psychologists, educators, and organizations like Alfie Kohn, Thomas Gordon, and R.I.E. (Resources for Infant Educarers), Ms. Lehr offers a conscious approach to parenting based on respect and love for the child as an individual.

Learn how extraordinary companies do what they do so well, and obtain the tools and ideas you need to emulate them. Full of case studies and personal reflections by leaders of exceptional companies, Becoming a Category of One is designed to help anyone transform their run-of-the-mill business into an extraordinary company–whether you operate a multinational corporation or a mom-and-pop shop.

Joe Calloway doesn't offer any mumbo-jumbo or flavor-of-the-day buzzwords, just simple lessons that lead to real, proven results.

I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual is a hilarious and insightful collection of essays by Luvvie Ajayi, a comedian, activist, and popular culture blogger at AwesomelyLuvvie.com. This book dissects our cultural obsessions and calls out bad behavior in our increasingly digital, connected lives.

With over 500,000 readers a month at her enormously popular blog, Ajayi is a go-to source for smart takes on pop culture. In her debut book, she serves up necessary advice for the masses, passing on lessons and side-eyes on life, social media, culture, and fame. From addressing those terrible friends we all have to serious discussions of race and media representation, this book is a manual for anyone looking to bring some "act right" into their lives.

With a lighthearted, razor-sharp wit and a unique perspective, I'm Judging You offers a road map for navigating the complexities of modern life, social media, and popular culture.

Unlocking Happiness at Work takes you on a journey into why and how leaders should become compassionate capitalists and ensure that their teams thrive. The book debunks the myth that happiness at work is a waste of time and demonstrates how it can deliver a more productive and engaged workforce, which can have real impact on the bottom line.

Based on two decades of scientific research, real-time data, interviews, and case studies, Jennifer Moss proves that happiness fuels higher performance, provides a greater sense of purpose, and spreads passion throughout organizations. With insightful practical guidance throughout, Unlocking Happiness at Work is a lively and persuasive exploration of how to be happier and make others happier through the power of habits, emotional intelligence, and an innovative approach to work/life flow.

Case studies from lululemon, Zappos, Misfit Inc, The Body Shop, and more are supported by tangible data and key performance indicators that show the significant benefits that come from adopting a happiness strategy. This book is an essential resource for leaders who want to increase sustainability, attract new talent, improve their brand, and boost profitability in a way that is life-enhancing for them and their people.

Are you having trouble deciding whether or not to become a parent? Are you under pressure from family and friends? Unsettled by feelings of guilt or ambivalence? Unsure whether you will regret your decision in later years?

The Baby Decision offers a clear path to finding the answers to all of these questions.

Now you can get off the fence and get on with your life. Imagine your relief when you discover the right choice and break free from obsession. Picture yourself enjoying the pleasures of parenthood or the freedom and spontaneity of living childfree.

The Baby Decision is a powerful, unbiased guidebook by a professional coach/psychotherapist who has specialized in the topic for forty years.

With wisdom, depth, and humor, Merle will help you take this overwhelming decision and break it down into a digestible sequence of five steps.

During this discovery process you will:
- Dissolve fear and doubt.
- Use thirty visualization exercises and thought experiments to uncover your answer.
- Have deep talks with your partner, even if you disagree.
- Resist pressures from family and friends, and fully consider the rewards of the childfree choice.
- Learn the latest on one-child families, single, LGBTQI+ and older parents, fertility and adoption.
- Steal a few benefits from the opposite choice.

Merle Bombardieri, MSW, LICSW is a psychotherapist, coach, and workshop leader. Although she enjoyed raising her daughters, she has been a childfree advocate since 1978.

Discover your personal answer to the baby question.

Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with the latest discoveries on the human microbiome, The Mind-Gut Connection offers a practical guide that conclusively demonstrates the inextricable, biological link between mind and body. Dr. Emeran Mayer, professor of medicine and executive director of the UCLA Center for Neurobiology of Stress, provides a revolutionary and provocative look at this developing science, teaching us how to harness the power of the mind-gut connection to take charge of our health and listen to the innate wisdom of our bodies.

The Mind-Gut Connection describes the importance of a predominantly plant-based diet for gut and brain health, the role of early childhood in gut-brain development, and the impact of excessive stress and anxiety in gastrointestinal ailments and cognitive disorders. It also details how to "listen to your gut" and pay attention to the signals your body is sending you, providing insights on diet, the microbiome, and much more.

The 4 Disciplines of Execution is a book that offers not just the 'what' but also the 'how' to achieve effective execution. It is a guide for leaders to produce breakthrough results, even when executing the strategy requires a significant change in behavior from their teams.

The book introduces a simple, repeatable, and proven formula known as 4DX (4 Disciplines of Execution), which helps organizations execute their most important strategic priorities in the midst of the daily whirlwind of urgent activities. The four disciplines include: Focus on the Wildly Important; Act on Lead Measures; Keep a Compelling Scoreboard; and Create a Cadence of Accountability. These disciplines are designed to help leaders avoid the common pitfall where major initiatives die due to being overtaken by the day-to-day operations of the organization.

4DX is not theory. It has been tested and refined by hundreds of organizations and thousands of teams over many years. When these disciplines are adhered to, they lead to superb results, regardless of the goal. The 4 Disciplines of Execution represents a new way of thinking and working that is essential to thriving in today's competitive climate.

Depression is not a disease. It is a symptom.

Recent years have seen a shocking increase in antidepressant use the world over, with 1 in 4 women starting their day with medication. These drugs have steadily become the panacea for everything from grief, irritability, panic attacks, to insomnia, PMS, and stress. But the truth is, what women really need can’t be found at a pharmacy.

According to Dr. Kelly Brogan, antidepressants not only overpromise and underdeliver, but their use may permanently disable the body’s self-healing potential. We need a new paradigm: The best way to heal the mind is to heal the whole body.

In this groundbreaking, science-based and holistic approach, Dr. Brogan shatters the mythology conventional medicine has built around the causes and treatment of depression. Based on her expert interpretation of published medical findings, combined with years of experience from her clinical practice, Dr. Brogan illuminates the true cause of depression: it is not simply a chemical imbalance, but a lifestyle crisis that demands a reset. It is a signal that the interconnected systems in the body are out of balance – from blood sugar, to gut health, to thyroid function – and inflammation is at the root.

A Mind of Your Own offers an achievable, step-by-step 30-day action plan—including powerful dietary interventions, targeted nutrient support, detoxification, sleep, and stress reframing techniques—women can use to heal their bodies, alleviate inflammation, and feel like themselves again without a single prescription.

Bold, brave, and revolutionary, A Mind of Your Own takes readers on a journey of self-empowerment for radical transformation that goes far beyond symptom relief.

Living the Life Unexpected is a heartfelt and insightful guide by Jody Day, aimed at helping women who find themselves without children, whether by choice or circumstance. At the age of forty-four, Jody realized her journey to motherhood had ended, leading her through waves of grief, despair, and isolation.

This book addresses the complex emotions surrounding involuntary childlessness and offers a powerful, practical 12-week guide to help women come to terms with their grief. Jody's journey led her to create the Gateway Women Network, a supportive community that has aided thousands of women globally.

With compassion and understanding, Jody shows how to move towards a creative, happy, meaningful, and fulfilling future without children. This extensively revised edition includes additional content and stories from women and men around the world, providing diverse perspectives on living a fulfilling life without children.

Smarter Faster Better, authored by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg, is a profound exploration of the science of productivity. Duhigg presents a riveting analysis of how productivity isn't solely about working harder or faster, but rather about managing how we think, set goals, construct teams, and make decisions.

The book unveils eight key concepts that underpin enhanced productivity. Duhigg takes readers on a journey through various scenarios, such as the story of a Marine Corps general revolutionizing boot camp to instill a 'bias toward action,' and how the creators of Disney's Frozen spurred a creative breakthrough that led to monumental success.

At its core, Smarter Faster Better challenges readers to rethink their daily choices and to view the world in new, profoundly different ways. It's an indispensable guide for anyone looking to optimize their productivity and harness the power of smarter, faster, and better decision-making.

Are you truly in danger or has your brain simply "tricked" you into thinking you are? In The Worry Trick, psychologist and anxiety expert David Carbonell shows how anxiety hijacks the brain and offers effective techniques to help you break the cycle of worry, once and for all.

Anxiety is a powerful force. It makes us question ourselves and our decisions, causes us to worry about the future, and fills our days with dread and emotional turbulence.

Based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), this book is designed to help you break the cycle of worry. Worry convinces us there's danger, and then tricks us into getting into fight, flight, or freeze mode—even when there is no danger.

The techniques in this book, rather than encouraging you to avoid or try to resist anxiety, show you how to see the trick that underlies your anxious thoughts, and how avoidance can backfire and make anxiety worse.

If you’re ready to start observing your anxious feelings with distance and clarity—rather than getting tricked once again—this book will show you how.

Have you struggled to have the happy, emotionally nourishing relationships that you deserve? If you are a survivor of childhood trauma, neglect, or abuse, you've spent your life feeling as if happiness in love and friendship is for other people, not you.

To have connections with others, you've paid a price of admission to relationships, sacrificing your values, your safety, your sense of personal worth, and sometimes your financial security. You've felt unworthy of love. You believed, because of how you were treated when you were a child, that you had to pay these prices simply to have people be around you. You've been used and exploited by people who said they loved and cared about you.

You've read every relationship self-help book on the market, but none of them seem to understand the ways in which your childhood trauma has affected your ability to be close to others.

If this is your life, this book is for you. Drawing upon the author's four decades of working with survivors of childhood trauma, abuse, and neglect, this book teaches you to understand the emotional and neurobiological causes of your difficult relationship patterns. It describes effective strategies for learning how to trust yourself, assess other people more accurately, and take care of yourself emotionally so that you can have the healthy relationships that you deserve.

From the physician behind the wildly popular NutritionFacts website, How Not to Die reveals the groundbreaking scientific evidence behind the only diet that can prevent and reverse many of the causes of disease-related death. The vast majority of premature deaths can be prevented through simple changes in diet and lifestyle. In How Not to Die, Dr. Michael Greger, the internationally-renowned nutrition expert, physician, and founder of NutritionFacts.org, examines the fifteen top causes of premature death in America-heart disease, various cancers, diabetes, Parkinson's, high blood pressure, and more-and explains how nutritional and lifestyle interventions can sometimes trump prescription pills and other pharmaceutical and surgical approaches, freeing us to live healthier lives. The simple truth is that most doctors are good at treating acute illnesses but bad at preventing chronic disease. The fifteen leading causes of death claim the lives of 1.6 million Americans annually. This doesn't have to be the case. By following Dr. Greger's advice, all of it backed up by strong scientific evidence, you will learn which foods to eat and which lifestyle changes to make to live longer. History of prostate cancer in your family? Put down that glass of milk and add flaxseed to your diet whenever you can. Have high blood pressure? Hibiscus tea can work better than a leading hypertensive drug-and without the side effects. Fighting off liver disease? Drinking coffee can reduce liver inflammation. Battling breast cancer? Consuming soy is associated with prolonged survival. Worried about heart disease (the number 1 killer in the United States)? Switch to a whole-food, plant-based diet, which has been repeatedly shown not just to prevent the disease but often stop it in its tracks. In addition to showing what to eat to help treat the top fifteen causes of death, How Not to Die includes Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen -a checklist of the twelve foods we should consume every day.Full of practical, actionable advice and surprising, cutting edge nutritional science, these doctor's orders are just what we need to live longer, healthier lives.

Jocko Willink and Leif Babin served together in SEAL Task Unit Bruiser, the most highly decorated Special Operations unit from the war in Iraq. Through difficult months of sustained combat, Jocko, Leif, and their SEAL brothers learned that leadership—at every level—is the most important thing on the battlefield.

They started Echelon Front to teach these same leadership principles to companies across industries throughout the business world that want to build their own high-performance, winning teams. This book explains the SEAL leadership concepts crucial to accomplishing the most difficult missions in combat and how to apply them to any group, team, or organization. It provides the reader with Jocko and Leif's formula for success: the mindset and guiding principles that enable SEAL combat units to achieve extraordinary results.

It demonstrates how to apply these directly to business and life to likewise achieve victory. The book covers various topics such as Cover and Move, Decentralized Command, and Leading Up the Chain, explaining what they are, why they are important, and how to implement them in any leadership environment.

A compelling narrative with powerful instruction and direct application, Extreme Ownership revolutionizes business management and challenges leaders everywhere to fulfill their ultimate purpose: lead and win.

The Wild Edge of Sorrow offers hope and healing for a profoundly fractured world—and a pathway home to the brightness, pains, and gifts of being alive. Introducing the 5 gates of grief, psychotherapist Francis Weller explores how we move through the waters of grief and loss in a culture so fundamentally detached from the needs of the soul.

The first gate recognizes—and invites us to accept—the painful truth that everything we love, we will lose. With this acceptance comes beauty and responsibility—and an openness into which we can pour the full love of our hearts. Here, we meet the sorrow of losing a loved one; the grief of illness; and the unique and profound pains that accompany loss by suicide.

The second gate helps us uncover and tend to the places that have not known love: the neglected pieces of our soul that need restoration and care. These places can be our secret shames, or the parts of us that we feel are undeserving of love. At this gate, we face our shadows and heal our most tender wounds.

The third gate meets us at the sorrows of the world, inviting us to open to the grave pain of our planet: the destruction of ecosystems, the harms of extractive capitalism, the unfathomable pain of war and occupation. We learn to honor and hold this grief even as we move through it, recommitting ourselves to the actions our souls call upon us to perform in service of healing and renewal.

The fourth gate, what we expected but did not receive, is present in each and every one of our lives. We may need love from a parent or partner unable to give it; we may lack the language to ask for the care we deserve. Each is a loss that must be acknowledged and grieved to move toward wholeness.

The fifth gate opens to our ancestral grief: the traumas, pains, losses, and unrealized dreams of those who came before us. Weller invites us to reconnect to our bodies, our communities, and the ancestral knowledge we hold in our bones...but may have forgotten.

Profoundly moving and beautifully written, this book is a balm for the soul and a necessary salve for moving together through difficult times. Grounded in ritual and connection, The Wild Edge of Sorrow welcomes each grief with care and attention, opening us to the feelings, experiences, and sacred knowledge that connect us to each other and ultimately make us whole.

Social scientist Brené Brown has ignited a global conversation on courage, vulnerability, shame, and worthiness. Her pioneering work uncovered a profound truth: Vulnerability—the willingness to show up and be seen with no guarantee of outcome—is the only path to more love, belonging, creativity, and joy. But living a brave life is not always easy: We are, inevitably, going to stumble and fall.

It is the rise from falling that Brown takes as her subject in Rising Strong. As a grounded theory researcher, Brown has listened as a range of people—from leaders in Fortune 500 companies and the military to artists, couples in long-term relationships, teachers, and parents—shared their stories of being brave, falling, and getting back up. She asked herself, What do these people with strong and loving relationships, leaders nurturing creativity, artists pushing innovation, and clergy walking with people through faith and mystery have in common? The answer was clear: They recognize the power of emotion and they’re not afraid to lean in to discomfort.

Walking into our stories of hurt can feel dangerous. But the process of regaining our footing in the midst of struggle is where our courage is tested and our values are forged. Our stories of struggle can be big ones, like the loss of a job or the end of a relationship, or smaller ones, like a conflict with a friend or colleague. Regardless of magnitude or circumstance, the rising strong process is the same: We reckon with our emotions and get curious about what we’re feeling; we rumble with our stories until we get to a place of truth; and we live this process, every day, until it becomes a practice and creates nothing short of a revolution in our lives.

Rising strong after a fall is how we cultivate wholeheartedness. It’s the process, Brown writes, that teaches us the most about who we are.

One of the most influential and well-loved books of Christianity, The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis appears here in Penguin Classics in a new translation by Robert Jeffery, with an introduction by Max Von Habsburg, notes, a chronology and further reading.

The Imitation of Christ is a passionate celebration of God's love, mercy and holiness, which has stimulated religious devotion for over five hundred years. With great personal conviction and deep humanity, Thomas à Kempis demonstrates the individual's reliance on God and on the words of Christ, and the futility of a life without faith, as well as exploring the ideas such as humility, compassion, patience and tolerance.

Thomas spent some seventy years of his life in the reclusive environment of monasteries, yet in this astonishing work he demonstrates an encompassing understanding of human nature, while his writing speaks to readers of every age and every nation.

If you grew up with an emotionally immature, unavailable, or selfish parent, you may have lingering feelings of anger, loneliness, betrayal, or abandonment. You may recall your childhood as a time when your emotional needs were not met, when your feelings were dismissed, or when you took on adult levels of responsibility in an effort to compensate for your parent’s behavior. These wounds can be healed, and you can move forward in your life.

In this breakthrough book, clinical psychologist Lindsay Gibson exposes the destructive nature of parents who are emotionally immature or unavailable. You will see how these parents create a sense of neglect, and discover ways to heal from the pain and confusion caused by your childhood. By freeing yourself from your parents’ emotional immaturity, you can recover your true nature, control how you react to them, and avoid disappointment. Finally, you’ll learn how to create positive, new relationships so you can build a better life.

Discover the four types of difficult parents:

The emotional parent instills feelings of instability and anxiety
The driven parent stays busy trying to perfect everything and everyone
The passive parent avoids dealing with anything upsetting
The rejecting parent is withdrawn, dismissive, and derogatory

Micro-trauma: A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Cumulative Psychic Injury explores the "micro-traumatic" or small, subtle psychic hurts that build up to undermine a person’s sense of self-worth, skewing his or her character and compromising his or her relatedness to others. These injuries amount to what has been previously called "cumulative" or "relational trauma."

Until now, psychoanalysis has explained such negative influences in broad strokes, using general concepts like psychosexual urges, narcissistic needs, and separation-individuation aims, among others. Taking a fresh approach, Margaret Crastnopol identifies certain specific patterns of injurious relating that cause damage in predictable ways; she shows how these destructive processes can be identified, stopped in their tracks, and replaced by a healthier way of functioning.

Seven different types of micro-trauma, all largely hidden in plain sight, are described in detail, and many others are discussed more briefly. Three of these micro-traumas—"psychic airbrushing and excessive niceness," "uneasy intimacy," and "connoisseurship gone awry"—have a predominantly positive emotional tone, while the other four—"unkind cutting back," "unbridled indignation," "chronic entrenchment," and "little murders"—have a distinctly negative one.

Margaret Crastnopol shows how these toxic processes may take place within a dyadic relationship, a family group, or a social clique, causing collateral psychic damage all around as a consequence.

Using illustrations drawn from psychoanalytic treatment, literary fiction, and everyday life, Micro-trauma: A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Cumulative Psychic Injury outlines how each micro-traumatic pattern develops and manifests itself, and how it wreaks its damage. The book shows how an awareness of these patterns can give us the therapeutic leverage needed to reshape them for the good.

This publication will be an invaluable resource for psychoanalysts, psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and for trainees and graduate students in these fields and related disciplines.

Margaret Crastnopol (Peggy), Ph.D. is a faculty member of the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and a Supervisor of Psychotherapy at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis & Psychology. She is also a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles. She writes and teaches nationally and internationally about the analyst's and patient's subjectivity; the vicissitudes of love, lust, and attachment drives; and varieties of micro-trauma. She is in private practice for the treatment of individuals and couples in Seattle, WA.

Falling in love is easy. Staying in love—that’s the challenge! How can you keep your relationship fresh and growing amid the demands, conflicts, and just plain boredom of everyday life?

In the #1 New York Times international bestseller The 5 Love Languages, you’ll discover the secret that has transformed millions of relationships worldwide. Whether your relationship is flourishing or failing, Dr. Gary Chapman’s proven approach to showing and receiving love will help you experience deeper and richer levels of intimacy with your partner—starting today.

The 5 Love Languages is as practical as it is insightful. Updated to reflect the complexities of relationships today, this new edition reveals intrinsic truths and applies relevant, actionable wisdom in ways that work.

Includes the Love Language assessment so you can discover your love language and that of your loved one.

Your organizational transformation begins here! Comprehensive, detailed, and easy to read and understand, How to Succeed with Continuous Improvement takes you through a real-life case study of one organization's journey to a world-class continuous improvement process. Joakim Ahlstrom—one of the world's most respected continuous improvement experts—serves as your coach.

He first helps you decide whether you want to embark on the continuous improvement journey and takes you through the entire process step by step, all the way through generating remarkable business results with his unique methods. In each chapter, Ahlstrom describes a specific stage of the transformation story and provides a clear analysis of each one to help you apply his methods in your own company. In no time you'll grasp all the concepts you need to know.

How to Succeed with Continuous Improvement covers it all, including:

• How to shift mindsets and behaviors using the often neglected practice of coaching
• Common pitfalls to help you plan out how you will apply the principles and practices
• Using "six-legged spiders" and "fishy" diagrams to achieve measurable results
• Ways to avoid "Watermelon" key performance indicators that often mask the truth

Ahlstrom explains the rationale behind all the methods in the book—the results they produce, and why—and offers practical advice on how to get full input from everyone involved. Ahlstrom concludes the book with a chapter offering a current-state analysis tool and a simple template to apply in your company.

If you're seeking to design and launch a continuous improvement program, How to Succeed with Continuous Improvement is the first book you should turn to—and it's the last one you'll ever need!

The mind guides our footsteps as we progress along the pathway of life. Purity of mind leads inevitably to purity of life, to the precious love and understanding that should control our everyday acts and attitudes towards friends and foes. But where must one look for guidance? How does one achieve purity of mind that alone brings happiness and confidence?

The author offers his clear answers in this book As A Man Thinketh. His words have helped millions for more than a century--and they continue to point the true way to a better life for a troubled humanity. "Out of a clean heart comes a clean life and a clean body," James Allen writes. "Out of a defiled mind proceeds a defiled life and a corrupt body." Too many mortals strive to improve only their worldly position--and too few seek spiritual betterment. Such is the problem James Allen faced in his own time. The ideas he found in his inner-most heart after great searching guided him as they will guide you.

John C. Maxwell, a renowned leadership expert and New York Times bestselling author, delves into the critical role of questioning in leadership. Good Leaders Ask Great Questions is a testament to the power of questions in learning, connecting with others, self-improvement, team enhancement, and the generation of innovative ideas.

Maxwell emphasizes the significance of questions and provides guidance on the essential questions leaders should be asking themselves and their teams. By sharing insights from his own experiences and addressing seventy of the most impactful leadership queries, Maxwell offers a roadmap for both experienced leaders and those just embarking on their leadership journey.

This book is a transformative guide that will alter your perspective on leadership and question-asking, whether you're at the peak of your career or taking your first steps toward leadership roles.

For those who believe that there must be a more agile and efficient way for people to get things done, Scrum is a brilliantly discursive, thought-provoking book about the leadership and management process that is changing the way we live.

Jeff Sutherland, the man who put together the first Scrum team more than twenty years ago, offers a compelling explanation of Scrum and its bright promise. Scrum is already driving most of the world's top technology companies and is now spreading to every domain where leaders wrestle with complex projects. Productivity gains of as much as 1200% have been recorded, showcasing the significant impact of Scrum.

Drawing on his experience as a West Point-educated fighter pilot, biometrics expert, early innovator of ATM technology, and V.P. of engineering or CTO at eleven different technology companies, Sutherland challenges dysfunctional realities, looking for solutions with global impact. This book takes you to Scrum's front lines where deep accountability, team interaction, and constant iterative improvement are bringing remarkable results.

From transforming the FBI's outdated systems to perfecting the design of an affordable high-efficiency vehicle, and from improving healthcare delivery to aiding in humanitarian efforts, Scrum is making a difference. The insights from various fields, including martial arts, judicial decision making, and advanced aerial combat, make Scrum consistently riveting.

Reading this book may help you achieve what others consider unachievable, be it inventing groundbreaking technology, creating a new educational system, pioneering ways to feed the hungry, or building a foundation for your family to thrive and prosper.

Treating Self-Destructive Behaviors in Trauma Survivors, 2nd ed, is a comprehensive guide for clinicians dedicated to assisting trauma survivors. Throughout treatment, therapists may encounter clients disclosing self-destructive behaviors, including self-mutilation and other means of deliberately "hurting the body" such as bingeing, purging, starving, substance abuse, and other addictive behaviors.

Renowned clinician Lisa Ferentz introduces viable treatment alternatives, assessment tools, and new ways of understanding self-destructive behavior through a strengths-based approach. This method differentiates between the "experimental" non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) that some teenagers engage in occasionally and the repetitive and chronic self-destructive behaviors.

In this edition, numerous treatment strategies are cross-referenced to a practical workbook, offering therapists and clients concrete methods to integrate theory into practice. Ferentz emphasizes the significance of assessing and enhancing clients' self-compassion, explaining how nurturing this concept cognitively, emotionally, and somatically can become a catalyst for motivation and change.

The book also explores a cycle of behavior that clinicians can personalize and use as a template for treatment. The final sections focus on counter-transferential responses and various ways therapists can work with self-destructive behaviors while avoiding vicarious traumatization by adopting tools and strategies for self-care.

For those even thinking about divorce, this book is a must-read. In its short and direct presentation, Jaeson has given us the ability to optimize an outcome that is beneficial to EVERYONE.

Straight talk from the heart of someone who has been there. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is going through divorce and struggling to find the clarity and balance they so desperately need for the well-being of the ones who suffer the most.........The Children.

I felt Illuminated and Empowered as I read and pondered on the vast effects of divorce. I know that the information Jaeson shares, if applied, will yield a depth of positive impact our society has not previously known. Thank you Jaeson for this Work Of Heart and your sincere desire to help make the journey of divorce a better one.

Please Note: This is a summary of the book and not the original book.

In The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown, this 30-minute summary helps readers embrace who they are by letting go of who they think they’re supposed to be. The summary provides an overview of the book, introduces key people, and analyzes all chapters, offering key takeaways and a reader's perspective.

Chapter 1: It is necessary to practice courage, compassion, and connection daily to develop worthiness. Attempting to win someone over often means trading our sense of self for approval. True connection is formed when we share our stories of shame and embrace vulnerability, which strengthens relationships.

Courage is about speaking honestly and being vulnerable, asking for what we need, and risking disappointment. It creates a ripple effect, encouraging others to be brave.

Compassion is recognizing our shared humanity and accepting ourselves and others. It requires setting boundaries and holding others accountable.

Connection is the energy between people who feel seen, heard, and valued without judgment, strengthening them emotionally, physically, spiritually, and intellectually.

Chapter 2: Love and belonging are essential, and to experience these, one must believe they are worthy. Wholeheartedness involves believing in one's worthiness now, as they are.

Benny Lewis, the creator of the largest language learning blog in the world, www.fluentin3months.com, introduces his unconventional approach to language learning. His techniques shatter common language learning myths and introduce practical "language hacks" that leverage the skills we already have.

Fluent in 3 Months is not just a book, but a blueprint for learning new languages quickly and effectively. Lewis, a full-time "language hacker," shares his insights from mastering over ten languages through self-teaching. He makes a compelling argument that you don't need an exceptional memory or a special "language gene" to become fluent in a new language. Instead, Lewis debunks misconceptions, such as the notion that adults cannot learn languages as effectively as children.

This guide is designed to help anyone—regardless of age—speak any language from anywhere in the world, and to do so with speed, intuition, and fun.

Like dewdrops from a silent night, writings in Letters from Your Soul are distinctly brilliant, and resonate with our sense of beauty and wonder. They contain the condensed wisdom of years of soul-searching before Victor’s awakening, and years of compassionate attempts since, by him, to remind others of their own journey towards self-realisation. The messages are relevant to anyone who has ever pondered about existence and the possibilities of improving this life-experience, the only thing that truly belongs to us.

The style of writing interweaves between storytelling, conversation and prose-poetry. The uniqueness of these expressions of timeless truths lies in the fact that throughout his spiritual search, and the years following his awakening, Victor continues to remain in the chaos of an average urban life. And, for this reason, his messages act as a perfect bridge between the unworldly and worldly quests of human mind, giving immense hope to finding a life full of freedom, joy and love by remaining exactly where we are.

Your journey didn't begin when you were born, or, even when you thought you have arrived; Your journey begins, when you stop, and look for new eyes, to see you. Your journey didn't begin, when you fulfilled your dreams; Your journey begins, when you reject dreams that you bought in your sleep. Your journey didn't begin, when you were told that you have made it; Your journey begins when you reject the notion 'what you have become, is the best you can be'. Your journey awaits for a path never travelled before. Start making your path from here; and start walking towards a new 'you' now. Beauty, Wonder, and Faith; you will find them all, on your way.

Readings in the Letters from Your Soul are filled with sparks to ignite a flame of self-renewal, but, the readiness to burn, and be new, needs to come from within you.

Demi Lovato wakes up each morning and affirms her commitment to herself—to her health, her happiness, her being. Those commitments are the bedrock of her recovery and her work helping other young people dealing with the issues she lives with every single day. Demi is a platinum-selling recording artist whose latest album—DEMI—is already a smash hit. She's about to embark on her second season as a judge on X-Factor, and just launched The Lovato Treatment Scholarship Program. And she is an outspoken advocate for young people everywhere.

Demi is also a young woman finding her way in the world. She has dealt deftly with her struggles in the face of public scrutiny, and she has always relied, not just on friends and family, but daily affirmations of her self-worth and value. Affirmations that steady her days and strengthen her resolve. Those affirmations have grown into STAYING STRONG, a powerful 365-day collection of Demi's most powerful, honest, and hopeful insights. Each day will provide the readers with a quote, a personal reflection and a goal. These are Demi's words. Words she lives by and shares with the people she loves and total strangers alike. They are a powerful testament to a young woman standing up and fighting back.

What do we do when life lurches out of balance? How can we reconnect to one another and to what's sustaining, when evil and catastrophe seem inescapable?

These questions lie at the heart of Stitches, Anne Lamott's profound follow-up to her New York Times-bestselling work, Help, Thanks, Wow. In this book, she explores how we find meaning and peace in these loud and frantic times; where we start again after personal and public devastation; how we recapture wholeness after loss; and how we locate our true identities in this frazzled age.

We begin, Lamott says, by collecting the ripped sheets of our emotional and spiritual fabric and sewing them back together - one stitch at a time. It's in these stitches that the quilt of life begins, and embedded in them are strength, warmth, humour and humanity.

What is the most important ingredient for an effective speech or presentation? Whether you are one who speaks only on rare occasions or you find yourself addressing an audience every day, this book will be an invaluable tool. Beneficial to the experienced pro as well as the new beginner, Secrets of Dynamic Communication is a practical and effective handbook for powerful presentations of all kinds. It takes the reader through the process of selecting and developing a theme, giving it focus, fleshing it out, and communicating well with the audience. The first half is devoted to preparation, the second to delivery.

Author Ken Davis is frequently hired by individuals and companies around the world to bring his humor and expertise to others in the speaking field, and he is now bringing those concepts to the wider community as well. No abstract theories here, only step-by-step help in preparing and delivering speeches that get results! You’ll soon develop the dynamic speaking skills associated with the very best in the field.

Whether it’s the monster in the closet or the fear that arises from new social situations, school, or sports, anxiety can be especially challenging and maddening for children. And since anxiety has a mind of its own, logic and reassurance often fail, leaving parents increasingly frustrated about how to help.

Now, Lawrence J. Cohen, Ph.D., the author of Playful Parenting, provides a special set of tools to handle childhood anxiety. Offering simple, effective strategies that build connection through fun, play, and empathy, Dr. Cohen helps parents:

• Start from a place of warmth, compassion, and understanding.
• Teach children the basics of the body’s “security system”: alert, alarm, assessment, and all clear.
• Promote tolerance of uncertainty and discomfort by finding the balance between outright avoidance and “white-knuckling” through a fear.
• Find lighthearted ways to release tension in the moment, labeling stressful emotions on a child-friendly scale.
• Tackle their own anxieties so they can stay calm when a child is distressed.
• Bring children out of their anxious thoughts and into their bodies by using relaxation, breathing, writing, drawing, and playful roughhousing.

With this insightful resource of easy-to-implement solutions and strategies, you and your child can experience the opposite of worry, anxiety, and fear and embrace connection, trust, and joy.

With anxiety at epidemic levels among our children, Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents offers a contrarian yet effective approach to help children and teens push through their fears, worries, and phobias to ultimately become more resilient, independent, and happy.

How do you manage a child who gets stomachaches every school morning, who refuses after-school activities, or who is trapped in the bathroom with compulsive washing? Children like these put a palpable strain on frustrated, helpless parents and teachers. One in every five kids suffers from a diagnosable anxiety disorder.

Unfortunately, when parents or professionals offer help in traditional ways, they unknowingly reinforce a child's worry and avoidance. From their success with hundreds of organizations, schools, and families, Reid Wilson, PhD, and Lynn Lyons, LICSW, share their unconventional approach of stepping into uncertainty in a way that is currently unfamiliar but infinitely successful.

Using current research and contemporary examples, the book exposes the most common anxiety-enhancing patterns—including reassurance, accommodation, avoidance, and poor problem solving—and offers a concrete plan with 7 key principles that foster change.

Since new research reveals how anxious parents typically make for anxious children, the book offers exercises and techniques to change both the children's and the parental patterns of thinking and behaving. This book challenges our basic instincts about how to help fearful kids and will serve as the antidote for an anxious nation of kids and their parents.

In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a scale of “madness” along which we all sit. Incorporating the latest advances in brain scanning and neuroscience, Dutton demonstrates that the brilliant neurosurgeon who lacks empathy has more in common with a Ted Bundy who kills for pleasure than we may wish to admit, and that a mugger in a dimly lit parking lot may well, in fact, have the same nerveless poise as a titan of industry.

Dutton argues that there are indeed “functional psychopaths” among us—different from their murderous counterparts—who use their detached, unflinching, and charismatic personalities to succeed in mainstream society, and that shockingly, in some fields, the more “psychopathic” people are, the more likely they are to succeed. Dutton deconstructs this often misunderstood diagnosis through bold on-the-ground reporting and original scientific research as he mingles with the criminally insane in a high-security ward, shares a drink with one of the world’s most successful con artists, and undergoes transcranial magnetic stimulation to discover firsthand exactly how it feels to see through the eyes of a psychopath.

As Dutton develops his theory that we all possess psychopathic tendencies, he puts forward the argument that society as a whole is more psychopathic than ever: after all, psychopaths tend to be fearless, confident, charming, ruthless, and focused—qualities that are tailor-made for success in the twenty-first century. Provocative at every turn, The Wisdom of Psychopaths is a riveting adventure that reveals that it’s our much-maligned dark side that often conceals the trump cards of success.

Eat, Pray, Love is the captivating memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert that chronicles her journey of self-discovery following a devastating divorce. Feeling lost and uncertain about the future, Gilbert makes a bold decision to step away from her life in America and embark on a year-long trip around the world.

In Italy, she indulges in the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and delighting in the country's culinary offerings. Her experience is not just about savoring good food and wine, but also about embracing joy and giving herself permission to feel good again.

India offers a stark contrast, where Gilbert dives deep into the art of devotion. It is here, in an ashram, that she commits to exploring her spiritual side, seeking peace and a sense of connection that had long eluded her.

The final leg of her journey takes her to Bali, Indonesia, where she seeks balance between the material and the spiritual. Under the guidance of an elderly medicine man and through an unexpected romance, Gilbert finds a harmony she had been missing.

An honest and transformative narrative, Eat, Pray, Love is a testament to the healing power of travel and the courage it takes to confront one's own truths. It's a story of embracing change, pursuing happiness, and discovering a life worth living on one's own terms.

Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam M. Grant is a groundbreaking work that challenges conventional wisdom about success. Grant, a professor at Wharton Business School, introduces the concept of reciprocity styles—takers, matchers, and givers—and reveals how these styles impact our success.

In the workplace, givers, who contribute to others without expecting anything in return, can sometimes be exploited or burn out. However, Grant's research demonstrates that givers are often the most successful people in their fields. The book shows how a revolutionary approach to work, networking, and collaboration can lead to greater personal success and transform organizations and communities.

Through engaging stories and cutting-edge evidence, Grant illustrates the power of giving and how smart givers avoid becoming doormats. He also explores how successful networking, collaboration, influence, negotiation, and leadership skills are intertwined. Give and Take not only presents a new model for success but also provides insights into how to build more productive and rewarding relationships.

Your Turn for Care is the first book specifically designed for adults who were abused and maltreated by older family members, and who are now faced with the aging and death of those abusive elders.

This book delves into the reasons why this normal life passage is particularly challenging for adult survivors. It draws on psychological research about the long-term effects of childhood maltreatment and provides insights on how adult survivors can navigate this period and turn it into an opportunity for their own healing.

Specific suggestions for self-care and strategies for decision-making are presented throughout the book. An extensive list of written and online resources on a variety of related topics is also included, offering further support and guidance.

Your Turn for Care is unique in its focus on the special concerns of adult survivors of childhood maltreatment who find themselves at this critical juncture in their lives.

Smart But Scattered Teens is an insightful guide that leverages key principles from the business world to help teens become more organized, stay focused, and manage their impulses effectively. If you're a parent of a "smart but scattered" teen, this book offers an alternative to micromanaging and ineffective punishments.

This positive guide provides a science-based program for promoting teens' independence by building their executive skills—fundamental brain-based abilities necessary for getting organized, staying focused, and controlling impulses and emotions.

Executive skills experts Drs. Richard Guare and Peg Dawson, joined by Colin Guare, offer step-by-step strategies to help your teen reach their potential now and in the future, while strengthening your relationship.

Helpful worksheets and forms are available for download, designed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size, making it easy to implement the strategies provided in the book.

Help, Thanks, Wow is a profound exploration of the three simple prayers that are fundamental to navigating life's challenges. Anne Lamott, known for her witty and perceptive writing, delves into the essence of these prayers:

Help: Seeking assistance from a higher power to guide us through tough times.

Thanks: Cultivating gratitude for the goodness in our lives.

Wow: Experiencing awe and wonder at the world around us.

Lamott shares her personal journey of discovering these prayers, explaining their significance and how they have shaped her life. Through her insights, she offers readers a pathway to embrace these ideas and enrich their own spiritual practices.

This book is a delightful read for both new and longtime fans of Anne Lamott, providing comfort and inspiration for the soul.

Redefining Success details how W. Brett Wilson was forced to redefine his life, making health and key relationships his first priorities. Through trial and error, he discovered that these simple virtues are foundations for real, enduring success, both in business and in life.

Wilson's compelling insights are the basis for Redefining Success. Not just for entrepreneurs and business people, the book outlines how we can change our lives for the better by re-evaluating our personal definitions of success, then reworking them into a life plan that is feasible, lasting, and rewarding. Inspirational and paradigm-changing, Redefining Success will help you implement and sustain lasting, positive change in your life—and make your world a little more meaningful—every day.

Discover and fulfill your God-given purpose by joining the more than thirty-five million others who have embarked on a spiritual journey that started with this #1 New York Times bestselling book by Pastor Rick Warren. Before you were born, God knew what your life had in store for you. His hope for you is to discover the life he created just for you--both here on earth, and forever in eternity. Let Rick Warren guide you as you learn to live out your true purpose.

The Purpose Driven Life is more than a book; it's a road map for your spiritual journey. Combining thoughtful verses from Scripture with timely stories and perspectives from Warren's own life, The Purpose Driven Life will help you discover the answer to one of life's most important questions: What on earth am I here for? Throughout The Purpose Driven Life, Warren will teach you to spend time getting to know yourself and your creator in order to live your life to the fullest. Unlocking your true purpose will also reduce your stress, simplify your decisions, increase your satisfaction, and, most importantly, prepare you for eternity.

Designed to be read over the course of forty-two days, The Purpose Driven Life will help you see the big picture, giving you a fresh perspective on the way that the pieces of your life fit together. Every chapter of The Purpose Driven Life provides a daily meditation and practical steps to help you uncover and live out your purpose, starting with exploring three essential questions: The Question of Existence: Why am I alive? The Question of Significance: Does my life matter? The Question of Purpose: What on earth am I here for? Each copy of The Purpose Driven Life also includes thoughtful discussion questions, audio Bible studies that go along with every chapter, and access to a supportive online community, giving you the opportunity to dive even deeper into each life-changing lesson.