I’m a historian who loves therapy! I think the most interesting discoveries we make in life are about ourselves. I love the process of shining a light into our subconscious minds to discover the roots of how we think, feel, and act. I find inner child work especially exciting.
So when I heard that one of my favorite historians, Martha Hodes, had broken with academic tradition and published a personal history weaving together memory, family, trauma, and childhood to figure out “what really happened” to herself decades ago, I ran to pick up a copy from my local bookstore, and whew, I’m glad I did!
This book was by far my favorite non-fiction read of the year. As a 12-year-old child, Hodes traveled on a plane in 1970 that was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. I found it incredibly gripping that even though Hodes was held hostage in a plane for six days, she had no memories of this trauma. Why had she suppressed these memories? What really happened? Could she get these memories back? Last summer, I neglected household chores for several days to find out, and I was not disappointed!
I cried and cried when I learned why Hodes’ quest to find answers involved not just delving into newspaper archives but, more importantly, into the deepest, tenderest parts of her childhood self.
In this moving and thought-provoking memoir, a historian offers a personal look at the fallibilities of memory and the lingering impact of trauma as she goes back fifty years to tell the story of being a passenger on an airliner hijacked in 1970.
On September 6, 1970, twelve-year-old Martha Hodes and her thirteen-year-old sister were flying unaccompanied back to New York City from Israel when their plane was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and forced to land in the Jordan desert. Too young to understand the sheer gravity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Martha…
This year, I wanted to delve into the depths of my own psyche with reckless abandon. Less of distracting myself inside of the historical archives and more of discovering myself inside the layers of my own personal past.
I’ve been following the online phenomenon Nicole LePera, a.k.a. “the holistic psychologist,” on Instagram since 2021, when her first book came out. LePera’s second book is all about putting into practice a revolutionary, self-healing framework that allows you to move out of survival mode into the highest, most authentic version of yourself.
I was thrilled to make so many discoveries! Did you know that you likely pushed down your “authentic self” at some point during your childhood in favor of a “habit self” that was conditioned to please others? I learned that there are clues in my body and nervous system that, just like a check engine light, alert me when I am not aligned with my authentic self. Your body is trying to help you!
For instance, I remembered those pencil sketches in my notebook from elementary school when I dreamed about being a fashion designer. Why did these memories also bring up feelings of discomfort in my body? Because at the same time, I was mocked at a tender age for having this interest. Thanks to LePera, I am now reconnecting with my inner child by pursuing my interest in vintage fashion as a hobby.
The best part about this book is that there are practical steps you can take each day, using the workbook provided, to “meet” each of your selves, understand them, and then open your creative energies as you embrace the highest version of yourself. Exciting stuff!
Most people are stuck living life on autopilot. Are you ready to break free?
At the root of all healing work is awakening consciousness, a process of shining light into the darkness of the unknown. In recent years, Dr. Nicole LePera has become the leading voice in psychological self-healing, helping millions of people around the world rise out of survival mode to consciously create authentic lives they love.
In her first book, How to Do the Work, Dr. Nicole offered listeners a revolutionary, holistic framework for self-healing. Now, in How to Meet Your Self, she shares a book designed to…
Last summer, I wanted a work of fiction to read on the airplane heading back to visit my childhood home. I was craving a philosophical-type novel with a pinch of whimsy. Something fun that would explore the ways we are connected to our pasts but still the authors of our own lives. Browsing the airport bookstore, Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library promised to cure what ailed me.
I had so much fun reading this book. It was like watching a movie (in fact, I read that film rights have already been optioned by a major studio—can’t wait!). I was hooked from the beginning when I learned that the main character, Nora, now in her mid-30s, was still working at the local guitar shop in her hometown. As a child, however, she had ambitions to leave and do something “big” with her life. Unfulfilled and misunderstood, Nora loses hope. She then finds herself transported to the “midnight library,” a library between life and death where each book contains an alternate version of her life. Nora gets to “try on” other lives, experiencing—and learning—how her choices have impacted her life, and other people, along the way.
I was mesmerized by all the lives Nora could have lived, from champion Olympic swimmer to famous singer in a band to a glaciologist pursuing research to wife and mother in London with a happy marriage—all these lives hinged on making different choices at key moments in her life. With each life, Nora learned more about her authentic self and what she really wanted. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but let’s just say “The Midnight Library” will make you bawl your eyes out in the best way possible.
As Nora changed, I also felt changed. I realized at the end that the best way to access my inner child is often just to let my imagination run free.
The #1 New York Times bestselling WORLDWIDE phenomenon
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction | A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | Independent (London) Ten Best Books of the Year
"A feel-good book guaranteed to lift your spirits."-The Washington Post
The dazzling reader-favorite about the choices that go into a life well lived, from the acclaimed author of How To Stop Time and The Comfort Book.
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of…
Did you know that child labor was a hotly contested issue for more than 80 years of American history?
My book uncovers the story of how disagreements over child labor broke down along sectional lines between the North and South. In the decades after the Civil War, an organized movement to end the practice of child labor emerged in the North. However, Southern industrialists who were determined to transform the Southern economy sparked an opposition movement that was just as organized.
Although the movement to end child labor secured a legal victory with the 1938 passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act, fundamental disagreements about free market capitalism, labor, the role of government in American life, and parental rights were never resolved.
