I could say I’ve had a hard life (and I have), but who hasn’t? Life is one adversity after another, and we need all the help we can get. Without that help, moods suffer, hope falters, and our souls are diminished. During my own personal journey through this quagmire called life, I have often been lifted up and out of the mud whilst reading the books I suggest below and more. These books either made me laugh and cry, made me think, or made me change the way I approached things. Quite often, they did all four at the same time. Their insights were invaluable.
I wrote...
How to Cope with Almost Anything with Hypnotherapy: Simple Ideas to Enhance Your Wellbeing and Resilience
My book is about hypnotherapy and how to use it. But it’s also more than that. Hypnotherapy works well as a modality in and of itself, but it also dovetails rather nicely with cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), REBT, positive psychology, and more (basically, all the tools I use in my practice. It was born out of my client’s needs.
When people come to see me asking for help and I ask what they want help with, more and more say they want to improve their well-being, build their resilience, or both. More often than not, they ask for coping strategies. When I ask what they want to cope with, most simply shrug and say, “Life!”
REBT is a form of CBT, but it is much more than that. Developed in the mid-50s by a genius called Albert Ellis (sadly, no longer with us), it’s also considered a school of thought, or philosophy, for everyday living.
When you get the gist of it and know how to use it, it’s a great way of looking at life in a calmer, happier, and more productive way. Ellis was a bit of a maverick and liked to challenge, provoke, and cajole his clients into change. He also used a lot of humor.
This was the first therapy book I read that didn’t read like a therapy book (or ‘how to’ manual), and I took it like a duck to water. It’s why I chose to train in REBT.
CLASSIC SELF-HELP FROM A RESPECTED PIONEER OF PSYCHOTHERAPY
All of us worry about something, big or small, every day. But much of the emotional misery we feel is an overreaction, and it can be significantly reduced, using the techniques you’ll find in this landmark book.
World renowned therapist Dr. Albert Ellis, who created Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), believed that anger, anxiety, and depression are not only unnecessary, they’re unethical, because when we allow ourselves to become emotionally upset, we’re being unfair and unjust to ourselves. Thinking negative thoughts is a choice we can refuse to make. Applying the proven, time-tested…
The past has gone and can’t be changed; the future hasn’t happened yet. All we have is now. Yet so many of us pick over our pasts or spend far too much time worrying about the future and, in doing so, lose all those precious moments that make up the ‘now.’
The mainstay of therapy is bringing people back into the present to enjoy their lives more, and no book has done this quite so well as this one. It’s both thoughtful and therapeutic, philosophical and spiritual. Spirituality is considered a character strength in positive psychology (an attribute that, when used appropriately, can improve one's well-being and enhance one's resilience in the face of adversity).
It provides food for thought and a tonic for the soul. No small wonder then that it has sold so many copies and been translated into so many languages.
**CHOSEN BY OPRAH AS ONE OF HER 'BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH'**
The international bestselling spiritual book, now with a new look for its 20th anniversary. Eckhart Tolle demonstrates how to live a healthier, happier, mindful life by living in the present moment.
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'I keep Eckhart's book at my bedside. I think it's essential spiritual teaching. It's one of the most valuable books I've ever read.' Oprah Winfrey
To make the journey into The Power of Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart…
No one has taught me more about life than Terry Pratchett. No one has taught me how to wrestle with my demons (both literal and metaphorical) or how to be a better person no matter what fate befalls me. Humanists don’t need a bible, but if they did, the collected works of Terry Pratchett would be that book.
More than just fantasy, humor, or satire, his words work at a profound and subtle level. All of his books are favorites of mine, but this one is my most favorite of all. It’s a book about witches and magic and fairy tales. It’s also a story that contains stories within stories, but most of all, it’s a book about knowing who you are.
'You can't go around building a better world for people. Only people can build a better world for people. Otherwise, it's just a cage.'
There's power in stories. The Fairy Godmother is good. The servant girl marries the Prince. Everyone lives happily ever after . . . don't they?
The witches Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick are travelling to far-distant Genua to stop a wedding and save a kingdom. But how do you fight a happy-ever-after, especially when it comes with glass slippers and a power-hungry Fairy Godmother who has made Destiny an offer it can't refuse?
Whilst on humour (including satire): it is an important part of REBT. Humor is another one of those character strengths in positive psychology (again, good for you when used appropriately). It’s not for nothing that laughter is called the best medicine (in fact, I wrote my MSc dissertation on the use of humor in psychotherapy).
Humor, especially satire, and wordplay have helped me a lot in life. Regarding those two things, this book is the best bar none. Both funny and tragic (which sums life up pretty well), considering how much saber rattling is happening today, it’s as relevant now as it has always been.
I'm sure this book will change you for the better. It may also have you challenging authority a little more than you currently do (which alone will work wonders for your mental health and well-being).
Explosive, subversive, wild and funny, 50 years on the novel's strength is undiminished. Reading Joseph Heller's classic satire is nothing less than a rite of passage.
Set in the closing months of World War II, this is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. His real problem is not the enemy - it is his own army which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. If Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the…
I first came across this book in a poster on a wall during a boring corporate training seminar and they just resonated with me. They were also markedly different from the other ‘platitude’ posters adorned those walls. I read this book on a fairly regular basis to remind myself of what these agreements are and what they mean.
They filter down into my therapy and coaching practice often (so does the advice from Yoda in Star Wars, but that is a whole other story!). This book is short, sweet, and very profound. If you follow its advice (based on ancient Toltec wisdom), you will quickly feel its effects. It’s a code of conduct, a source of joy and inspiration, and a way of decreasing the drama in your life (and who wouldn’t want that?).
Albert Ellis borrowed heavily from philosophy when he developed REBT (especially Stoic philosophy), but I also see echoes of this in there, too.
In The Four Agreements, bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.
• A New York Times bestseller for over a decade • Translated into 46 languages worldwide
“This book by don Miguel Ruiz, simple yet so powerful, has made a tremendous difference in how I think and act in every encounter.” — Oprah Winfrey
Wendy Lee Hermance was heard on National Public Radio (NPR) stations with her Missouri Folklore series in the 1980s. She earned a journalism degree from Stephens College, served as Editor and Features Writer for Midwestern and Southern university and regional publications, then settled into writing real estate contracts. In 2012 she attended University of Sydney, earning a master’s degree by research thesis. Her books include Where I’m Going with this Poem, a memoir in poetry and prose. Weird Foods of Portugal: Adventures of an Expatmarks her return to feature writing as collections of narrative non-fiction stories.
Weird Foods of Portugal describes the author's first years trying to make sense of a strange new place and a home there for herself.
Witty, dreamlike, and at times jarring, the book sizzles with social commentary looking back at America and beautiful, finely drawn descriptions of Portugal and its people. Part dark-humor cautionary tale, part travel adventure, ultimately, Hermance's book of narrative non-fiction serves as affirmation for any who wish to make a similar move themselves.
"Wendy Lee Hermance describes Portugal´s colorful people and places - including taxi drivers and animals - with a poet´s empathy and dark humor. Part travel adventure, part cautionary tale, Weird Foods of Portugal is at it´s heart, affirmation for all who consider making such a move themselves."
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