Here are 100 books that Fierce Self-Compassion fans have personally recommended if you like
Fierce Self-Compassion.
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The question “Who are you?” has been central to my practice over the last 30 years. This inquiry led me to live in a silent monastery for eight years. If we aren’t who we have been conditioned to see ourselves to be, then who are we? Who are we truly? This inquiry has led to happiness in my own life, it’s led to happiness in the lives of thousands of teens who have been served through the nonprofit I founded―Peace in Schools, and it’s led to happiness with the adults who have come to my workshops and retreats.
I was deeply moved by this book because it offers a compassionate, practical approach to healing from trauma. I appreciate the way it blends science-backed strategies with mindfulness and self-compassion, helping me understand how to regulate my emotions better and build resilience.
The exercises are simple yet powerful, making it easy to integrate them into my daily life. What really stands out for me is the book's hopeful tone—it provides a clear, empowering roadmap to not just survive but thrive after difficult experiences. It’s become a go-to resource for navigating stress and finding growth in the midst of challenges.
Even in the best of circumstances, life can sometimes seem like a parade of traumatic events. The good news is we come equipped with the ability to grow from our adverse experiences. Researchers call this response "post-traumatic growth," or PTG.
Psychologist and mindfulness educator Dr. Christopher Willard has gathered essential mind-body tools for PTG into one concise volume. After a brief crash course in the latest research on trauma and the mind-body connection, we learn to access our innate resilience through body-based practices, mindful awareness, and generating compassion for ourselves and others.
The question “Who are you?” has been central to my practice over the last 30 years. This inquiry led me to live in a silent monastery for eight years. If we aren’t who we have been conditioned to see ourselves to be, then who are we? Who are we truly? This inquiry has led to happiness in my own life, it’s led to happiness in the lives of thousands of teens who have been served through the nonprofit I founded―Peace in Schools, and it’s led to happiness with the adults who have come to my workshops and retreats.
I was profoundly impacted by this book because it boldly confronts the uncomfortable truths about racism, privilege, and spiritual practice. This book pushed me to examine how these issues affect my own path and the collective awakening. I love how it intertwines the Black prophetic tradition with Buddhist teachings, creating a powerful call for radical honesty and inclusiveness.
The conversations within these pages are both challenging and liberating, urging me to engage more deeply in meaningful dialogue and take action toward real social transformation. It’s a necessary, transformative read for anyone committed to justice and spiritual growth.
Igniting a long-overdue dialogue about how the legacy of racial injustice and white supremacy plays out in society at large and Buddhist communities in particular, this urgent call to action outlines a new dharma that takes into account the ways that racism and privilege prevent our collective awakening. The authors traveled around the country to spark an open conversation that brings together the Black prophetic tradition and the wisdom of the Dharma. Bridging the world of spirit and activism, they urge a compassionate response to the systemic, state-sanctioned violence and oppression that has persisted against black people since the slave…
The question “Who are you?” has been central to my practice over the last 30 years. This inquiry led me to live in a silent monastery for eight years. If we aren’t who we have been conditioned to see ourselves to be, then who are we? Who are we truly? This inquiry has led to happiness in my own life, it’s led to happiness in the lives of thousands of teens who have been served through the nonprofit I founded―Peace in Schools, and it’s led to happiness with the adults who have come to my workshops and retreats.
I was deeply touched by my next pick because it seamlessly blends mindfulness with racial justice and healing. I was moved by the way Johnson combines her personal narrative with practical guidance, making the exploration of social justice and self-care feel both profound and actionable.
The book's focus on inclusivity and compassion truly resonated with me, offering a meaningful approach to integrating mindfulness into advocacy for a more equitable world. This book has inspired me to approach my own activism with greater awareness and empathy, and I find it essential for anyone committed to both personal and social transformation.
Learn how to process your own grief--as well as family, community, and global grief--with this fierce and openhearted guide to healing in an unjust world.
In unsettling and uncertain times, the individual and collective heartbreak that lives in our bodies and communities can feel insurmountable. Many of us have been conditioned by the dominant culture to not name, focus on, or wade through the difficulties of our lives. But in order to heal, we must make space for grief and prioritize our wholeness, our humanity, and our inherent divinity.
In Finding Refuge, social justice activist, social worker, and yoga teacher…
The question “Who are you?” has been central to my practice over the last 30 years. This inquiry led me to live in a silent monastery for eight years. If we aren’t who we have been conditioned to see ourselves to be, then who are we? Who are we truly? This inquiry has led to happiness in my own life, it’s led to happiness in the lives of thousands of teens who have been served through the nonprofit I founded―Peace in Schools, and it’s led to happiness with the adults who have come to my workshops and retreats.
I was captivated by this one because it merges neuroscience with contemplative practices in a way that’s both practical and transformative. I appreciate how Hanson provides research-backed exercises to help rewire the brain for greater resilience and happiness.
The book’s approach to harnessing neuroplasticity resonated deeply with me, offering actionable steps to cultivate a more fulfilling and meaningful life. This blend of science and spirituality has truly enriched my personal growth journey, making it an essential read for anyone looking to leverage the brain’s power for lasting change and well-being.
LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER • “An easy-to-follow road map for creating day-to-day inner peace in today’s increasingly complex world.”—Lori Gottlieb, MFT, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Throughout history, people have sought the heights of human potential—to become as wise and strong, happy and loving, as any person can ever be. And now recent science is revealing how these remarkable ways of being are based on equally remarkable changes in our own nervous system, making them more attainable than ever before.
In Neurodharma, the follow-up to his classic Buddha’s Brain, New York Times bestselling…
I’ve lived with anxiety for most of my life. Whether it’s been with emetophobia (a phobia of vomit) or an intense bout of panic attacks, I know the story well. Now, as a psychologist, I’ve seen up close what works and what doesn’t. I love helping my clients and the audiences that I work with learn how to accept their anxiety, rather than try to make it go away. This is often counterintuitive at first but we can still live an empowered life, even with the anxiety present. When we do this, we’ve unlocked a whole new level of liberation where we can show up fully, worries and all.
This book is a staple in the field of psychology and mental health and for very good reason.
So many of us struggle with being kind to our mind and we worry that we’ll truly fall apart if we are compassionate to ourselves. Dr. Neff brings the evidence-backed research to prove that self-compassion is the antidote to anxiety and it has incredibly restorative potential to help us not only get back to baseline, but truly feel better.
THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION WITH A NEW FOREWORD FROM KRISTIN NEFF
'Kristin Neff offers practical, wise guidance on the path of emotional healing and deep inner transformation.' Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance
Kristin Neff PhD, is a professor in educational psychology, and the world's expert on self-compassion. A pioneer who established self-compassion as a field of study, Kristin offers a powerful solution for combating negativity and insecurity - the symptoms of living in a high-pressure world.
Through tried and tested exercises and audio downloads, readers learn the 3 core components that will help to heal destructive emotional patterns…
As a clinical psychologist and neuroscientist, I have dedicated my life to understanding and healing the wounds of trauma and stress. My passion comes from witnessing the power of blending neuroscience with therapy in my personal and professional life. The resilience and healing I see daily inspire me. My work empowers individuals to reclaim their mental health and build resilient minds. This curated book list reflects my commitment to accessible, actionable tools for self-healing and growth. I believe mental health is a human right, though access to therapy is a privilege. These authors offer empowering, insightful works to put healing into everyone’s hands.
My last pick is a transformative resource for developing self-kindness and emotional resilience. I love this workbook because it has practical exercises and guided practices that foster self-compassion. Neff and Germer’s approach, which combines mindfulness with self-compassion, offers a powerful framework for personal growth.
Their warm and empathetic writing makes the journey towards self-compassion manageable and rewarding. This workbook has been a treasure trove of tools for building inner strength and finding peace within. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to cultivate a more compassionate relationship with themselves.
Are you kinder to others than you are to yourself? More than a thousand research studies show the benefits of being a supportive friend to yourself, especially in times of need. This science-based workbook offers a step-by-step approach to breaking free of harsh self-judgments and impossible standards in order to cultivate emotional well-being. In a convenient large-size format, the book is based on the authors' groundbreaking eight-week Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program, which has helped tens of thousands of people worldwide. It is packed with guided meditations (with audio downloads); informal practices to do anytime, anywhere; exercises; and vivid stories of…
I am a clinical psychologist who was surprised to realize that I am both Autistic and an ADHDer in my late 40s. I have always been fascinated by psychology, and now Autism and ADHD have become my areas of “special interest” (“spin”). I have been reading widely to learn more about myself, find practical ways to alleviate the chronic sense of overwhelm I experience and recover from burnout. Most of my clients are also late-diagnosed neurodivergent adults who have complex mental and physical health problems, so the reading I’ve been doing has given me fresh insights to share and helpful strategies we can test out together.
This beautiful book makes offering yourself compassion simple and achievable. I have been recommending this book for a long time because I love how Laura captures all the key skills of self-compassion and explains them in a way that is practical and easy to follow.
So many books about self-compassion are very long, theoretical, and unnecessarily complex, and I find them hard to read. This book is grounded in what researchers have shown can help (it’s evidence-based), but it doesn’t get bogged down in theory.
Instead, Laura’s simple worksheets, written exercises, mindfulness, and visualization scripts gave me new skills to tackle self-criticism and put self-compassion into action. I have even used exercises in the book with my clients and they’ve loved them too.
Practice deep self compassion with a wide range of strategies.
Today's the day to start loving yourself. How to Be Nice to Yourself makes it simple to start practicing self compassion with a wide variety of techniques and strategies that anyone can learn.
Filled with easy-to-use advice drawn from a variety of sources―including meditation, mindfulness, and acceptance and commitment therapy―this book will help you find the right way to start feeling good about yourself.
How to Be Nice to Yourself: The Everyday Guide to Self Compassion includes:
Proven Strategies―Learn a variety of ways to practice self compassion daily―with meditations, writing…
As a professor and scientist, using my Intentional Change Theory (ICT), I have studied sustained desired change of individuals, teams, organizations, communities, and countries since 1967. I have authored more than 200 articles and 9 books on leadership, competencies, emotional intelligence, competency development, coaching, neuroscience, and management education (including the international best-seller, Primal Leadership with Daniel Goleman and Annie McKee and the recent Helping People Change with Melvin Smith and Ellen Van Oosten). I run several Coursera MOOCs, including Inspiring Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence which has over a million enrolled from 215 countries.
Of all of the competencies that repeatedly predict effective leadership and creating and maintaining of key relationships, is empathy. At the heart of any relationship and perhaps the only antidote to rampant narcissism in our society is empathy. As a prominent psychiatrist and scholar, Helen chronicles decades of research and explains the neural mechanisms that enable us to relate to others, build better relationships ad even inspire others. Her personal stories and those of patients and colleagues make the research come alive with compassion and meaning.
"We are all connected on a neurobiological level far more than we have previously realized. Consciously or not, we are in constant, natural resonance with one another's feelings. When we are engaged in shared mind awareness, the possibilities for mutual aid and collaborative problem solving abound." -Helen Riess, MD
A Revolutionary Guide for Understanding and Changing the Way We Connect
Empathy is undergoing a new evolution. In a global and interconnected culture, we can no longer afford to identify only with people who seem to be a part of our "tribe." As Dr. Helen Riess has learned, our capacity for…
As I moved up in leadership, I found I was not prepared to manage people during uncertain and difficult times. Transitions bring about the worst in people. They get fearful and that causes bad behavior by triggering defense mechanisms. The books I listed are a progression of books that helped me to understand how transitions and change affect people and gave me a framework to continue to learn and increase my leadership skills. I then decided to write about new insights I gained in leadership to help others and have published two books and am writing articles on Medium.
I like this book because of the real-life examples of big company CEOs balancing empathy, compassion, and caring with good business acumen. During uncertainty and change, it is harder but even more important to have empathy and compassion for employees. The authors show that leaders with empathy and compassion foster much higher levels of employee engagement, performance, and loyalty in their employees. Authors Hougaard and Carter also provide tools to help managers at all levels.
Leadership
is hard. How can you balance compassion for your people with effectiveness in
getting the job done?
A global pandemic, economic
volatility, natural disasters, civil and political unrest. From New York to
Barcelona to Hong Kong, it can feel as if the world as we know it is coming
apart. Through it all, our human spirit is being tested. Now more than ever,
it's imperative for leaders to demonstrate compassion.
But in
hard times like these, leaders need to make hard decisions-deliver
negative feedback, make difficult choices that disappoint people, and in some
cases lay people off. How do…
Children feel all their emotions, but I learned to suppress many emotions to avoidcriticism. The youngest, I learned to not trust my intuition. I was taught that the mind wasthe path to success. In my chosen medical profession, physicians use intellect to healbodies. The interconnection of thoughts, emotions, energy as well as interconnectionsbetween people and the environment are ignored.This separation from all of me was sapping me of the joy of living a full life.During my self healing integration journey: I uncovered limiting beliefs, reconnected withmy heart, and dove deep into the source of my pleasure. Bringing this awareness to lightshould be healing.
This book encourages young children to believe in their thoughts, their ideas, their inner knowing.
This book encourages creativity, self-compassion, motivation, and action. It encourages young children to persevere and not give up hope, even if others cannot appreciate their ideas and their goals. It reminds children that a “NO” is not a failure, but just an opportunity to pivot or change tactics.
A New York Times Best Seller and award-winning book, What Do You Do With an Idea? is for anyone who's ever had a big idea. This is the story of one brilliant idea and the child who helps to bring it into the world. As the child's confidence grows, so does the idea itself. And then, one day, something amazing happens. This is a story for anyone, at any age, who's ever had an idea that seemed a little too big, too odd, too difficult. It's a story to inspire you to welcome that idea, to give it some space…
