Creating a Life of Meaning and Compassion


Book Description

Clinical psychologists identify and describe the defensive process that constrains people from making positive changes in their lives. They summarize the insights they gained while developing a more decent and respectful way of living as a response to the destructiveness of society.




Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy


Book Description

Bringing together leading scholars, scientists, and clinicians, this compelling volume explores how therapists can cultivate wisdom and compassion in themselves and their clients. Chapters describe how combining insights from ancient contemplative practices and modern research can enhance the treatment of anxiety, depression, trauma, substance abuse, suicidal behavior, couple conflict, and parenting stress. Seamlessly edited, the book features numerous practical exercises and rich clinical examples. It examines whether wisdom and compassion can be measured objectively, what they look like in the therapy relationship, their role in therapeutic change, and how to integrate them into treatment planning and goal setting. The book includes a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.




Lead With Your Heart


Book Description

In Lead with Your Heart, author Regina Cates asks us to question our notion of what success and happiness really mean. Through the sharing of her own personal stories as well as providing helpful meditations, questions, and exercises, Regina offers a combination of wise advice, compelling anecdotes, and practical strategies for living a life that is authentic, fulfilling, and healing. Regina is well qualified to help others down this path. While sitting alone on her forty-third birthday, Regina hit an emotional bottom with the realization that prior to that moment, she had been caught up in the rat race of trying to live up to other people’s expectations, and as a result, she had given away one of her most important gifts: the power of choice. Regina realized that while we can’t control other people or situations, we do have a choice in how we respond to them. Regina shows us that if we choose to act from a place of love instead of a place of fear, we make our lives and the lives of those around us better in the process. Throughout the book, Regina shares her amazing (and often heart-wrenching) stories of how she moved away from a volatile, victimized frame of mind to a place of making conscious actions and decisions from a centered, heart-driven state. By following along with Regina’s personal stories and practicing the exercises she’s developed, we can all learn how to choose positive, heart-centered solutions for the difficulties in our life.




Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life


Book Description

One of the most original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world—and the bestselling author of such acclaimed books as A History of God, Islam, and Buddha—now gives us a thoughtful, and thought-provoking book that can help us make the world a more compassionate place. Karen Armstrong believes that while compassion is intrinsic in all human beings, each of us needs to work diligently to cultivate and expand our capacity for compassion. Here, she sets out a program that can lead us toward a more compassionate life. The twelve steps Armstrong suggests begin with “Learn About Compassion” and close with “Love Your Enemies.” In between, she takes up “compassion for yourself,” mindfulness, suffering, sympathetic joy, the limits of our knowledge of others, and “concern for everybody.” She suggests concrete ways of enhancing our compassion and putting it into action in our everyday lives, and provides, as well, a reading list to encourage us to “hear one another’s narratives.” Throughout, Armstrong makes clear that a compassionate life is not a matter of only heart or mind but a deliberate and often life-altering commingling of the two.




Self-Compassion


Book Description

Kristin Neff, Ph.D., says that it’s time to “stop beating yourself up and leave insecurity behind.” Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind offers expert advice on how to limit self-criticism and offset its negative effects, enabling you to achieve your highest potential and a more contented, fulfilled life. More and more, psychologists are turning away from an emphasis on self-esteem and moving toward self-compassion in the treatment of their patients—and Dr. Neff’s extraordinary book offers exercises and action plans for dealing with every emotionally debilitating struggle, be it parenting, weight loss, or any of the numerous trials of everyday living.




Your Life on Purpose


Book Description

So many of us postpone pursuing our goals and dreams because we think we'll get to them later, when we have more time or feel we're worthy of them. As a result, many of us go through life feeling weighed down by daily responsibilities and our own self-doubts, entirely disconnected from a sense of real purpose. Based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and powerful mindfulness practices,Your Life on Purpose is about doing what matters to you every day instead of waiting for the perfect time to feel fulfilled and alive. With this book as your guide, you'll learn to move past daily distractions, fear of failure, and self-judgment, and zero in on the passions that connect you with your true self. You deserve to live a life of purpose, aligned with your deepest values. It's time. With this book, you'll discover how to: • Find and do what you are passionate about • Keep mental obstacles, fears, and daily demands from blocking your path to fulfillment • Find your way when values conflict • Focus on what truly matters to make your dreams a reality • Make a lasting impact on the world So what are you waiting for? Start changing your life today.




Fierce Self-Compassion


Book Description

The author of Self-Compassion follows up her groundbreaking book with new ideas that expand our notion of self-kindness and its capacity to transform our lives, showing women how to balance tender self-acceptance with fierce action to claim their power and change the world. Kristin Neff changed how we talk about self-care with her enormously popular first book, Self-Compassion. Now, ten years and many studies later, she expands her body of work to explore a brand-new take on self-compassion. Although kindness and self-acceptance allow us to be with ourselves as we are, in all our glorious imperfection, the desire to alleviate suffering at the heart of this mindset isn't always gentle, sometimes it's fierce. We must also act courageously in order to protect ourselves from harm and injustice, say no to others so we can meet our own needs, and motivate necessary change in ourselves and society. Gender roles demand that women be soft and nurturing, not angry or powerful. But like yin and yang, the energies of fierce and tender self-compassion must be balanced for wholeness and wellbeing. Drawing on a wealth of research, her personal life story and empirically supported practices, Neff demonstrates how women can use fierce and tender self-compassion to succeed in the workplace, engage in caregiving without burning out, be authentic in relationships, and end the silence around sexual harassment and abuse. Most women intuitively recognize fierceness as part of their true nature, but have been discouraged from developing it. Women must reclaim their power in order to create a healthier society and find lasting happiness. In this wise, caring, and enlightening book, Neff shows women how to reclaim balance within themselves, so they can help restore balance in the world.




The Kindness Cure


Book Description

It’s time for a kindness revolution. In The Kindness Cure, psychologist Tara Cousineau draws on cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience to show how simple practices of kindness—for ourselves, for others, and for our world—can dissolve our feelings of fear and indifference, and open us up to a life of profound happiness. Compassion for ourselves and others is our birthright as humans—hardwired into our DNA and essential to our happiness. But in our fast-paced, technical savvy and hyper competitive world, it may come as no surprise that rates of narcissism have risen, while empathy levels have declined. We now find ourselves in a “cool to be cruel” culture where it’s easy to feel disillusioned and dejected in our hearts, homes, and communities. So, how can we reverse this malady of meanness and make kindness and compassion an imperative? The Kindness Cure draws on the latest social and scientific research to reveal how the seemingly “soft skills” of kindness, cooperation, and generosity are fundamental to our survival as a species. In fact, it’s our prosocial abilities that put us at the head of the line. Blended with moving case studies and clinical anecdotes, Cousineau offers practical ways to rekindle kindness from the inside out. We are wired to care. The very existence of our human species evolved because of an intricate physiology built for empathy, compassion, and cooperation. Yet we have an epidemic of loneliness, indifference, and cruelty, and we see these destructive trends on a daily basis in our families, schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces. This important book teaches effective skills in compassion, mindfulness, and social and emotional learning, and reveals successful social policy initiatives in empathy taking place that inform everything from family life to education to the workplace. Kindness has the exponential power to renew relationships and transform how we think, feel, and behave in the world. Will you be a part of the revolution?




Disruptive Compassion


Book Description

Your invitation to move beyond pity, helplessness, and outrage, and your playbook for making a difference right where you are. As the daily newsfeed full of suffering and injustice scrolls by, it's all too easy to question what one person can really do to enact the profound change the world needs. Like moviegoers, we often watch and witness with care, but assume the script has already been written. Disruptive Compassion dares to make a bold counter: you possess the power to provoke real and meaningful change. Why? Because God has empowered you to rewrite the story of tomorrow. Over 2,000 years ago, Jesus created a model for revolutionaries that has been followed ever since. These principles are just as powerful to guide our journey today. With raw and inspiring stories from the world's most desperate places and his own journey to find meaning, Convoy of Hope founder and CEO Hal Donaldson will take you on a tour along the frontlines of courage and compassion. Let this book be your crash course in what it means to become a revolutionary, as you learn how to: Evaluate the resources you already have Navigate real concerns and risks Check your motives And ultimately become equipped as an agitator with purpose With principles and insights gleaned from two decades of relief work, Hal reveals what he's learned from the journey and what we can take with us as we join the revolution.




Compassion


Book Description

In this provocative essay on that least understood virtue, compassion, the authors challenge themselves and us with these questions: Where do we place compassion in our lives? Is it enough to live a life in which we hurt one another as little as possible? Is our guiding ideal a life of maximum pleasure and minimum pain? Compassion answers no. After years of study and discussion among themselves, with other religious, and with men and women at the very center of national politics, the authors look at compassion with a vigorous new perspective. They place compassion at the heart of a Christian life in a world governed far too long by principles of power and destructive control. Compassion, no longer merely an eraser of human mistakes, is a force of prayer and action -- the expression of God's love for us and our love for God and one another. Compassion is a book that says no to a compassion of guilt and failure and yes to a compassionate love that pervades our spirit and moves us to action. Henri Nouwen, Donald McNeill, and Douglas Morrison have written a moving document on what it means to be a Christian in a difficult time.