Recommendations based on "10 Secrets of Abundant Happiness Ancient Chinese Wisdom to Enhance Your Life"

Mental health is . . . being yourself.A prescriptive and positive guide, illustrated with line drawings, making the case that mental well-being, like physical health, can be strengthened over time and with specific techniquesWe all want to feel less anxiety, guilt, anger and sadness. We want to obsess less and be less lonely, free ourselves from our demons, compulsive habits, and stress. But as humans (unlike rocks) we experience all of these. And paradoxically, trying to avoid and control them only makes things worse.Having struggled with serious mental illness for many years himself, Mark Freeman has become a dedicated mental-health advocate and coach. He makes the case that instead of trying to feel less and avoid pain and stress, we need to build emotional fitness, especially our capacity for strength, balance and focus. With wit, compassion, and depth of experience and anecdotes, he shows that we can recover from many mental disorders, from mild to very serious, at all ages and stages of life, and even if other methods have failed. Freeman's innovative approach makes use of a range of therapeutic techniques, mindfulness training, peer support, humor, and common sense.

With Search Inside Yourself, Chade-Meng Tan, one of Google's earliest engineers and personal growth pioneer, offers a proven method for enhancing mindfulness and emotional intelligence in life and work.Meng's job is to teach Google's best and brightest how to apply mindfulness techniques in the office and beyond; now, readers everywhere can get insider access to one of the most sought after classes in the country, a course in health, happiness and creativity that is improving the livelihood and productivity of those responsible for one of the most successful businesses in the world.With forewords by Daniel Goleman, author of the international bestseller Emotional Intelligence, and Jon Kabat-Zinn, renowned mindfulness expert and author of Coming To Our Senses, Meng's Search Inside Yourself is an invaluable guide to achieving your own best potential.

From the creator of the Healthier Together podcast comes this holistic guide to self-improvement, with 150 actionable, science-backed strategies for making life healthier and happier, one step at a time. In a culture obsessed with "wellness," what does it mean to truly be well? Liz Moody, a veteran health journalist who has been working in the wellness industry for more than a decade, believes that wellness touches every aspect of our lives. And through her interviews with top scientists, clinicians, and thinkers for her hit podcast, Healthier Together, she's discovered that sometimes it only takes a little bit of effort to make our lives a lot better. In How to Build Your Best Life, Moody shares the go-to strategies of world class experts and provides simple, practical steps to improve your life in myriad ways. From gut health to personal finance, sleep to relationships, mental clarity to movement--How to Build Your Best Life offers 150 science-backed strategies for enhancing total wellbeing. How to Build Your Best Life is a new kind of wellness book--one that empowers readers to craft their best life based on the habits they want to form, the problems they want to solve, and the qualities they want to take to the next level. With a variety of tips that span the spectrum of health, and Liz's friendly voice serving as a supportive guide, this timeless resource offers a trusted roadmap to becoming healthier and happier.

By the longtime Guardian science journalist, a groundbreaking exploration of the science of enlightenment and mental wellness, illuminated by twin perspectives, ancient and modern: the spiritual wisdom of Siddhartha Gautama and the revelations of today’s scientists, who are confirming the Buddha’s profound insights into the human mindIn the fifth century BCE, in northern India, Siddhartha, the wandering sage who became the Buddha, developed a program, rooted in meditation and mindfulness, for mastering the mind and achieving lasting peace and contentment. Twenty-five centuries later, humans have transformed everything about our world—except our brains, which remain the same powerful yet flawed instruments possessed by our ancestors. What if the solution we seek to the psychological problems of life in the digital age—distraction, anxiety, addiction, loss of deep meaning—had already been worked out by the Buddha in ancient India? Appealing to readers of Eastern wisdom and Jon Kabat-Zinn, as well as to fans of bestsellers by Oliver Sacks and Malcolm Gladwell, acclaimed science writer and practicing Buddhist James Kingsland reveals how scientists are now unlocking the remarkable secrets of Siddhartha’s brain.Moving effortlessly between science and scripture, Kingsland charts Siddhartha’s spiritual journey and explains how new research by leading neuroscientists and clinical psychologists—many of whom are interviewed in these pages—suggests that mindfulness practice reconfigures our brains to make us sharper, smarter, healthier, and happier, and that it can help treat stress, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, hypertension, and substance abuse. There have even been hints that meditation can enhance immune function, slow cellular aging, and keep dementia at bay. Featuring six guided meditations, Siddhartha’s Brain is a practical and inspiring odyssey of mind and spirit.“Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think.”—Siddhartha

Bioenergetics is the revolutionary new therapy that uses the language of the body to heal the problems of the mind. This exciting body-mind approach to personality has a liberating and positive effect on emotional, physical, and psychic distress. Dr. Alexander Lowen, founder and prime mover of this fast-growing therapy, writes that increased joy and pleasure are possible in every day life through an understanding of how your body functions energetically: how it determines what you feel, think, and do. Dr. Lowen points out that lack of energy is the result of chronic muscular tensions, a condition caused by the suppression of feelings. These tensions can be dissolved through the direct body work in bioenergetic exercise, which restores the potential for living a rich, full life. Dr. Lowen analyzes common physical ailments like headaches and lower back pain and shows how they too can be overcome by releasing the muscular tenstion that create them. Generously illustrated with line drawings of bioenergetic exercises, this book is sure to bring freedom, confidence, and pleasure to thousands of men and women."In this highly interesting and valuable attempt to restore the body to the mind, Dr. Alexander Lowen sets out in a practically useful way the principles of his new form of psychotherapy. Bioenergetics is destined to become widely influential."—Ashley Montagu

The bestselling approachable guide that has inspired thousands of readers to manage or overcome depression — fully revised and updated for life in the 21st century.Depression rates around the world have skyrocketed in the 20‑plus years since Richard O'Connor first published his classic book on living with and overcoming depression. Nearly 40 million American adults suffer from the condition, which affects nearly every aspect of life, from relationships, to job performance, physical health, productivity, and, of course, overall happiness. And in an increasingly stressful and overwhelming world, it's more important than ever to understand the causes and effects of depression, and what we can do to overcome it.In this fully revised and updated edition — which includes updated information on the power of mindfulness, the relationship between depression and other diseases, the risks and side effects of medication, depression’s effect on thinking, and the benefits of exercise — Dr. O'Connor explains that, like heart disease and other physical conditions, depression is fueled by complex and interrelated factors: genetic, biochemical, environmental. But Dr. O'Connor focuses on an additional factor that is often overlooked: our own habits. Unwittingly we get good at depression. We learn how to hide it, and how to work around it. We may even achieve great things, but with constant struggle rather than satisfaction. Relying on these methods to make it through each day, we deprive ourselves of true recovery, of deep joy and healthy emotion.Undoing Depression teaches us how to replace depressive patterns with a new and more effective set of skills. We already know how to "do" depression—and we can learn how to undo it. With a truly holistic approach that synthesizes the best of the many schools of thought about this painful disease, and a critical eye toward medications, O'Connor offers new hope—and new life—for sufferers of depression.

Results from Dr. Fred Luskin's Stanford University Forgiveness Project, one of the largest and most important studies on forgiveness ever conducted, show that learning how to forgive improves our emotional and physical well-being. Holding onto resentment or hurt disrupts our personal and professional lives, leads to bad decision-making, and releases stress chemicals that can have a negative effect on our health. Yet all too many of us clutch our grievances and give away our power by remaining victims of the people who have hurt us.By teaching us how to forgive, this book enables us to move beyond being a victim to a life of improved health and contentment. Based on scientific research, this groundbreaking study from the frontiers of psychology and medicine offers startling new insight into the healing powers of forgiveness. Through vivid examples (including his work with victims from both sides of Northern Ireland's civil war), Dr. Fred Luskin offers a proven nine-step forgiveness method. Participants in Stanford University's Forgiveness Project experienced: Decrease in feelings of hurt Reduction in the physical symptoms of stress, including backache, muscle aches, dizziness, and upset stomach Increase in optimism Reduction in long-term experience of angera significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseaseForgive for Good distills the essential elements of Dr. Luskin's forgiveness training into an accessible guide for overcoming the negative effects of anger, bitterness, and resentment by gaining control of our feelings. Forgiveness does not mean condoning the behavior of those who have hurt us. Forgiveness is a choice that we make to release our past and heal our present.

The essential guide to mental health from the bestselling author of The School of Life. A Therapeutic Journey follows the arc from mental crisis and collapse to convalescence and recovery. Written with kindness, knowledge and sympathy, it is both a practical guide and a source of consolation and companionship in what might be some of our loneliest, most anguished moments. Alain de Botton explores how we can cope with a variety of forms of mental pain and illness, from the mild to the severe. It considers how and why we might become ill; how we can explain things to friends, family and colleagues; how we can find our ways towards recovery; and how we can build resilience, so as to live wisely alongside our difficulties. At heart this is a book about redemption - about regaining the thread of our lives, rediscovering meaning, and finding our way back to connection, warmth and joy.

In his widely praised book, award-winning psychologist Jonathan Haidt examines the world's philosophical wisdom through the lens of psychological science, showing how a deeper understanding of enduring maxims-like Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, or What doesn't kill you makes you stronger-can enrich and even transform our lives.

Meditation instructor, Deepak Chopra protégé, director of Meditation Wanderlust Hollywood, and Lululemon ambassador Megan Monahan presents a no-nonsense guide to meditation for everyday soul-searchers.This modern guide to meditation from instructor Megan Monahan takes readers beyond empty Instagram truisms to the simple yet effective ways to "meditate their way through the bad shit and into the good shit." With a fresh voice and perspective, Monahan presents a set of tools grounded in a meditation technique that is impossible to screw up. With her help, you'll unpack the five spiritual mindsets (Presence, Acceptance, Intention, Nonjudgment, and Trust, aka PAINT) that are key to moving out of constriction and fear and into a more expansive space within yourself and your life. Ultimately, you will quickly notice, at any triggering moment, where you're getting stuck and how to more consciously move through it. The good news? This process is applicable to everything in your life, from missing a flight to seeing your ex's engagement photo on social media to losing your job. Wouldn't it be nice to not be completely leveled by any of those occurrences? Plot twist: After reading this book, taking the quizzes, and doing the themed meditations . . . you won't be!