I’ve long been a fan of Maya Angelou, the great American poet, memoir writer and civil rights activist. Her book, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, is very special. Today we’re going to spend some time with the incomparable Maya Angelou. Alongside her many gifts, she also left us some thought-provoking and inspiring quotes. I’d like…
Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk “It is a tool-box filled to the brim with different tools for different jobs.” TikTok sensation, psychologist Dr Julie Smith, offers us a toolkit using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as her guide. It is an accessible and valuable book written in a normal, down to earth style. At…
How do you view the past, the present and the future? There is so much to be said about all three of these things. For today, here are my brief thoughts in a fridge magnet.
The Six Pillars of Self-EsteemAmazon.com & Amazon.co.uk According to world expert Nathaniel Branden, self-esteem is: “The single most important psychological subject in the world.” It is so vital because how we value and view ourselves – our self-esteem – is fundamental to how we live our lives. The level of our self-esteem directly impacts on…
“It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.”Dieter F. Uchtdorf I had to write this post today to share a brilliant Ted Talk with you on resilience. Resilience – the capacity to recover from, or cope with, difficult life events – is vital for us to get…
Here are my Top 3 Self-Help Books of 2018. With an extra bonus! In reverse order… No. 3 – Atomic Habits by James Clear Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk. No-one likes a book on habits more than me as habits are so vital to living a happy life. James Clear’s Atomic Habits gives us an engaging and helpful book on…
Anger Management : Understanding, Healing, Freedom. Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk “Angry people are usually not bad people. They are usually hurt people.” John Crawford I’m sure all of us, at some point in our lives, have felt the burning heat of anger and/or witnessed it in others. We feel out of control and act in ways…
Overcome Social Anxiety and ShynessAmazon.com & Amazon.co.uk Paula’s phone vibrates. She checks her text messages to find an invitation to a colleagues party. Sickness hits her stomach. The thought of it fills her with horror. As she imagines trying to make conversation with strangers, without stumbling or saying the wrong thing, her chest pounds and…
As each year closes I like to offer my top self-help books of the year. Here are my choices for 2016. In reverse order… No 3 – If I Could Tell You Just One Thing (Richard Reed) Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk If you could offer someone just one piece of advice, which you’ve learned over your lifetime, what…
This is just a quick post to mention the latest research on the value of nature for our physical and mental health. The research shows that getting out into nature can positively affect our immune system – among others things – and protect us from a number of different diseases, such as: depression, cardiovascular disease,…
The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder SourcebookAmazon.com & Amazon.co.uk Those who have experienced trauma often need a great deal of help to cope with it. Thankfully, the understanding of trauma, and how we need to deal with it, has expanded greatly over the last few years. We now know that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can follow…
Loving Him Without Losing YouAmazon.com & Amazon.co.uk It can happen to any of us when we’re in a relationship. We start losing our own identity, our individuality, our very self – we start disappearing. Loving Him Without Losing You looks closely at this issue, with compassion and understanding. Most importantly, it offers some wise and…
Better Than BeforeAmazon.com & Amazon.co.uk I’ve read a lot of books on habits – understanding, making and breaking them – but this is the most useful and effective one I’ve read so far. Gretchen Rubin, following on from her extensive research into happiness, tackles the vexed subject of habits in her latest book, Better Than Before:…
How To Win Friends & Influence PeopleAmazon.com & Amazon.co.uk Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, is one of the biggest selling self-help books of all time – selling over 15 million copies. First published in 1937, it has been praised by many for its insight and wisdom and yet maligned by some…
Today we’re looking at the topic of happiness and some of the excellent books which are available which can help us find happiness in our own lives. A friend of mine, Paul, who is the creator of the excellent blog Learning From Dogs, is currently writing a book. He’s about to research and write on the…