A Life Worth Living: Meditations on God, Death and Stoicism

Can philosophers create change? Or do they merely entertain intellectual conversations, ask abstract questions about the nature of human thought, the nature of the universe, and the connections between them, and then ponder the possibilities? If you’re William Ferraiolo and you practice Stoicism, a philosophy of personal ethics, you are in fact learning “spiritual exercises” that lead to the development of “self-control and fortitude to overcome destructive emotions”.

Learning From the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil

Imagine revisiting a country that once committed atrocities to your own populations; seeing people going about with their everyday lives normally or waving, smiling as they pass you by. How would your instincts lead you to react? Forgive? Move on? Or even, as Susan Neiman suggested, learn from them?

8 Keys to End Emotional Eating

“I don’t care, I’m just gonna do it.” “It feels good to break the rules.” “Now it’s me time.” I’ve heard my inner voice utter these statements more than once; typically involving food and wine. According to Howard Farkas, these sentiments align with his transgressive model of emotional eating: feeling driven to engage in behaviors that feel subversive and doing them despite negative consequences or guilt (p.94). Emotional eaters live with a recurrent pattern of having an unwanted urge to eat; they are preoccupied and conflicted about it, yet act on it anyway.

Neuro-Narrative Therapy: New Possibilities for Emotion-Filled Conversations

For some time, most narrative therapists focused their style of treatment on an externalized way of objective story telling. However, few of the treatment guidelines in the narrative realm focused on the importance of emotions. Jeffery Zimmerman, a pioneer in connecting neuroscience with narrative therapy, thus used this book to raise awareness of the importance of privileging affect in narrative treatments.

Understanding Domestic Violence: Theories, Challenges, and Remedies

Images flash when we talk about domestic violence—stereotypical scenes of minority women bearing brutal slaps falling on their fragile bodies. However, these images only represent one of many forms of domestic violence and its victims. The content of ‘violence’ exceeds what we might imagine. Aiming to give readers a more holistic understanding of domestic violence as well as suggestions for professional interventions, Herron and Javier define domestic violence comprehensively, offer models of aggression, and include accurate data and truthful narrative stories to back up their arguments. With a clear four-part structure, the book starts with an understanding of the fundamental models behind the phenomena of domestic violence then progresses to the limitations of interventions.

The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last

Oncologist Azra Raza’s The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last presents an innovative perspective on the ongoing war on cancer. Drawing from both personal narrative and cutting-edge research, Dr. Raza underlines the importance of early detection and lends an empowering voice to the suffering of cancer patients.

Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes that Stick

Wendy Wood’s Good Habits, Bad Habits reflects her explanation of the subject of habit formation. Integrating her own research along with other scientific studies, Wood attempts to explain why bad habits are so hard to break and why good habits are so hard to sustain. Wood provides readers with an understanding of both the evolution of research regarding behavior change along with a look into how they can implement habit changing strategies in their own lives.

On the Brink of Being: Talking about Miscarriage

he Brink of Being begins with a tragic look back into Bueno’s personal ordeal with miscarriage and the agony that she went through. Her writing is pain ridden and emphatic, taking the reader down the vortex of her deeply bruised emotions. It is almost impossible to put the book down once you start reading it; it feels disdainful to do so. Bueno explains the lack of resources available to women struggling as she did and the vigor with which she wanted to build a network to support these women.

On the Mystery of Being: Contemporary Insights on The Convergence of Science and Spirituality

What makes us, us? Is our essence of being reflected through the words we put on the blank spaces after the “I AM” statements? Or, are the “I AM” statements already ample enough to give us an answer to the above? On the Mystery of Being offers a collection of insights towards the above question about the essence of beings. In the form of anthology, the authors put forth their main arguments. By bringing spirit with matter, spirituality with science, non-dualistic with dualistic together, we reflect on a more holistic insight into being—to live in the moment. Moreover, in our journey to find the meaning of our beings, the authors advise us to emphasize “I” instead of paying too much attention to the experiences we have been through. Unlike conventional images in which life is a blank canvas awaiting our experiences to paint them colorful, the book informs us that we are not born empty but filled with potentials and completeness.

Rewiring the Addicted Brain with EMDR- Based Treatment

Rewiring the Addicted Brain with EMDR- Based Treatment is a handbook written for “therapists, substance use counselors, and lay people seeking user-friendly tools to help support themselves in recovery” (pg. x). Parnell offers a descriptive introduction that informs the reader what to expect from the book, how it is organized and a brief summary of each part of the book. One of the unique aspects of the book is that it does not need to be read in order. The author instead suggests finding the chapter that would be most beneficial to the client depending on what they are currently struggling with and equip them with the necessary tools found in that chapter. It is important to note that the author explicitly cautions that EMDR therapy can and should only be practiced by licensed mental health counselors or clinicians who have been trained in this modality. In addition to her attachment focus EMDR approach, Parnell also includes aspects from an EMDR-based technique called Resource Tapping. Tapping in are exercises based on the Resource Tapping technique that non-EMDR therapists and lay people can put into use.