What Makes You Not a Buddhist


Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse - 2006
    The director of two feature films with Buddhist themes (the international sensation The Cup and Travelers and Magicians), this provocative teacher, artist, and poet is widely known and admired by Western Buddhists.Moving away from conventional presentations of Buddhist teachings, Khyentse challenges readers to make sure they know what they're talking about before they claim to be Buddhist. With wit and irony, Khyentse urges readers to move beyond the superficial trappings of Buddhism beyond a romance with beads, incense, and exotic people in robes straight to the heart of what the Buddha taught.In essence, this book explains what a Buddhist really is, namely, someone who deeply understands the truth of impermanence and how our emotions can trap us in cycles of suffering. Khyentse presents the fundamental tenets of Buddhism in simple language, using examples we can all relate to.

Son of a Silverback


Russell Kane - 2019
    Very funny and heartbreaking.' Davina McCallFrom one of Britain’s most popular and prolific comedians comes a hilarious and deeply moving memoir of life lived under the rule of a Silverback dad.The Silverback is considered the undisputed king, a creature whose authority is never challenged and who does not yield to compromise. He walks proudly, feeds greedily, grafts tirelessly, mates voraciously, swears constantly and is threatened all too easily. The Silverback is known to nestle in the misty peaks of central Africa but can also be found in Barking, Essex. Meet Dave Kane, the disappointed, steroid-ingesting, metal-wielding, bouncer father of slight, effete Gamma Male, Russell Kane.SON OF A SILVERBACK is a story about fathers and sons, class and education and how one scrawny, sensitive, fake-tan-applying 'ponce' stepped out of his father's shadow and became a man - whatever that means.

Unleash the Power Within: Personal Coaching to Transform Your Life!


Tony Robbins - 2020
    When we do, we give away our power. It’s time to find your own answers...uncover your own internal motivations...and set your own rules! In Tony Robbins’ exciting live audio seminar Unleash the Power Within you’ll discover how to transform your limiting beliefs, adding new meaning and depth to your life. You’ll learn to tap into your deepest, most personal resources, to become all you truly desire and deserve. And when you begin to claim the abundant rewards your future has in store, you’ll not only make a remarkable improvement in your life—but consequently, in our world. Tony shows you how to live your life not by hope...not by chance...but by design. You’ll learn to: -Break old patterns and destroy limiting beliefs -Become a decisive person who takes massive, intelligent action -Condition yourself mentally, emotionally, and physically to create staggering results -Find and develop a strategy of success -Have more confidence and self-esteem -Develop new communication skills -Generate more passion and enthusiasm -Become aware of the higher purpose of your life -Discover what drives you and what holds you back -And much, much more!

A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy


Miyamoto Musashi - 1645
    There he wrote five scrolls describing the "true principles" required for victory in the martial arts and on the battlefield. Instead of relying on religion or theory, Musashi based his writings on his own experience, observation, and reason.

Zen and the Art of Disc Golf


Patrick McCormick - 2014
    McCormick carefully argues, it can be a window that shows us how we interact with the world. The way we play is the way we live. This book is about the sport of Disc Golf, but it also is about so much more than throwing a disc at a basket. For the passionate practitioner, Disc Golf becomes a meditation, and practicing not only has the potential to make us better players, but better people as we begin to focus on what we are doing on the course that is working or not working versus what we are doing at home or in the office. "Zen and the Art of Disc Golf" is about becoming the best players we can be and in turn becoming the best possible version of ourselves through cultivation of attitude, focus, determination, and mental strength. It is about mastering the mind, body, and spirit in such a way that we score better and live better. Inside this book you will learn: -What Disc Golf can teach us about life and success -The secret formula for success on and off the course. -How to create the proper attitude and focus to become better Disc Golfers and in turn live better lives. -How visualization improves our game and our lives. -Who you need to be playing with on the course. -How to hit more chains and less trees. -How to take yourself off autopilot and elevate your scores and your game. -The 3 sides of Disc Golf and how to balance them. Most importantly, after reading this book you will walk away ready to Ace holes and Ace life. Disc Golf is life. Life is good.

The Upside of Being an Introvert


Brian Walsh - 2015
    From classrooms built around group learning to open-plan offices that encourage endless meetings, it sometimes seems that the 21st century is designed for the extroverted. This TIME Spotlight Story explores the Upside of Being an Introvert.

Meditation for Beginners


Jack Kornfield - 1998
    Meditation for Beginners introduces you to this ancient art, and shows you, step-by-step, how it can help you feel truly alive and connected with the treasure each moment brings. In this complete video beginners' course, Jack Kornfield introduces you to the "insight" practice of meditation. Buddhist monks draw from this same tradition; anyone can use its principles to cultivate a profound inner calm and awaken to the truth behind the power of their presence. Four easy-to-learn meditations cover postures and breathing, beginner's mind, awareness practices, lovingkindness, and much more. Join this respected teacher and learn the time-honored secrets of mindfulness and inner freedom on Meditation for Beginners.

Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself


Mark Epstein - 2018
    The book is a tonic for the ailments of our time."--Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth Our ego, and its accompanying sense of nagging self-doubt as we work to be bigger, better, smarter, and more in control, is one affliction we all share. And while our ego claims to have our best interests at heart, in its never-ending pursuit of attention and power, it sabotages the very goals it sets to achieve. In Advice Not Given, renowned psychiatrist and author Dr. Mark Epstein reveals how Buddhism and Western psychotherapy, two traditions that developed in entirely different times and places and, until recently, had nothing to do with each other, both identify the ego as the limiting factor in our well-being, and both come to the same conclusion: When we give the ego free rein, we suffer; but when it learns to let go, we are free.With great insight, and in a deeply personal style, Epstein offers readers a how-to guide that refuses a quick fix, grounded in two traditions devoted to maximizing the human potential for living a better life. Using the Eightfold Path, eight areas of self-reflection that Buddhists believe necessary for enlightenment, as his scaffolding, Epstein looks back productively on his own experience and that of his patients. While the ideas of the Eightfold Path are as old as Buddhism itself, when informed by the sensibility of Western psychotherapy, they become something more: a road map for spiritual and psychological growth, a way of dealing with the intractable problem of the ego. Breaking down the wall between East and West, Epstein brings a Buddhist sensibility to therapy and a therapist's practicality to Buddhism. Speaking clearly and directly, he offers a rethinking of mindfulness that encourages people to be more watchful of their ego, an idea with a strong foothold in Buddhism but now for the first time applied in the context of psychotherapy.Our ego is at once our biggest obstacle and our greatest hope. We can be at its mercy or we can learn to mold it. Completely unique and practical, Epstein's advice can be used by all--each in his or her own way--and will provide wise counsel in a confusing world. After all, as he says, "Our egos can use all the help they can get."

The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone - Especially Ourselves


Dan Ariely - 2012
    From Washington to Wall Street, the classroom to the workplace, unethical behavior is everywhere. None of us is immune, whether it's the white lie to head off trouble or padding our expense reports. In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, award-winning, bestselling author Dan Ariely turns his unique insight and innovative research to the question of dishonesty.Generally, we assume that cheating, like most other decisions, is based on a rational cost-benefit analysis. But Ariely argues, and then demonstrates, that it's actually the irrational forces that we don't take into account that often determine whether we behave ethically or not. For every Enron or political bribe, there are countless puffed résumés, hidden commissions, and knockoff purses. In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, Ariely shows why some things are easier to lie about; how getting caught matters less than we think; and how business practices pave the way for unethical behavior, both intentionally and unintentionally. Ariely explores how unethical behavior works in the personal, professional, and political worlds, and how it affects all of us, even as we think of ourselves as having high moral standards.But all is not lost. Ariely also identifies what keeps us honest, pointing the way for achieving higher ethics in our everyday lives. With compelling personal and academic findings, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty will change the way we see ourselves, our actions, and others.

fuck, YES!: A Guide to the Happy Acceptance of Everything


Wing F. Fing - 1988
    He became charged with positive energy. Strange, interesting and beautiful people became his followers. He led them on mind-boggling adventures which gave them all happier, sexier, richer lives. His discovery can be yours, if you want it. It's all here, waiting for you between the covers.When people ask you if you've read this bookbe sure you can say, "Fuck, Yes!" "Of course!" Certainly

Don't Kiss Them Good-bye


Allison DuBois - 2004
    Tell your mom there's no more pain." Allison shared his comforting words with her mother and thus began a lifetime of creating connections between loved ones and those they have lost. The purpose of her gifts became clearer when Allison worked as an intern in the homicide bureau of the district attorney's office and found that she visualized the crime as she handled the evidence. Allison now works as a profiler on criminal investigations.In this stunning book, Allison shares fascinating stories of her encounters with people who have passed and her adventures as a profiler for various law enforcement organizations. With wit and compassion, Allison shows us what it is like to live with these special gifts and talents and also tells about her struggle to live a normal life as a devoted wife and mother. She shows how learning to accept her own gifts has helped her accept the unique gifts of others and how her compelling desire to relieve the pain of others has helped define her own life, a life committed to the search for ultimate truth.If you have ever questioned whether there is an afterlife, this book will help you see that there is a living energy beyond death.

How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain


Lisa Feldman Barrett - 2016
    Scientists have long supported this assumption by claiming that emotions are hardwired in the body or the brain. Today, however, the science of emotion is in the midst of a revolution on par with the discovery of relativity in physics and natural selection in biology—ans this paradigm shift has far-reaching implications for us all.Leading the charge is psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, whose theory of emotion is driving a deeper understanding of the mind and brain, and shedding new light on what it means to be human. Her research overturns the widely held belief that emotions are housed in different parts of the brain and are universally expressed and recognized. Instead, she has shown that emotion is constructed in the moment, by core systems that interact across the whole brain, aided by a lifetime of learning. This new theory means that you play a much greater role in your emotional life than you ever thought. Its repercussions are already shaking the foundations not only of psychology but also of medicine, the legal system, child-rearing, meditation, and even airport security.Why do emotions feel automatic? Does rational thought really control emotion? How does emotion affect disease? How can you make your children more emotionally intelligent? How Emotions Are Made answers these questions and many more, revealing the latest research and intriguing practical applications of the new science of emotion, mind, and brain.

Fuse


Hollay Ghadery - 2021
    Fuse has elements of memoir, but does not follow a traditional linear narrative. Rather, the book is a series of 13 meditations that probe different parts of Hollay’s fractured biracial experience, including eating and anxiety disorders, self-mutilation, sex, motherhood, and the simultaneous allure and rejection of aesthetic beauty. In Fuse, Hollay speaks to the struggle to construct a fluid identity in a world that wants to peg you down: what you are, and are not. While Hollay’s experiences are personal, the issues surrounding the bi-racial identity are wide-spread; the number of interracial marriages is increasing every year. A dialogue on the tensions surrounding the female bi-racial mind and body is long overdue.

Where Did I Go Right?: How the Left Lost Me


Geoff Norcott - 2021
    And because Geoff Norcott is so funny, it unfortunately means I can't dismiss his views entirely. It's so important to have a friend you can disagree with but still admire and Geoff can be that friend to you!' - Katherine Ryan "I've always thought the benefit of having batsh*t parents is it increases the chance of you growing up funny. It's certainly worked for Geoff Norcott." - David Baddiel 'Voting Conservative is like buying a James Blunt album: loads of people have done it, but weirdly you never meet them ...' Comedian Geoff Norcott should have been Labour through and through. He grew up on a council estate, both of his parents were disabled, and his Dad was a Union man. So, how was it that he grew up to vote Tory? In this courageously honest and provocative memoir, Geoff unpicks his working-class upbringing and his political journey from left to right. Raised by a fierce matriarch and a maverick father on a South London council estate where they filmed scenes for The Bill, Geoff spends his youth attempting to put out kitchen fires with aerosols and leaping in and out of industrial skips. But as he reaches adolescence, his political views begin to be influenced by major events including the early 90s recession, the credit crunch, and a chance encounter with Conservative PM John Major. As an adult, Geoff begins to have the gnawing feeling that the values and traditions he grew up with no longer match Labour's. And, as Brexit appears, he feels even more like a double agent operating behind enemy lines. Written with warmth, wit and often laugh-out-loud humour, Where Did I Go Right? is Geoff's attempt to understand why he ended up voting 'for the bad guys', and why blue-collared conservatism could be here to stay. Praise for Geoff Norcott: 'A mature, sharp take on modern politics' - The Sunday Times 'Gently abrasive, but that's what makes him so entertaining... with a sharp, self-knowing wit' - The Times 'Geoff Norcott genuinely has something original to say' - New European 'A refreshingly brilliant new comedic voice' - Spectator 'Norcott is an out-and-out rebel' - ExpressReviewWHERE DID I GO RIGHT? is sharp, considered, insightful, and helped me make sense of 'the other side'. And because Geoff Norcott is so funny, it unfortunately means I can't dismiss his views entirely. It's so important to have a friend you can disagree with but still admire and Geoff can be that friend to you! ― Katherine RyanBook DescriptionGeoff Norcott's colourful memoir of growing up Labour, but now voting Tory.About the AuthorComedian and writer Geoff Norcott is well known for his regular appearances on BBC2's The Mash Report, BBC1's Mock The Week, and Radio 4's The News Quiz. In 2019, he fronted his own BBC2 documentary How The Middle Class Ruined Britain and he has four Radio 4 specials to his name, one of which won the BBC Radio Award for Best Comedy Production. A satirical commentator in many national newspapers, Geoff has also been profiled in The Times and t he Guardian. He lives with his wife and son in Cambridgeshire.

Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain's Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal


Erik Vance - 2016
    Could the secrets to personal health lie within our own brains? Journalist Erik Vance explores the surprising ways our expectations and beliefs influence our bodily responses to pain, disease, and everyday events. Drawing on centuries of research and interviews with leading experts in the field, Vance takes us on a fascinating adventure from Harvard’s research labs to a witch doctor’s office in Catemaco, Mexico, to an alternative medicine school near Beijing (often called “China’s Hogwarts”). Vance’s firsthand dispatches will change the way you think—and feel.  Continuing the success of National Geographic’s brain books and rounding out our pop science category, this book shows how expectations, beliefs, and self-deception can actively change our bodies and minds. Vance builds a case for our “internal pharmacy”—the very real chemical reactions our brains produce when we think we are experiencing pain or healing, actual or perceived. Supporting this idea is centuries of placebo research in a range of forms, from sugar pills to shock waves; studies of alternative medicine techniques heralded and condemned in different parts of the world (think crystals and chakras); and most recently, major advances in brain mapping technology. Thanks to this technology, we're learning how we might leverage our suggestibility (or lack thereof) for personalized medicine, and Vance brings us to the front lines of such study.From the Hardcover edition.