hope

Jumping on the Yearly Recap Bandwagon (Part 2)

December 21, 2015 | Leave a Comment

Continuing on the yearly recap that I started last week, here are my top five most helpful books:

#5: The Body Keeps Score (B. Van Der Kolk)
Compared to the other horribly boring book that I read on trauma (I’m looking at you Trauma and Recovery), this book is fabulous. In a super easy to read format, this book gives the readers a window into the author’s professional journey of discovering different type of trauma therapy and techniques. The Body Keeps Score would be helpful for anyone with an interest in or experiences of trauma.

#4: Uncovering Happiness (E. Goldstein)
Another easy to read book…because it should be overwhelmingly apparent by now that I love a good book written in simple language. This book offers readers information and possible strategies for people dealing with depression. It is a motivating book that encourages self-kindness and has a realistic message overall.

#3: Rewire Your Anxious Brain (C.M. Pittman & E.M. Karle)
Ok, I’m going to admit it…choosing the order of my top three was actually really hard. They all should probably be tied for number 1, but alas. This is definitely one of my favourite books on anxiety. It takes very complex processes and shares them with readers in a simplified manner. This book includes lots of great information, exercises, and strategies that will help readers to start the process of rewiring their brains.

#2: Quiet (S. Cain)
It seems like most people have heard of this book… and for good reason – it’s great! Quiet discusses the differences between introverts and extroverts, while normalizing the traits and feelings associated with being introverted. There are not many good books written on this topic (in my opinion), so this one totally stands out as a helpful book to help introverts to better understand themselves and extroverts to understand their quieter counterparts.

#1: Furiously Happy (J. Lawson)
I had to do it…this book just had to be first. No, it’s not a typical self-help pr psychology book…in fact you won’t even find it in those sections at the bookstore. This is more of a biographical and humour type of book…and neither of those categories diminish the helpfulness of this book. Furiously Happy is a collection of essays that describe the author’s life and her ongoing dealings with mental illness. The most important part of this book is that it smashes stigmas (simply by being open and honest) and it has the potential to normalize certain experiences for readers. I have no doubt that many readers will recognize themselves in the pages of this book…and if they don’t see themselves, they will at least gain some understanding about people who deal with mental illness. The fact that this book challenges the stigma surrounding mental illness made this book an obvious choice for number 1 for me. At some point, I seem to talk to all of my clients about their encounters with stigma and their fears, upset, and anger about it. This book reminds you that you’re not alone.

So there you have it – my completely biased list of the Top 10 Most Helpful Books of 2015!

How to Manage When You Discover You Have Breast Cancer

October 5, 2015 | Leave a Comment

This Week’s Book = Bald is Better with Earrings (by A. Hutton) Dealing with Breast Cancer

Ok, so I’m getting back to the books this week. I chose this book for several reasons, namely the topic, the smile that crossed my face when I read the title, and the shiny picture on the cover. To stave off any immediate questions in advance – no, I do not have breast cancer. I do, however, work with women and men who experience loss of all kind…so I want to be prepared and knowledgeable for those who come to see me regarding the losses associated with cancer.

Bald is Better with Earrings is the ultimate self-help book for people dealing with breast cancer. It is written by Andrea Hutton, a survivor of breast cancer, and it gives explicit details on exactly what to expect from the moment of diagnosis onwards. Hutton devotes chapters to discussing appointments, tests,
surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and recovery. Throughout the book, she also provides suggestions (often in list form) based on her own experiences, the conversations that she’s had with other survivors, and the research she’s completed.

The first thought that I had when I started reading this book was that it read like a blog…then lo and behold, Hutton stated that this book started as a blog! The “blogness” of this book reveals itself in the informal language, the conversational tone, and the mass number of lists throughout the book (i.e. ‘Top 5 Tips for Handling Chemo’). Even though she writes in a relaxed manner, Hutton does not fail to stress how life-changing and serious a cancer diagnosis and the subsequent treatment is. She does not build false hope, but speaks in a realistic and hopeful way. This book is amazingly informative and helpful. I can see how it would take some of the fear out of a cancer diagnosis by describing (as much as possible) what you can expect to happen. It normalizes a lot of the experiences associated with cancer and provides a wealth of information in a way that will help people dealing with cancer to feel a small semblance of control in an otherwise chaotic situation.

I honestly can’t say enough good things about this book. As Hutton states on page 31, “This isn’t Grey’s Anatomy. This is your life.” So if you have been diagnosed with cancer, have a family member or friend with cancer, work as a health professional, or just have a general interest, buy this book. Read it, feel prepared, get some ideas, and develop an insane amount of empathy for someone who is going through cancer.

Interested in the book? Click here!

Inspiring Hope About Getting Past Fear

August 24, 2015 | Leave a Comment

This Week’s Book = The Dance of Fear (by H. Lerner)

c/o www.harrietlerner.com

This week I decided to re-read a book that I remember being super helpful when I was in the throes of anxiety in my early twenties. When I picked it up this time, I realized that I could not remember for the life of me what exactly the book was about or how it had helped me. All I could remember was the comfort that this book had given me and how so much of what it said just made sense. So, needless to say, this week’s read was a bit of a rediscovery.

The Dance of Fear is a family systems-based discussion of fear, anxiety and shame – emotions that we all feel from time to time in varying degrees. Lerner is very clear – this is not a book that will lay out a plan for you to eliminate fear and anxiety from your life. Instead, this book examines the fear, shame and anxiety processes, what to expect when we try to make changes, and how fear, anxiety and shame play out in our work and personal lives. It is very conversational in nature and includes lots of real life examples. Lerner reserves the discussion of courage (a seemingly obvious topic in a book on fear) for the very last chapter. Again she is clear – courage is not the equal to fearlessness, but instead it is when we act or speak despite our fear.

I’ll admit, when I first started reading this again my reaction was…meh. You know, that non-committal sound accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders. By the end of the book, I was much more satisfied with the information being presented. The chapter on change is probably the best one in my opinion, as it gives a very candid look at how the systems in our lives will react to our changes. But really, who cares what I think about this book now? The key point is that, when I was in the depths of my anxiety ridden years, this book was helpful. When I was feeling at my worst, this book gave me hope and information that gave me a little nudge forward. This book spoke to exactly how I was feeling in a way that made sense and it normalized what I was experiencing. To know that you are not alone is a powerful thing. If you are dealing with anxiety, panic, fear, or shame, I highly recommend that you give this book a try.

Interested in this book? Click here!