We humans all share a basic need for purpose, joy, and love. Yet, we will all encounter some painful troubles or storms in our lifetimes. Any can knock us off course. Others can engulf us. These experiences can harden our hearts or dash our hopes. But there is Light amid the turmoil. We can forge a better version of ourselves while finding our way through the tempest. These relatable stories are of ordinary people who faced extraordinary storms yet chose to live with resilience, faith, and love. They decided to become better, not bitter, to heal and cultivate compassion toward others. Like a good friend who gently shares a life-changing experience with us, this heartfelt collection provides wayfinders for our journeys.

Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think this is the most violent age ever seen. Yet as bestselling author Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true.

Davis laments a modern world in which more people believe in ESP, ghosts, and angels than in evolution. Superstition and religion get particularly critical treatment, although Davis argues that religion, itself, is not the problem.

In today’s work environment, the lines between our professional and personal lives are blurred more than ever before. Whatever is happening to us outside of our workplace—whether stressful, painful, or joyful—follows us into work as well. We may think we have to keep these realities under wraps and act as if we “have it all together.” But as Mike Robbins explains, we can work better, lead better, and be more engaged and fulfilled if—instead of trying to hide who we are—we show up fully and authentically. Mike, a sought-after motivational speaker and business consultant, has spent more than 15 years researching, writing, and speaking about essential human experiences and high performance in the workplace. His clients have ranged from Google to Citibank, from the U.S. Department of Labor to the San Francisco Giants. From small start-ups in Silicon Valley to family-owned businesses in the Midwest. From what he’s seen and studied over the years, Mike believes that for us to thrive professionally, we must be willing to bring our whole selves to the work that we do. Bringing our whole selves to work means acknowledging that we’re all vulnerable, imperfect human beings doing the best we can. It means having the courage to take risks, speak up, have compassion, ask for help, connect with others in a genuine way, and allow ourselves to be truly seen. In this book, Mike outlines five principles we can use to approach our own work in this spirit of openness and humanity, and to help the people we work with feel safe enough to do the same, so that the teams and organizations we’re a part of can truly succeed. “This book will offer you insights, ideas, and tools to inspire you to bring all of who you are to the work that you do—regardless of where you work, what kind of work you do, and with whom you do it. And, if you’re an owner, leader, or just someone who wants to have influence on those around you—this book will also give you specific techniques for how to build or enhance your team’s culture in such a way that encourages others to bring all of who they are to work.”

Why you are a different you at different times and how that’s both normal and healthy • Reveals that each of us is made up of multiple selves, any of which can come to the forefront in different situations • Offers examples of healthy multiple selves from psychology, neuroscience, pop culture, literature, and ancient cultures and traditions • Explores how to harmonize our selves and learn to access whichever one is best for a given situation Offering groundbreaking insight into the dynamic nature of personality, James Fadiman and Jordan Gruber show that each of us is comprised of distinct, autonomous, and inherently valuable “selves.” They also show that honoring each of these selves is a key to improved ways of living, loving, and working. Explaining that it is normal to have multiple selves, the authors offer insights into why we all are inconsistent at times, allowing us to become more accepting of the different parts of who we and other people are. They explore, through extensive reviews, how the concept of healthy multiple selves has been supported in science, popular culture, spirituality, philosophy, art, literature, and ancient traditions and cite well-known people, including David Bowie and Beyoncé, who describe accessing another self at a pivotal point in their lives to resolve a pressing challenge. Instead of seeing the existence of many selves as a flaw or pathology, the authors reveal that the healthiest people, mentally and emotionally, are those that have naturally learned to appreciate and work in harmony with their own symphony of selves. They identify “the Single Self Assumption” as the prime reason why the benefits of having multiple selves has been ignored. This assumption holds that we each are or ought to be a single consistent self, yet we all recognize, in reality, that we are different in different situations. Offering a pragmatic approach, the authors show how you can prepare for situations by shifting to the appropriate self, rather than being “switched” or “triggered” into a sub-optimal part of who you are. They also show how recognizing your selves provides increased access to skills, talent, and creativity; enhanced energy; and improved healing and pain management. Appreciating your diverse selves will give you more empathy toward yourself and others. By harmonizing your symphony of selves, you can learn to be “in the right mind at the right time” more often.

Based on Mike Bayer’s New York Times bestseller Best Self, a motivational, do-it-yourself workbook teaching you how to reinvent your life and live every day as your Best Self. In Best Self, Mike Bayer, known to his fans and followers as Coach Mike, empowered his readers to embrace authenticity, break through obstacles, and discover the freedom to be their best selves. By working through each of the Seven SPHERES of life—Social, Personal, Health, Education, Relationships, Employment, and Spiritual Development—Coach Mike distilled his wisdom into a focused guide to get real results. Now, Coach Mike, a regular on The Dr. Phil Show, expands upon his tried-and-true strategy for igniting change and shows you how to design a life that is deeply fulfilling. In this fully interactive workbook, Coach Mike builds on the revealing quizzes, provocative questionnaires, and paradigm-shifting prompts he introduced in Best Self. Using his important but tough questions and exercises, he can help anyone see what their Best Selves and Anti-Selves really look like. The truth is, we all show up in slightly different ways within each of our seven SPHERES. We behave differently when we are in “parenting” mode, versus “career” mode, and so on. That’s to be expected to a degree, but where we run into trouble is when we aren’t always acting as our Best Self within all of our SPHERES. This workbook helps the reader discover personalized strategies for consistently staying connected to and behaving authentically within each SPHERE, because if we aren’t, then we run the risk of getting way out of balance in some areas of our lives. As a mental health specialist, a personal development coach, and an all-around change agent, Coach Mike understands our struggles intimately, because he’s faced—and overcome—his own. With this essential handbook, he makes you see that change is possible. Be Your Best Self will give readers the tools to build a better life, in real-time.

In this funny, genuine, and clever book, Allyson Apsey shares relatable stories and practical strategies for living a meaningful life regardless of the craziness happening around you. You'll discover that you really do have the power to choose the kind of life you live-every day.

Are you bringing your best self to your work? Are you actively developing your strengths, weaknesses and principles so that your best self will become even better? Do you deliberately and consistently bring out the best in others? Sadly, the vast majority of workers across the world will respond to these questions with a resounding "no." Instead of activating their best selves, most people bring their average, mediocre, or even worst selves to work. The Alignment Quest(TM) is a process of bringing coherence, purpose and joy to your life by learning how to create the most value in your daily living and working. The Alignment Quest(TM) Toolkit will help you to understand why it is critically important to bring your best self to life and how to do so in a more compelling way. This Toolkit contains the most impactful organizational psychology frameworks and practices that Dr. Roberts has developed from her research, teaching and consulting with thousands of global executives and emerging leaders. This Alignment Quest Toolkit will help you: Harness the power of your strengths and expand your impact. Learn how to understand and embrace your strengths so you can better focus your energy. Increase your capacity to accept your limitations so your attempts to be superhuman (or, all things to all people) don't lead you to make choices that are out of alignment with your best self. Optimize your engagement and deepen your fulfillment at work. Begin to craft a life that is filled with extraordinary growth, vitality and value creation.

Drawing on economics, sociology, geography, and psychology, Galster delivers a clear-sighted explanation of what neighborhoods are, how they come to be—and what they should be. Urban theorists have tried for decades to define exactly what a neighborhood is. But behind that daunting existential question lies a much murkier problem: never mind how you define them—how do you make neighborhoods productive and fair for their residents? In Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves, George C. Galster delves deep into the question of whether American neighborhoods are as efficient and equitable as they could be—socially, financially, and emotionally—and, if not, what we can do to change that. Galster aims to redefine the relationship between places and people, promoting specific policies that reduce inequalities in housing markets and beyond.