January 2, 2020 | quinnt
What if you made your New Year's resolution not about changing yourself but about loving yourself as you are instead? Check out these books that can help you do just that:
A prescriptive, empowering, and psychology-driven guide to building confidence in your body, clothes, beauty, and life in the era of toxic social media-driven beauty standards. Between picture-perfect Instagram celebrities, ultra-lean fitness gurus, and effortlessly chic fashion influencers, it's getting harder and harder to feel good about the way we look. Despite the growing movement toward female empowerment and body positivity, the pressure for women to conform to beauty standards is higher than ever, and the culture of social media has raised the bar. But it's not too late to break the looks-obsessed cycle and live a happy, confident, authentic life. Beyond Beautiful is a no-fuss, psychology-backed guide to help women develop a healthy attitude toward their bodies, looks, clothing, health, and aging. Filled with proven strategies for proactive self-care, this stylish and essential guide provides sage answers to tricky questions like: * Why do I hate the way I look in pictures? * How can I stop comparing myself to all those beautiful people on social media? * Would I be happier if I lost weight? * Why is everyone else so stylish? Illustrated with full-color spot art, Beyond Beautiful is a much-needed breath of fresh air that will enhance your confidence and joy, and help you live your best life.
Systems of oppression thrive off of our inability to make peace with bodies and difference. When we develop the ability to honor difference and radically accept ourselves, we have the capacity and desire to apply those skills to the larger world. Radical self love not only dismantles shame and self loathing in us, but has the power to dismantle global systems of injustice, because when we make true peace with our bodies, only then do we have the capacity to truly make peace with the bodies of the others. The purpose of this book is to get us to stop treating our bodies like cars, to stop acting as if our minds are not part of our bodies. Reading this book will move us beyond these fraught and compartmentalized lives, where we easily forget that we are whole humans having whole human experiences in our bodies.
A motivational and inspiring guide to wholehearted living, rather than just the average self-help book, with this groundbreaking work Brené Brown, Ph.D., bolsters the self-esteem and personal development process through her characteristic heartfelt, honest storytelling. With original research and plenty of encouragement, she explores the psychology of releasing our definitions of an "imperfect" life and embracing living authentically. Brown's "ten guideposts" are benchmarks for authenticity that can help anyone establish a practice for a life of honest beauty--a perfectly imperfect life.
Now more than ever, we all need to cultivate feelings of self-worth, as well as acceptance and love for ourselves. In a world where insults, criticisms, and fears are spread too generously alongside messages of unrealistic beauty, attainment, and expectation, we look for ways to "dig deep" and find truth and gratitude in our lives. A new way forward means we can't hold on too tightly to our own self-defeating thoughts or the displaced pain in our world. Instead, we can embrace the imperfection.
Combining the principles of psychotherapy with the teachings of Buddhism, this guide explains how to eliminate the personal conflicts and feelings of not being good enough that can cause such problems as addiction, overwork, and perfectionism.
For many of us, feelings of deficiency are right around the corner. It doesn’t take much--just hearing of someone else’s accomplishments, being criticized, getting into an argument, making a mistake at work--to make us feel that we are not okay. Beginning to understand how our lives have become ensnared in this trance of unworthiness is our first step toward reconnecting with who we really are and what it means to live fully.