POZ Community Forums

Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Mental Health & HIV => Topic started by: mecch on March 21, 2009, 07:04:36 pm

Title: Self-help favs?
Post by: mecch on March 21, 2009, 07:04:36 pm
I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!

Cheesey aspects of self-help aside, three audio books that I have found helpful are:

Dalai Lama - The Art of Happiness
Pema Chodron- Getting Unstuck
Eckhart Tolle - The Power of Now

Anyone have a fav to recommend?

Thanks, Stuart Smalley



[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: positivmat on March 22, 2009, 08:36:17 am
I love pema. Never read "unstuck" though. My therapist has me reading THE FOUR AGREEMENTS. But I tend to like the buddhists. Charlotte Joko Beck EVERDAY ZEN is good. And I also like RADICAL ACCEPTANCE by Tara Brach.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: mmj520 on April 15, 2009, 11:10:57 pm
http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Blackmail-People-Obligation-Manipulate/dp/0060928972

Emotional Blackmail - When the People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation, and Guilt to Manipulate You was very useful in getting out of a bad relationship.  Things I accepted as normal were not at all, and this book literally opened my eyes to certain things for the first time.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: Miss Philicia on April 15, 2009, 11:28:30 pm
The Men Who Hate Women, and the Women Who Love Them
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: Ann on April 16, 2009, 09:16:04 am
http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Blackmail-People-Obligation-Manipulate/dp/0060928972

Emotional Blackmail - When the People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation, and Guilt to Manipulate You was very useful in getting out of a bad relationship.  Things I accepted as normal were not at all, and this book literally opened my eyes to certain things for the first time.

I'm 99.9999999999% certain my mother wrote this book. Wonder where the royalties went? She probably didn't share them because the whole family (dys)dynamic was of course, the fault of yours truly who, according to Mommy Dearest, should never have been born.

Ann
(who hates emotional blackmail with a passion)
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: sharkdiver on April 16, 2009, 04:47:41 pm
Eckhart Tolle? really?   a total homophobe. 
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: mecch on April 16, 2009, 08:25:29 pm
Where and when has Tolle said anti-homo stuff? I'll be interested in more info on that.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: sharkdiver on April 16, 2009, 10:25:23 pm
I will look up the info for you. Pretty much he believes that being gay or acting on homosexual desires is a stage that one needs to move beyond.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: Inchlingblue on May 04, 2009, 05:23:16 pm
Anything by Eckhart Tolle, not only The Power of Now but also his other two books, A New Earth and Stillness Speaks.

The ten-part webcast that Eckhart did with Oprah for A New Earth is great and highly recommended, available for free:

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahsbookclub/anewearth/pkganewearthwebcast/20080130_obc_webcast_archive

Eckhart Tolle also has many audio CDs that are both inspiring and calming. It can get expensive to buy them all, my local library has many of them available so I've imported them into my ipod and listen to them every morning. Listening to Eckhart is an incomparable experience. I recommend them all but especially:

Even The Sun Will Die
Through The Open Door


Also, as I mentioned in another of your threads, Byron Katie is truly inspirational, the real deal. 

Eckhart Tolle is not at all a homophobe. In fact, in A New Earth he specifically addresses gays and lesbians and says some interesting things, not in any way homophobic. I gave my copy of it to a friend so I can't look it up right now. He's the opposite of a homophobe, in fact a few of the reviewers on the Amazon page for the book took offense to what they perceive as "pro-gay" comments from him.

Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: joemutt on May 05, 2009, 09:41:52 am
I liked 'the joy of living' Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche,
it s about basic meditation, without hocus pocus, a technique that I found useful.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: Gary85741 on May 06, 2009, 10:39:30 am

A different venue...not a book...but Dr. Joy Browne...a daily radio psychology call-in show available via free podcast (the latter having had the commercials deleted.) 

http://www.wor710.com/The-Dr--Joy-Browne-Show/3600223

She broadcasts three hours each weekday (37 minutes per hour without commercials) and takes calls on all variety of topics...people asking about solutions to their problems and challenges.  I download her podcasts...in you don't have an i-pod you can listen to the broadcasts on her website listed above.  It's not only interesting, but I have found her comments very useful in dealing with my own life.  (Don't confuse her with Dr. Laura who is somewhat anti-gay.  Dr. Browne is very gay-friendly.)   

Gary
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: antibody on May 31, 2009, 11:03:03 pm
The Healthy Mind, Healthy Body Handbook by David S. Sobel MD, and Robert Ornstein, PhD
http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/winter01/book1.html
I found it really helpful
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: antibody on May 31, 2009, 11:08:47 pm
Wow! I'm really glad I pull this book out to see the authors name for the last post and thumbing through it I'm seeing why I recommended it. It really has tons of information on hundreds of issues. I can't recommend you pick up a copy enough! pick up a copy. If it's the last book you ever buy. get one!
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: MarcoPoz on June 02, 2009, 10:43:01 am
Hardcore Zen by Brad Warner, audio tapes by Jack Kornfield, homemade pasta sauce ala mom and recipes by Lidia Bastianich, guilty pl;easure movie watching and my beagle snoring :-)
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: AndyArrow on June 04, 2009, 03:21:07 am
Anything by the late Leo Buscaglia, PhD

Does anyone need a hug?  :)
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: GNYC09 on June 04, 2009, 09:38:50 pm
"Creative Visualization" by Shakti Gawain.
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Visualization-Imagination-Create-Gawain/dp/1577312295/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: Pozinmaine on June 09, 2009, 01:09:44 am
"The Miracle of Mindfullness" by Thich Nhat Hanh.  Taught me to slow down my life.... :)
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: positivmat on June 09, 2009, 06:53:00 am
I just went to a weekend retreat with Pema Chodron. It was really amazing to be in her presence. I thought it was going to be a large group of 50 or 70 people. Try 550 people. Nevertheless, she was really inspiring. She taught meditation techniques for the Tibetan Buddhist practice of tonglen.
Matt
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: BT65 on June 09, 2009, 11:08:53 am
"The Miracle of Mindfullness" by Thich Nhat Hanh.  Taught me to slow down my life.... :)

Thich Nhat Hanh is a very good author.  I read a book of his, titled something like "if Jesus and Buddha Were Brothers."  Not sure if that's the exact title, but it's very close.  It was pretty inspiring.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: Pozinmaine on June 13, 2009, 09:12:04 am
You may be thinking of "Living Buddha, Living Christ"....also a good book.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: BT65 on June 14, 2009, 06:47:59 pm
You may be thinking of "Living Buddha, Living Christ"....also a good book.

No, I went and looked at what the book title is, (I have the book), and it's "Jesus and Buddha as Brothers."
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: Pozinmaine on June 15, 2009, 03:38:48 pm
I'll have to get that one from amazon....
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: Inchlingblue on June 15, 2009, 04:14:41 pm
I am also interested in taking a look, I think the complete title is:

Going home : Jesus and Buddha as Brothers  
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: BT65 on June 15, 2009, 06:24:13 pm
I am also interested in taking a look, I think the complete title is:

Going home : Jesus and Buddha as Brothers  


Eureka!  Yeah, 'tis it.  It's really a good read.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: joemutt on June 23, 2009, 02:51:39 am
I like his "True Love - a practice for awakening the heart"
it's a very short big read.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: positivmat on June 23, 2009, 12:39:02 pm
If you are enjoying Thich then try Joseph Goldstein's Insight Meditation.  It is a great overall explanation of meditation and how that gets you to more freedom in your mind.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: Scotian on June 24, 2009, 05:05:42 pm
My all time favourite is The Power of Now. I'm still waiting for Sharkdiver's 'proof' that Eckhart Tolle is a homophobe?
Nothing I have read by him has reflected that. In fact, in The Power of Now  Tolle suggests that gay people could have an advantage to achieving enlightenment because of the obstacles they have to overcome  amongst an 'unconscious' majority.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: Inchlingblue on June 24, 2009, 06:08:32 pm
My all time favourite is The Power of Now. I'm still waiting for Sharkdiver's 'proof' that Eckhart Tolle is a homophobe?
Nothing I have read by him has reflected that. In fact, in The Power of Now  Tolle suggests that gay people could have an advantage to achieving enlightenment because of the obstacles they have to overcome  amongst an 'unconscious' majority.

I agree wholeheartedly with all of the above. ;)

Not to sound too dramatic but Eckhart Tolle has pretty much saved my life.
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: positivmat on June 24, 2009, 09:58:37 pm
OK I bought eckhart and will start reading him tonight. Saved your life? That sounds like a good review.
Matt
Title: Re: Self-help favs?
Post by: Inchlingblue on June 24, 2009, 10:07:09 pm
OK I bought eckhart and will start reading him tonight. Saved your life? That sounds like a good review.
Matt

LOL, it's true, not exaggerating.

I started with A New Earth, then The Power of Now...either order is fine but that worked for me. I also highly recommend you look at the interviews Oprah did with him, they are available online (3-parts, 1/2 hour each). It's a good way to see him, which is part of the whole experience, he exudes a true sense of peace and calm and happiness.

LINK:

feed://www.oprah.com/podcasts/anewearth.xml

She also did a ten-part web series for  A New Earth, each part they discussed one chapter, it was great.