When you don't feel like anything: 7 books for those who have the spring blues

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Useful practices, stories and tips that will make life a little brighter, more conscious and more enjoyable.

1. "Inner Calm", Tanya Peterson

Feelings of anxiety are like a malfunctioning emergency alert system, with restless thoughts, worst-case scenarios, and negative beliefs constantly racing through your head. This anxiety can result in severe neurosis.

The book's author Tanya Peterson is a board-certified psychology consultant. She has collected in her book over 100 ways to help cope with anxiety. Pet stone, blot or blank slate, "equality apart", "colored thoughts" and the Zen Buddhist concept of "shoshin" - when you need to reduce the heat, open the book and choose any technique.

2. "The Break" by Susan Elliott

It happens: the relationship ends. It hurts, and at this moment we need support more than ever. This book is compassionate and very practical. Inside is a plan that will help you get through the breakup. And not just heal, but use this experience to better understand yourself and become stronger. The author of the book, Susan Elliott, is a psychotherapist and grief counselor. Once she herself went through a difficult break, and then made helping people her profession.

You may find it hard to believe right now, but painful experiences are of great benefit. To get it, you have to methodically rake the ruins of a past life. But if you descend into the abyss, you will raise a treasure from the bottom - a new life.

3. "The Book of Forgiveness" by Desmond Tutu and Mpo Tutu

Sometimes we get hurt. Sometimes we ourselves become the offenders. And sometimes we are overwhelmed by a wave of shame for the mistakes of the past. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu says the only way to regain peace is through forgiveness. He knows this better than anyone else: while working on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Tutu saw the most terrible crimes against humans.

How do you learn to forgive? In this book you will find a step by step path, exercises, rituals and life stories. And a lot of light.

4. The Joy of Living by William Irwin

The world is chaotic and unfair, and we all, willingly or unwillingly, are involved in the race “Stronger! Faster! Above! . It is exhausting, but the philosophy of stoicism will help you find support. Ancient sages knew how to appreciate what we have, experience losses, let go of the past and not give ourselves offense. It is no coincidence that in the 21st century this teaching has again found thousands of followers.

In the book of the professor of philosophy William Irwin there are answers to many questions: about acceptance of the past, death, duty. But the main thing is that it gives pleasure from life. The realization that things around do not have to exist, but exist in the most incomprehensible and magnificent way.

5. "The Choice", Edith Eva Eger

Here is a book that will help you find strength and start living again, even when you don't want anything. It is a story of survival and healing from trauma.

Young ballerina Edith Eva Eger was still a teenager when in 1944 she and her family were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. But the horrors did not break Edith, and her inner strength allowed her to escape and learn to help others in the role of a psychotherapist.

In this book you will find the author's story and touching lines about those who were treated by her. She will give support, and also show that we can always choose what life teaches us and how to relate to what is happening.

6. "The Gift," Edith Eva Eger

“I am writing these lines in the fall of 2019. I am already 92, and for more than 40 years I have been conducting a therapeutic practice”, - with these words the doctor of psychology Edith Eva Eger begins her second book. Eger examines 12 psychological problems and explains how to get rid of the beliefs that drive us into a trap. Among them are victim and avoidance syndrome, self-ignorance, shame and judgment.

“Based on my long experience,” continues Edith, “I want to state that the worst prison was not the one where the Nazis sent me. I built the worst prison for myself. Life - even with its pain and suffering - is a gift. We neglect it when we become prisoners of our fears. This guide will help you heal your soul and find inner freedom.

7. "Time to Hear Yourself" by Anna Black

What happens if you spend an entire year showing kindness? The practices and exercises in this book will help you develop empathy for yourself, your loved ones, and the world. 52 weeks of conscious work on yourself - a whole year that will change you and your life. You will learn to listen to yourself, deal with negative attitudes, practice loving-kindness meditation, and motivate yourself through compassion.

You will see that living in kindness means realizing that everything in the world is interconnected. Noticing good things, not being afraid of mistakes, and accepting yourself. Remember that any of your actions leaves a mark on the lives of other people. And what it will be depends only on you.