LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS

If the Buddha Dated: A Handbook for Finding Love on a Spiritual Path

by Charlotte Kasl

Spiritual, yes. Stuffy? Not one bit. If your “chooser” is broken, this could be your go-to guide for finding love. Kasl offers a Buddhist perspective on discerning potential partners who might actually be good for you!

Perfect Love, Imperfect Relationships: Healing the Wound of the Heart

by John Welwood

Bitter, party of one? Or maybe you’re chronically dissatisfied with your relationships. Welwood might say you’re stuck in a state of grievance. His deceptively simple treatise offers powerful practices/exercises anyone can perform to move beyond grievance to connect with the essential force of the universe (yup, it’s Love). Do try this at home.

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work

by John M. Gottman PhD and Nan Silver

Both scientific and entirely accessible, this research-based guide to committed partnership includes how-tos and exercises that couples can use to move past relationship gridlock to greater harmony.

Passionate Marriage: Keeping Love and Intimacy Alive in Committed Relationships

by David Schnarch PhD

This book is about much more than sexuality. It addresses the profound individual struggles and opportunities that arise when we enter into intimacy. Schnarch thinks of relationships as “people-growing” crucibles. He points out that it’s not a question of whether we are grown up enough to be in a relationship; it’s about how the relationship itself grows us up—if we stick around long enough to let it.

TRAUMA

Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How They Heal

by Belleruth Naparstek

For trauma survivors trying to make sense of that “crazy” feeling, Naparstek vividly explains the internal disruption triggered by a traumatic event, and the true heroism inherent in the daily struggle to move on with life. In beautifully written prose, she describes hows the therapeutic tool of guided imagery can transform a survivor’s suffering into healing. A number of guided imagery scripts are included.

Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy

by Francine Shapiro PhD

The founder of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Shapiro is a mentor and even hero to psychotherapists who have used her method to treat and heal millions of trauma survivors. Now she has written a book especially for the survivors themselves. Shapiro details how we get stuck in self-defeating patterns and how we can break free using self-help strategies drawn from EMDR.

FOOD AND BODY

Intuitive Eating

by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

Eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full. Sounds so simple, right? If only. The authors break it down into sensible and manageable steps, providing a detailed map for the journey to conscious eating.

Fed Up! The Breakthrough Ten-Step, No-Diet Fitness Plan

by Wendy Oliver Pyatt MD

Oliver-Pyatt overcame her own eating disorder to become a psychiatrist and a leader in the field of eating disorder treatment. This guide to a sane relationship with food and body is engaging, readable and filled with wise teachings on treating our bodies with love.

The Eating Disorder Sourcebook: A Comprehensive Guide to the Causes, Treatments and Prevention of Eating Disorders

by Carolyn Costin

With its clear, powerful language, Costin’s book serves as a compass to navigate the mysterious and dangerous waters of anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and exercise addiction. Costin is a psychotherapist and an eating disorder survivor who founded the Monte Nido and Rain Rock treatment centers. Essential reading if you or someone you love suffers from an eating disorder.

COPING WITH TRANSITION

Comfortable With Uncertainty: 108 Teachings Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion

by Pema Chodron

With humor and compassion, Chodron describes the myriad ways we make ourselves miserable trying to avoid “the basic fragility of existence,” numbing ourselves via substances, workaholism, shopping, etc. And she gently offers an alternative: wake up and be present with yourself, your feelings and your fellow creatures. Chodron is an American Buddhist nun with a down-to-earth perspective and a unique voice. Each of these 108 stand-alone readings is a pithy treasure.