Books

Personality & the Self

No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz
“All of us are born with many sub-minds―or parts,” says Dr. Richard Schwartz. “These parts are not imaginary or symbolic. They are individuals who exist as an internal family within us―and the key to health and happiness is to honor, understand, and love every part.”

Self Compassion by Kristin Neff
Offers expert advice on how to limit self-criticism and offset its negative effects, but also contains practical tools to help you begin to transform your relationship to your self. Highly recommended.

The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron
Feeling overwhelmed at times is a normal part of day-to-day life, but for a highly sensitive person, overwhelm can become a way of life. This book helps to identify this characteristic in yourself and make the necessary changes in your life to live with these situations.

Childhood & Development

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C Gibson
Describes the wounds caused by growing up with an emotionally immature, unavailable, or selfish parent, but also shows how these wounds can be healed so that you can move forward in your life.

Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect by Jonice Webb
This book helps you to understand the effects of childhood emotional neglect, and describes ways to heal from your past, so that you can be more connected and emotionally present in your life.

Trauma

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo
NPR Journalist and Bay Area native Stephanie Foo’s memoir of her journey of healing from complex PTSD. Takes a detailed look at CPTSD, bringing findings from neuroscience, psychology and various forms of therapy to life through the author’s own journey.

Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter Levine
By understanding the dynamics that make wild animals virtually immune to traumatic symptoms, Peter Levine describes how humans store trauma in the body, and teaches a series of exercises that help us focus on bodily sensations, helping to heal trauma through somatic awareness.

It Didn't Start with You by Mark Wolynn

Inherited trauma plays a far greater role in our emotional and physical health than has ever before been understood. This book describes how trauma can be passed down from generation to generation, leaving a hidden emotional legacy that can be encoded in everything from gene expression to everyday language, and offers an approach to healing from its effects.

Grief

The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller

Francis Weller argues that western culture has forgotten many of the innately human ways of grieving – such as ritual, community and spirituality – that have served us since time immemorial. By calling us into the wilderness of sorrow and grief, this book shows us how we can reintegrate the forgotten practices of grieving to help us transcend and move forward from loss.

Bearing the Unbearable by Joanne Cacciatore

This book serves as a companion and guide through your own uniques journey with grief. By drawing on her experiences as a Zen priest, teacher, and counsellor, Cacciatore shows us not only how we can process, integrate and honor our grief, but also reveals how our loss can be transformed into a calling to live and love more deeply and compassionately.

Relationships

Wired for Love / Wired for Dating by Stan Tatkin
Just about everyone dates at some point in their lives, yet few really understand what they're doing or how to get the best results. This book offers a simple grounding in attachment theory and the neuroscience of dating, as well as practical tips to help you find a compatible mate and go on to create happy and healthy relationships