If you struggle with self‐defeating thoughts and feelings of inadequacy, you are not alone. We’ve all felt inadequate, believing that we’re broken or otherwise unworthy. But this doesn’t have to be a life sentence. Presenting four guiding principles and five core practices based in deep spiritual wisdom, Suffering Is Optional reveals how to liberate yourself from the prison of false self‐beliefs holding you back. Millions of people feel that they are not good enough. They may struggle every day, seeing themselves as deficient, pathetic, or damaged, and destined to fail. They convince themselves they aren’t worthy of love or respect, and view themselves with self-hatred. When you believe and cling to painful, self-defeating thoughts like “I can’t do it,” “It won’t work,” or “I’m a loser,” they become your personal reality—and the more you repeat them, the more you believe them, until they come to define you. Sadly, these limiting self-definitions lead to even more pain and suffering: hidden shame, problems in relationships, opportunities lost, and a life not fully lived. In Suffering Is Optional, clinical psychologist Gail Brenner offers practical ways to discover that you are not what your thoughts tell you you are. Rather than showing you how to become a better version of yourself, this book goes straight to the heart of the problem—that you’ve mistakenly identified yourself as broken and undeserving—to guide you out of these limiting thoughts and into an investigation of the nature of reality that ultimately liberates you from your suffering. With these exercises, experiments, reflections, practices, and inspiring stories, you’ll have a spiritual solution to your personal problem of limitation and self-sabotage. Using the four guiding principles and five core practices presented in this book—including turning toward direct experience, grounding in aware presence, losing interest in thoughts, welcoming feelings, and the sacred return to presence—you’ll be able to shed your false identity and wake up to the inherent peace and happiness that is available to you in any given moment.

Suffering Is Optional: Three Keys to Freedom and Joy centers around three basic aspects of Zen practice: pay attention, believe nothing, and don' t take anything personally. As ending suffering requires that one sees how suffering happens, the book urges readers to be willing to be quiet and pay attention to the process of suffering in an effort to see each moment as an opportunity to step beyond illusion into freedom. It also argues that examining beliefs,abandoning them, and returning attention to the present is essential to ending suffering, as is living in the awareness that nothing in the universe is personal.

From the best-selling author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and After Dark, a rich and revelatory memoir about writing and running, and the integral impact both have made on his life. In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Haruki Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he’d completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, not to mention triathlons and a slew of critically acclaimed books, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and—even more important—on his writing. Equal parts training log, travelogue, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and includes settings ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston among young women who outpace him. Through this marvellous lens of sport emerges a cornucopia of memories and insights: the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer, his greatest triumphs and disappointments, his passion for vintage LPs and the experience, after the age of fifty, of seeing his race times improve and then fall back. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly private writer and for the exploding population of athletes who find similar satisfaction in distance running.

The self-help genre is replete with books telling people how to be happier and more fulfilled. And books with a spiritual or mindfulness perspective suggest that being present is the solution. But no book provides the precise and constructive guidance needed to discover that happiness is truly possible in any moment. Until now. Using clear language and useful examples, "The End of Self-Help: Discovering Peace and Happiness Right at the Heart of Your Messy, Scary, Brilliant Life" describes how personal suffering is a case of mistaken identity. The book starts with common, entrenched psychological experiences such as unresolved problems from the past, worries about the future, feelings of inadequacy, compulsive behaviors, and confusing emotions. In skillful detail, it illuminates the shift of attention required for true happiness. Explorations in each chapter bring the material alive in the reader's own experience, essential to challenge decades of conditioning.The book walks alongside readers as they become experts in how their thoughts and feelings bring about suffering and realize the simple fact of peaceful, aware presence that is always here and available. It describes that this infinite, spacious presence is the truth of who we are, that we're not limited to our thoughts and feelings. The book illustrates how to live this insight in the moments of everyday life.

"...Keys to compassionate awareness ... pay attention to everything, believe nothing, and don't take anything personally ..."--Cover.

Day Writing Journals the Blank Lined Notebook Writing Journal is ideal Gifts who Love day to day writing Notebooks and Capture Thoughts, Or for everyone who wish to surprise their favorite relative on holidays or all year long, but have no time. Family life Journals provide gift ideas for your relatives or loved ones and lets you make your holiday as a memorable one. Creative Taking Notes Journal Explore Your Inner Gratitude Journaling Perfect Gifts for your Relative on your Favorite Holiday, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Christmas, Birthday, Graduate, Education, School, Special Occasion and Everyday A Memorable and Thoughtful Funny Design on the Cover 104 pages Blank Lined Paper Measures 6" x 9" with Softcover Book Binding Black And White Interior Journal Notebook for Women Men Kids Boys Girls Family Childhood, Youth, Coming Of Age, Death, Loss, Grief, Depression, Family Life, Self Help, Friendship, Love, Marriage, Anniversary, Pregnancy, Spiritual, Travel, Voyage, School, College, University, Career, Workplace, Working, Office, Divorce, Marriage, Parenting, Parent And Children, Dating, Relationships, Singlehood, Single Women, Sister, Wedding, Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, Brother, Aunt, Daughter, Son, Uncle, Cousin Day Writing Journals provides you year round unique Motivation and Everyday Inspiration Journals, Diaries, Coloring books, Planners, Picture Books, Sketchbooks, Children Activity Books, Comic, Music and Notebooks that are perfect gifts or your own writings. Get creative with us Capture Your Thoughts in This Reflective Writing Notebook that makes your day as a memorable one! Get your copy today ”