Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, by Gregory Boyle
Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit priest who founded Homeboy Industries, a rehabilitation and re-entry program for former gang members. His 2011 book is a collection of real, raw stories about people he worked with and the lessons we can all draw from their experiences.
“Each chapter reads like a Sunday sermon to be savored and meditated upon,” said Jacob Ham, director of the Center for Child Trauma and Resilience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. While faith is woven throughout the book, Dr. Ham recommends the title to anyone who feels “that their traumas and all the ways they’ve coped with them have left them broken and unredeemable.”
Of the thousands of self-help books on the market, which ones are truly helpful? “It’s uncommon to find a self-help book that feels different,” said Vienna Pharaon, a marriage and family therapist in New York City.
But really useful titles abound. The best of the genre invite reflection or offer practical tools to promote emotional, psychological or spiritual well-being. And there are some that therapists personally turn to or suggest to their patients.
“Almost every therapist I know has a whole list of self-help books to recommend,” said Daniel Tomasulo, a counseling psychologist and the academic director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University.
1. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, by the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams
2. The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living, by Russ Harris
3. Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, by Gregory Boyle
4. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, by Julia Cameron
5. Homecoming: Healing Trauma to Reclaim Your Authentic Self, by Thema Bryant
6. The Power of Character Strengths: Appreciate and Ignite Your Positive Personality, by Ryan M. Niemiec and Robert E. McGrath
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