Download or read book The Depolarizing of America A Guidebook for Social Healing written by Kirk J. Schneider and published by . This book was released on 2020-04-10 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our nation needs healing dialogues--especially now! In the wake of the coronavirus, many of the issues dividing us as a nation and world--such as politics, race, class, gender, climate change, globalism, and religion--have only been magnified, and although the U.S. Surgeon general has called for an end to bickering and partisanship, it is unclear to what extent this will take effect. What is clear, however, is that safe, mindfully structured dialogues are imperative if we are to salvage our republic and the democratic principles on which it is built. The Depolarizing of America is the culmination of years of effort to promote safe, mindfully structured dialogues in homes, offices, classrooms, and community centers. It is an attempt to "give away" the time-tested skills and methods with which the author, Kirk Schneider, has intimate experience, to a range of both laypersons and professionals; people who yearn to socially heal. The book begins with personal observations about our polarized state, both within the United States (and by implication) the world. It follows up with a reflection on how the sense of awe toward life--issuing in part from America's founding spirit--can serve as a counter to this polarized state. It concludes with practical strategies centered on dialogue. These strategies translate awe-based sensibilities, including humility and wonder toward life, to a rediscovery of one another, a rediscovery of our potential to shape and revitalize our times. As a follow up to Schneider's groundbreaking book, The Polarized Mind, The Depolarizing of America is an essential read for those who striving for social healing and positive collective change.
Download or read book The Depolarizing of America written by Kirk J. Schneider and published by University Professors Press. This book was released on 2020-04-15 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our nation needs healing dialogues--especially now. In the wake of the coronavirus and George Floyd killing, many of the issues dividing us as a nation--race, politics, class, gender, climate change, globalism, and religion--have only been magnified, and although the U.S. Surgeon general has called for an end to bickering and partisanship, it is unclear to what extent this will take effect. What is clear, however, is that safe, mindfully structured dialogues are imperative if we are to salvage our republic and the democratic principles on which it is built. The Depolarizing of America is the culmination of years of effort to promote safe, mindfully structured dialogues in homes, offices, classrooms, and community centers. It is an attempt to "give away" the time-tested skills with which the author, Kirk Schneider, has intimate experience, to a range of both laypersons and professionals; people who yearn to socially heal. The book begins with personal observations about our polarized state, both within the United States (and by implication) the world. It follows up with a reflection on how the sense of awe toward life--issuing in part from America's founding spirit--can serve as a counter to this polarized state. It concludes with practical strategies centered on dialogue. These strategies translate awe-based sensibilities, including humility and wonder toward life, to a rediscovery of one another, a rediscovery of our potential to shape and revitalize our times. As a follow up to Schneider's groundbreaking book, The Polarized Mind, The Depolarizing of America is an essential read for those who are striving for social healing and positive collective change.
Download or read book The Way Out written by Peter T. Coleman and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The partisan divide in the United States has widened to a chasm. Legislators vote along party lines and rarely cross the aisle. Political polarization is personal, too—and it is making us miserable. Surveys show that Americans have become more fearful and hateful of supporters of the opposing political party and imagine that they hold much more extreme views than they actually do. We have cordoned ourselves off: we prefer to date and marry those with similar opinions and are less willing to spend time with people on the other side. How can we loosen the grip of this toxic polarization and start working on our most pressing problems? The Way Out offers an escape from this morass. The social psychologist Peter T. Coleman explores how conflict resolution and complexity science provide guidance for dealing with seemingly intractable political differences. Deploying the concept of attractors in dynamical systems, he explains why we are stuck in this rut as well as the unexpected ways that deeply rooted oppositions can and do change. Coleman meticulously details principles and practices for navigating and healing the difficult divides in our homes, workplaces, and communities, blending compelling personal accounts from his years of working on entrenched conflicts with lessons from leading-edge research. The Way Out is a vital and timely guide to breaking free from the cycle of mutual contempt in order to better our lives, relationships, and country.
Download or read book Existential humanistic Therapy written by Kirk J. Schneider and published by American Psychological Association (APA). This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History -- Theory -- The Therapy Process -- Evaluation -- Future developments -- Summary.
Download or read book Awakening to Awe written by Kirk J. Schneider and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2009 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Awakening to Awe is a self-help meditation on an alternative--and growing--spiritual movement. This is a movement comprised of people who refuse the "quick-fix" model for healing, whether that model entails popping pills, indulging in material comforts, or adhering to doctrinal dogmas. By contrast, the movement about which Schneider writes is composed of people who have developed the capacity to experience the humility and wonder, or in short, awe, of life deeply lived. In particular, this book highlights the stories of people who through the cultivation of awe have transformed their lives. For example, readers will discover how awe transformed the life of an ex-gang member into a beloved and productive gang mediator, an ex-drug addict into a communally conscious healer, and a sufferer of stage three cancer into a contemplative and spiritual seeker. The book will also inform readers about the challenges and joys of awe-based child-raising, education, humor, political activism, and aging. Drawing on the philosophy of Schneider's earlier work, the acclaimed Rediscovery of Awe, Awakening to Awe tells the down-to-earth stories of a quiet yet emerging revolution in the transformation of lives.
Download or read book Journal of the Optical Society of America written by Optical Society of America and published by . This book was released on 1925 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Why We re Polarized written by Ezra Klein and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-01-28 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022 One of Bill Gates’s “5 books to read this summer,” this New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller shows us that America’s political system isn’t broken. The truth is scarier: it’s working exactly as designed. In this “superbly researched” (The Washington Post) and timely book, journalist Ezra Klein reveals how that system is polarizing us—and how we are polarizing it—with disastrous results. “The American political system—which includes everyone from voters to journalists to the president—is full of rational actors making rational decisions given the incentives they face,” writes political analyst Ezra Klein. “We are a collection of functional parts whose efforts combine into a dysfunctional whole.” “A thoughtful, clear and persuasive analysis” (The New York Times Book Review), Why We’re Polarized reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics. Over the past fifty years in America, our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. These merged identities have attained a weight that is breaking much in our politics and tearing at the bonds that hold this country together. Klein shows how and why American politics polarized around identity in the 20th century, and what that polarization did to the way we see the world and one another. And he traces the feedback loops between polarized political identities and polarized political institutions that are driving our system toward crisis. “Well worth reading” (New York magazine), this is an “eye-opening” (O, The Oprah Magazine) book that will change how you look at politics—and perhaps at yourself.
Download or read book Journal of the Optical Society of America written by and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 1006 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Horror and the Holy written by Kirk Schneider and published by Open Court. This book was released on 2013-12-01 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. Schneider draws upon a detailed and telling analysis of eleven well-known horror stories: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Invisible Man, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Birds, Forbidden Planet, Vertigo, and Alien. He finds that a spiritual understanding of life can be attained through horror. Classic horror steers a middle path between fanaticism and despair: the path of wonderment. Horror teaches us that the human personality is paradoxical, that revulsion and disgust are the obverse of excitement and freedom, and that both poles are vital to individual, social, and ecological well-being.
Download or read book Breaking the Two party Doom Loop written by Lee Drutman and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American democracy is in deep crisis. But what do we do about it? That depends on how we understand the current threat.In Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop, Lee Drutman argues that we now have, for the first time in American history, a genuine two-party system, with two fully-sorted, truly national parties, divided over the character of the nation. And it's a disaster. It's a party system fundamentally at odds withour anti-majoritarian, compromise-oriented governing institutions. It threatens the very foundations of fairness and shared values on which our democracy depends.Deftly weaving together history, democratic theory, and cutting-edge political science research, Drutman tells the story of how American politics became so toxic and why the country is now trapped in a doom loop of escalating two-party warfare from which there is only one escape: increase the numberof parties through electoral reform. As he shows, American politics was once stable because the two parties held within them multiple factions, which made it possible to assemble flexible majorities and kept the climate of political combat from overheating. But as conservative Southern Democrats andliberal Northeastern Republicans disappeared, partisan conflict flattened and pulled apart. Once the parties became fully nationalized - a long-germinating process that culminated in 2010 - toxic partisanship took over completely. With the two parties divided over competing visions of nationalidentity, Democrats and Republicans no longer see each other as opponents, but as enemies. And the more the conflict escalates, the shakier our democracy feels.Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop makes a compelling case for large scale electoral reform - importantly, reform not requiring a constitutional amendment - that would give America more parties, making American democracy more representative, more responsive, and ultimately more stable.
Download or read book Advancing Psychotherapy for the Next Generation written by Linda L. Michaels and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-03-24 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together a global community of mental health professionals to offer an impassioned defence of relationship-based depth psychotherapy. Expressing ideas that are integral to the mission of the Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN), the authors demonstrate a shared vision of a world where this therapy is accessible to all communities. They also articulate the difficulties created by the current mental health diagnostic system and differing conceptualizations of mental distress, the shortsightedness of evidence-based care and research, and the depreciation of depth therapy by many stakeholders. The authors thoughtfully elucidate the crucial importance of therapies of depth, insight, and relationship in the repertoire of mental health treatment and speak to the implications of PsiAN’s mission both now and in the future. With a distinguished international group of authors and a clear focus on determining a future direction for psychotherapy, this book is essential reading for all psychotherapists.
Download or read book Facing Up to Mortality written by Daniel Liechty and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-10-21 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring a new approach to interfaith/interreligious communication, the contributors to this collection seek to interact from the perspective of their own tradition or academic discipline with Ernest Becker's theory on the relationship between religion, culture and the human awareness of death and mortality. While much interfaith/interreligious dialogue focuses on beliefs and practices, thus delineating areas of disagreement as a starting point, these chapters foster interactive communication rooted in areas of the universal human experience. Thus by demonstration these authors argue for the integrity and efficacy of this approach for pursuing intercultural and interdisciplinary communication.
Download or read book The Power of Awe written by Jake Eagle LPC and published by Hachette Go. This book was released on 2023-01-03 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover a clinically proven way to reduce inflammation, stress, loneliness, and burnout while improving overall well-being As lifelong meditators and mindfulness teachers, we confess we were almost embarrassed when we stumbled onto a 5–15 second shortcut to transcendence. This idea ran counter to everything we knew about meditation before we began our research. But, yes, it is possible. It only requires accessing the powerful emotion of awe in ordinary, everyday life. The changes in our lives have been profound, and after seeing the results repeated again and again in our thousands of patients, clients, and study participants, we’ve proven that our shortcut, coined the A.W.E. Method, works. —from the Preface Research has proven that mindfulness improves well-being and reduces stress, anxiety, and pain. But for some, the practice itself feels challenging and inaccessible. That’s where the A.W.E. Method comes in. In The Power of Awe, therapist Jake Eagle and chronic pain specialist Michael Amster, MD, share their extraordinary yet simple mindfulness practice that turns ordinary moments into awe-inducing experiences, helping you effortlessly achieve a heightened state of consciousness usually reserved for seasoned practitioners of mindfulness—all within a matter of seconds. A.W.E. stands for Attention, Wait, Exhale and Expand, and the method is a five- to fifteen-second, three-step process—a type of “microdosing mindfulness,” or a brief, informal mindfulness practice supported by research conducted at UC Berkeley. The A.W.E. Method quickly transports us into awe, an incredibly powerful emotion that produces wonderment and a heightened state of consciousness along with some remarkable changes in the mind and body that can improve health and wellness. Experiencing awe does not require any demanding discipline or skills or “awesome” settings. The A.W.E. Method ensures that awe and its many benefits are accessible to you at any time, in any place—sitting at a stoplight, cooking a meal, petting an animal, or listening to a loved one’s laugh.
Download or read book I Never Thought of It That Way written by Mónica Guzmán and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2022-03-08 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: PORCHLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 2022 NONFICTION BESTSELLER “I can see this book helping estranged parties who are equally invested in bridging a gap—it could be assigned reading for fractured families aspiring to a harmonious Thanksgiving dinner.” —New York Times “Like all skills, these techniques take practice. But anyone who sincerely wants to bridge the gaps in understanding will appreciate this book. Guzmán is emphatic about making an effort to work on difficult conversations.” —Manhattan Book Review We think we have the answers, but we need to be asking a lot more questions. Journalist Mónica Guzmán is the loving liberal daughter of Mexican immigrants who voted—twice—for Donald Trump. When the country could no longer see straight across the political divide, Mónica set out to find what was blinding us and discovered the most eye-opening tool we’re not using: our own built-in curiosity. Partisanship is up, trust is down, and our social media feeds make us sure we’re right and everyone else is ignorant (or worse). But avoiding one another is hurting our relationships and our society. In this timely, personal guide, Mónica, the chief storyteller for the national cross-partisan depolarization organization Braver Angels, takes you to the real front lines of a crisis that threatens to grind America to a halt—broken conversations among confounded people. She shows you how to overcome the fear and certainty that surround us to finally do what only seems impossible: understand and even learn from people in your life whose whole worldview is different from or even opposed to yours. Drawing from cross-partisan conversations she’s had, organized, or witnessed everywhere from the echo chambers on social media to the wheat fields in Oregon to raw, unfiltered fights with her own family on election night, Mónica shows how you can put your natural sense of wonder to work for you immediately, finding the answers you need by talking with people—rather than about them—and asking the questions you want, curiously. In these pages, you’ll learn: How to ask what you really want to know (even if you’re afraid to) How to grow smarter from even the most tense interactions, online or off How to cross boundaries and find common ground—with anyone Whether you’re left, right, center, or not a fan of labels: If you’re ready to fight back against the confusion, heartbreak, and madness of our dangerously divided times—in your own life, at least—Mónica’s got the tools and fresh, surprising insights to prove that seeing where people are coming from isn’t just possible. It’s easier than you think.
Download or read book Sunrise Through the Darkness written by Will Jimeno and published by University Professors Press. This book was released on 2021-08-16 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On September 11th, 2001, Port Authority Police Officer, William Jimeno, left his home unsuspecting of what the day was about to hold. Just a few hours later he lay crushed beneath the Twin Towers’ 220 stories of concrete, steel, and glass. Most of his team had already died. He and his sergeant were helplessly trapped. The pain and anguish had only begun. Many have seen Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center, which depicted this horrific day and the rescue of Will and his Sergeant, John McLoughlin. Surviving the initial collapse was only part of the story. Multiple surgeries, forced retirement, survivor’s guilt, depression, and learning to live again with PTSD were waiting outside of the rubble. Will has teamed with clinical psychologist, Michael Moats, to share his message of faith, hope, and love and how these three things helped him navigate the unchartered waters of learning to live again after the tragedy of September 11th. Although Sunrise Through the Darkness speaks directly to first responders, Will’s message is relatable to anyone who has suffered trauma or loves someone who has. Sunrise Through the Darkness marks the 20 year anniversary of 9/11 and gives honor to those that died through Will’s continued work of healing and serving others.
Download or read book Therapeutic Applications of Langerian Mindfulness written by Sayyed Mohsen Fatemi, Ph.D. and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2023-07-25 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Therapeutic Applications of Langerian Mindfulness Explore an authoritative new treatment of Langerian mindfulness Therapeutic Applications of Langerian Mindfulness delivers a collection of novel psychotherapeutic techniques grounded in Langerian mindfulness for dealing with psychological problems. The author draws on empirically grounded psychological research to demonstrate new approaches to fostering creativity and novelty in the reader or the reader’s patients. The book includes practical exercises that allow the reader to apply the concepts and techniques discussed within to help them manage anxiety, relationships, creativity, and productivity and performance. It also includes: A thorough introduction to Langerian mindfulness and how it differs from meditation-based mindfulness Practical discussions of the relationship between mindfulness, anxiety, and depression, as well as the key strategies for dealing with anxiety and depression with Langerian mindfulness Comprehensive explorations of mindfulness and agency, as well as the relationship between agency and wellness In-depth examinations of the phenomenological configuration of mindfulness, including discussions of the psychology of presence Perfect for mindfulness practitioners and enthusiasts in both lay and professional audiences, Therapeutic Applications of Langerian Mindfulness is an indispensable resource for therapists and practitioners seeking a one-stop reference on Langerian mindfulness. “In Therapeutic Applications of Langerian Mindfulness, Professor Sayyed Mohsen Fatemi provides clear and concrete examples of how Langerian mindfulness both liberates and heals. Basing his reflections on the inspiration of his mentor, Professor Ellen Langer, Fatemi shows in brilliant, methodical chapters the range of ways this mindfulness approach can transform lives. In the end, what both Langer and Fatemi stress is the power of attitude to make remarkable shifts in our capacity for mental and physical wellbeing. Whereas an attitude of mindfulness opens the world to virtually inexhaustible possibilities, an attitude of mindlessness—or what I call the polarized mind—shuts this process down entirely, and is one of the pivotal bases for the decay we see today, both in individuals and the societies that bear them.” — Kirk J. Schneider, PhD, author of The Polarized Mind, The Depolarizing of America, Awakening to Awe, and most recently Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Sane World “This book provides an in-depth practical analysis of cutting-edge research on Langerian mindfulness and offers promising techniques on healing, wellbeing, and growth” —Ellen J. Langer, Harvard University
Download or read book The Power of Strangers written by Joe Keohane and published by Random House. This book was released on 2021-07-13 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “meticulously researched and buoyantly written” (Esquire) look at what happens when we talk to strangers, and why it affects everything from our own health and well-being to the rise and fall of nations in the tradition of Susan Cain’s Quiet and Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens “This lively, searching work makes the case that welcoming ‘others’ isn’t just the bedrock of civilization, it’s the surest path to the best of what life has to offer.”—Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Homeland Elegies In our cities, we stand in silence at the pharmacy and in check-out lines at the grocery store, distracted by our phones, barely acknowledging one another, even as rates of loneliness skyrocket. Online, we retreat into ideological silos reinforced by algorithms designed to serve us only familiar ideas and like-minded users. In our politics, we are increasingly consumed by a fear of people we’ve never met. But what if strangers—so often blamed for our most pressing political, social, and personal problems—are actually the solution? In The Power of Strangers, Joe Keohane sets out on a journey to discover what happens when we bridge the distance between us and people we don’t know. He learns that while we’re wired to sometimes fear, distrust, and even hate strangers, people and societies that have learned to connect with strangers benefit immensely. Digging into a growing body of cutting-edge research on the surprising social and psychological benefits that come from talking to strangers, Keohane finds that even passing interactions can enhance empathy, happiness, and cognitive development, ease loneliness and isolation, and root us in the world, deepening our sense of belonging. And all the while, Keohane gathers practical tips from experts on how to talk to strangers, and tries them out himself in the wild, to awkward, entertaining, and frequently poignant effect. Warm, witty, erudite, and profound, equal parts sweeping history and self-help journey, this deeply researched book will inspire readers to see everything—from major geopolitical shifts to trips to the corner store—in an entirely new light, showing them that talking to strangers isn’t just a way to live; it’s a way to survive.
