New Books in Psychology

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Making Meaning Episode 5: Beyond Happiness Feb 08, 2023

Show notes

Organizing our lives around the pursuit of happiness—defined as positive feelings—can ultimately leave our souls hungry. Instead, we should try connecting ourselves to deeper things: compassion, community, ritual, and awe.

Guest:

Emily Esfahani Smith is a writer, editor, and speaker in Washington DC. She draws on psychology, philosophy, and literature to write about the human experience—why we are the way we are and how we can find grace and meaning in a world that is full of suffering. Her book The Power of Meaning, an international bestseller, has been translated into 16 different languages.

Making Meaning is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas that explores how life can be lived more meaningfully. Featuring meditations by some of the world’s most sensitive and insightful thinkers, Making Meaning will give you fresh perspective and encouragement to live with greater intention and fullness. Making Meaning is produced by Jack Pombriant and Zachary Davis. Artwork by Dan Pecci. Learn more at ministryofideas.org and find us on Twitter @ministryofideas.

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Thomas L Murray, "Making Nice with Naughty: An Intimacy Guide for the Rule-Following, Organized, Perfectionist, Practical, and Color-Within-The-Line Types" (2022) Feb 07, 2023

Show notes

Have too much self-control?

You worked hard, followed the rules, and delayed gratification to get where you are in life. You played nice, did what you were told, and were rewarded for it. You have high expectations of yourself and for those around you. You have a strong sense of how the world should be and a consciousness of right and wrong. These are all admirable traits. Yet, your sex life and relationships suffer. Emotional distance has grown between you and your partner. Passion has diminished. Sex has become routine, assuming it happens at all. Your mind overthinks, making it impossible to relax: "Will the kids hear us?"; "My body's changed so much!"; "I have tons to catch up on and sex is a waste of time"; "What if I embarrass myself?" You fear uncertainty, especially about the future; you feel anxious, yet you want more out of life. You want to have fun with sex and be intimate and enjoy what you see others enjoying. You're not sure where to start though or if your thoughts and feelings will ever change. They can. Thomas L Murray's Making Nice with Naughty: An Intimacy Guide for the Rule-Following, Organized, Perfectionist, Practical, and Color-Within-The-Line Types (Clinical Training & Consultation, 2022) is an intimacy guide for turning down your dial on what is defined as an Overcontrolled (OC) Temperament and reclaiming psychological flexibility, child-like playfulness, adventure, and guilt-free pleasure-seeking.

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Making Meaning Episode 4: Weaving the World Together Feb 07, 2023

Show notes

Meaning is less a secret to discover than an emergent property, a byproduct of engaging with the world. Through experimentation and an orientation of openness, we can weave ourselves into a broader cloth of coherence.

Guest:

Michael Steger is the Founder and Director of the Center for Meaning and Purpose, and Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University. He also serves as an Extraordinary Professor by North-West University in South Africa. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Macalester College, his MS in Counseling from the University of Oregon in 1997, and his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and Personality Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2005.

Making Meaning is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas that explores how life can be lived more meaningfully. Featuring meditations by some of the world’s most sensitive and insightful thinkers, Making Meaning will give you fresh perspective and encouragement to live with greater intention and fullness. Making Meaning is produced by Jack Pombriant and Zachary Davis. Artwork by Dan Pecci. Learn more at ministryofideas.org and find us on Twitter @ministryofideas.

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

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Vanessa Loder, "The Soul Solution: A Guide for Brilliant, Overwhelmed Women to Quiet the Noise, Find Their Superpower, and (Finally) Feel Satisfied" (Sounds True, 2022) Feb 07, 2023

Show notes

Are you so busy fulfilling everyone else’s expectations that you’ve lost touch with yourself? Do you find yourself filling up your “free” hours with mundane tasks, soaking up podcasts to improve yourself, and rushing around, never getting it all done? For many women, it’s the same kind of story—we hustle to overachieve at work and at home, all in the hopes that we can “crush it” until we finally feel fulfilled.

Vanessa Loder invites you to consider this question: “What if the point isn't to crush it in life, but to savor it?”

With The Soul Solution: A Guide for Brilliant, Overwhelmed Women to Quiet the Noise, Find Their Superpower, and (Finally) Feel Satisfied(Sounds True, 2022) , this sought-after women’s leadership expert shares a powerful and practical guide to help women who feel overwhelmed and exhausted to recover our true selves—and our joy in living. Here she presents a road map for coming home to yourself, including:

• The Whispers of Your Soul—the three key steps for tuning out the noise and accessing authenticity

• Your Energetic Bread Crumbs—how the universe signals to you when you’re on the right path

• Discover Your Superpower—why you’ve been ignoring your most valuable gifts, and how to reclaim them

• From Tunnel Vision to Visionary—ways to break out of the “shame cycle” of patriarchal culture and own your destiny

• Quieting the Inner Critic—how to retrain your inner voices to encourage and support you

• The Upward Spiral—using the SAT method (Surrender, Allow, Trust) to get more of what you want with ease

Filled with practical guidance and inspiring personal stories, The Soul Solution is a nonstrategic, nonlinear—but entirely effective—guide to help you reclaim your feminine, intuitive soul power to fulfill your most meaningful and satisfying desires.

Vanessa Loder is an international keynote speaker and sought-after expert on women’s leadership, mindfulness, stress management, and sustainable success. She's been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Glamour, and the Huffington Post, among others. She received her MBA from Stanford University, is a certified Executive Coach, and is trained in neurolinguistic programming, past-life regression, and vipassana meditation. For more, please visit her website at vanessaloder.com.

Elizabeth Cronin, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and mindfulness meditation teacher with offices in Brookline and Norwood, MA. You can follow her on Instagram or visit her website.

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Making Meaning Episode 3: The Weight of the World Feb 06, 2023

Show notes

The ideology of capitalism, which drives us to find happiness in endless exertion and economic gain, dulls our emotions and blinds us to the source of our most abundant meaning—relationships and solidarity with other people.

Guest:

Kathryn Lofton is a scholar of religion and has written extensively about capitalism, popular culture, and the secular. She’s the author of three books: Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon; Consuming Religion; and Woman’s Work: An Anthology of African-American Women’s Historical Writings. Lofton earned her PhD in Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005. She has taught at Yale since 2009.

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Making Meaning Episode 2: A Fortunate Coalescence Feb 05, 2023

Show notes

We’re often given the following choice: either there’s a cosmic, eternal purpose to our lives or nothing matters at all. But perhaps the meaning of life is the meaning in life—witnessing the dance of light on leaves or the catching of a perfect wave.

Guest:

Aaron James is philosophy professor at UC Irvine and the author of Surfing with Sarte: An Aquatic Inquiry into the Life of Meaning.

Making Meaning is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas that explores how life can be lived more meaningfully. Featuring meditations by some of the world’s most sensitive and insightful thinkers, Making Meaning will give you fresh perspective and encouragement to live with greater intention and fullness. Making Meaning is produced by Jack Pombriant and Zachary Davis. Artwork by Dan Pecci. Learn more at ministryofideas.org and find us on Twitter @ministryofideas.

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

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Making Meaning Episode 1: You Don't Have To Be Special Feb 04, 2023

Show notes

Feelings of meaninglessness often are caused by how we understand ourselves. If we change how we think about our worth, we’ll discover radiant meaning can be found in even the most ordinary aspects of our lives.

Guest:

David Burns is a leading psychiatrist and a pioneer of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. His best-selling book, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy has sold over 4 million copies and is the book most frequently “prescribed” for depressed patients by psychiatrists and psychologists in the United States and Canada.

Making Meaning is a limited series from Ministry of Ideas that explores how life can be lived more meaningfully. Featuring meditations by some of the world’s most sensitive and insightful thinkers, Making Meaning will give you fresh perspective and encouragement to live with greater intention and fullness. Making Meaning is produced by Jack Pombriant and Zachary Davis. Artwork by Dan Pecci. Learn more at ministryofideas.org and find us on Twitter @ministryofideas.

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

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Why It’s So Hard for Us to Subtract Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

Leidy, professor of engineering at the University of Virginia, talks about his book, Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. As Klotz shows throughout the book, we pile on “to-dos” but don’t consider “stop-doings.” We create incentives for good behavior, but don’t get rid of obstacles to it. We collect new-and-improved ideas, but don’t prune the outdated ones. Every day, across challenges big and small, we neglect a basic way to make things better: we don’t subtract. Klotz’s work sits at a fascinating intersection between engineering, design, and experimental psychology. His pioneering research shows us what is true whether we’re building Lego models, cities, or strategic plans: Our minds tend to add before taking away, and this is holding us back.

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Valerie Tiberius, "What Do You Want Out of Life?: A Philosophical Guide to Figuring Out What Matters" (Princeton UP, 2023) Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

What do you want out of life? To make a lot of money--or work for justice? To run marathons--or sing in a choir? To have children--or travel the world? The things we care about in life--family, friendship, leisure activities, work, our moral ideals--often conflict, preventing us from doing what matters most to us. Even worse, we don't always know what we really want, or how to define success. Blending personal stories, philosophy, and psychology, this insightful and entertaining book offers invaluable advice about living well by understanding your values and resolving the conflicts that frustrate their fulfillment.

Valerie Tiberius introduces you to a way of thinking about your goals that enables you to reflect on them effectively throughout your life. She illustrates her approach with vivid examples, many of which are drawn from her own life, ranging from the silly to the serious, from shopping to navigating prejudice. Throughout, the book emphasizes the importance of interconnectedness, reminding us of the profound influence other people have on our lives, our goals, and how we should pursue them. At the same time, the book offers strategies for coping with obstacles to realizing your goals, including gender bias and other kinds of discrimination.

Whether you are changing jobs, rethinking your priorities, or reconsidering your whole life path, What Do You Want Out of Life?: A Philosophical Guide to Figuring Out What Matters (Princeton UP, 2023)s an essential guide to helping you understand what really matters to you and how you can thoughtfully pursue it.

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Rebecca Ray, "Small Habits for a Big Life" (Macmillan, 2022) Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

Change is not about grand statements and sweeping gestures. It is about chipping away, a bit at a time, at the habits that hold us back.

Dr Rebecca Ray knows about the power of small habits to make big changes. By introducing small changes into her own life, she transformed her career as a clinical psychologist to become one of Australia's most effective communicators on matters of the mind. Rebecca has helped many members of her large online community and her clients do the same.

In Small Habits for a Big Life (Macmillan, 2022), Dr Rebecca Ray breaks down the process for her reader. She explains how we can override the part of the brain that seeks pleasure and comfort (ice cream and wine) and activate the parts that tolerate some discomfort for the sake of long-term goals (an hour of study instead of an hour of TV).

Small Habits for a Big Life clears the way for readers to embark on their own path to change and provides exactly the right amount of support along the way.

Elizabeth Cronin, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and mindfulness meditation teacher with offices in Brookline and Norwood, MA. You can follow her on Instagram or visit her website.

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

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