Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (And World Peace)

Written by Chade-Meng Tan, (c) 2012, New York: HarperCollins.

As the author, a computer engineer at Google explains, he and some colleagues at work started out with the question of how to make contemplative practices accessible to others so that they could help others be successful in life and in work. From there, they developed a mindfulness-based emotional intelligence course, “Search Inside Yourself,” many ideas and content of which is shared in the book.

I enjoy this book. A strength of it is the candid way Chade is able to “translate teachings from the language of contemplative traditions into language that compulsively pragmatic people like [himself] can process” (p. 4).

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The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions

Written by Christopher K. Germer, (c) 2009,  New York: The Guilford Press. (self-compassion, loving-kindness)

Although this book is geared to a general audience and is not specific to helping professionals, I’ll share a quote here where Christopher reflects on the quality of presence he aims to bring to his encounters of emotional pain, whether of his own or another’s (including in his role as a therapist):

“It may sound strange, but I generally try to avoid the term “self-compassion” while counseling others because it creates a standard against which we all inevitably fail. Self-compassion isn’t a “thing” that we either have or don’t have. Instead, as a practitioner and as a therapist, I try to remain open to emotional pain and breathe kindness into it, one moment after the next.” (p. 240)

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