The Art of Showing Up
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If you're having trouble connecting with those around you, know that you're not the only one. Adult friendships are tricky!!! Part manifesto, part guide, The Art of Showing Up is soul medicine for our modern, tech-mediated age. Rachel Wilkerson Miller charts a course to kinder, more thoughtful, and more fulfilling relationships--and, crucially, she reminds us that "you can't show up for others if you aren't showing up for yourself first." Learn to fearlessly . . . define your needs, reclaim your time, and commit to self-care ask for backup when times are tough--and take action when others are in crisis meet and care for new friends, and gently end toxic friendships help your people feel more seen (and more OK) overall!
Big Friendship
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A close friendship is one of the most influential and important relationships a human life can contain. Anyone will tell you that! But for all the rosy sentiments surrounding friendship, most people don't talk much about what it really takes to stay close for the long haul. Now two friends, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, tell the story of their equally messy and life-affirming Big Friendship in this honest and hilarious book that chronicles their first decade in one another's lives. As the hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend, they've become known for frank and intimate conversations. In this book, they bring that energy to their own friendship--its joys and its pitfalls. Aminatou and Ann define Big Friendship as a strong, significant bond that transcends life phases, geographical locations, and emotional shifts. And they should know: the two have had moments of charmed bliss and deep frustration, of profound connection and gut-wrenching alienation. They have weathered life-threatening health scares, getting fired from their dream jobs, and one unfortunate Thanksgiving dinner eaten in a car in a parking lot in Rancho Cucamonga. Through interviews with friends and experts, they have come to understand that their struggles are not unique. And that the most important part of a Big Friendship is making the decision to invest in one another again and again. An inspiring and entertaining testament to the power of society's most underappreciated relationship, Big Friendship will invite you to think about how your own bonds are formed, challenged, and preserved. It is a call to value your friendships in all of their complexity. Actively choose them. And, sometimes, fight for them.
Find Your People
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . WINNER OF THE ECPA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD . The author of Get Out of Your Head offers practical solutions for creating true community, the kind that's crucial to our mental and spiritual health. "My dear friend Jennie Allen shows ushow to make true emotional connections with the right peopleso that our authentic relationships can be healthy for all."-Lysa TerKeurst, author of It's Not Supposed to Be This Way In a world that's both more connected and more isolating than ever before, we're often tempted to do life alone, whether because we're so busy or because relationships feel risky and hard. But science confirms that consistent, meaningful connection with others has a powerful impact on ourwell-being. We are meant to live known and loved. But so many are hiding behind emotional walls that we're experiencing an epidemic of loneliness. In Find Your People, bestselling author Jennie Allen drawson fascinating insights from science and history, timeless biblical truth, and vulnerable stories from her own life to help you- . overcome the barriers to making new friends and learn to initiate with easy-to-follow steps . find simple ways to press through awkward to get to authentic in conversations . understand how conflict can strengthen relationships rather than destroy them . identify the type of friend you are and the types of friends you need . learn the five practical ingredients you need to have the type of friends you've always longed for You were created to play, engage, adventure, and explore-with others. In Find Your People, you'll discover exactly how to dive into the deep end and experience the full wonder of community. Because while the ache of loneliness is real, it doesn't have to be your reality.
Modern Friendship
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From the "Friendship Explainer," a definitive step-by-step guide to understanding the fundamental mechanics of friendship Modern friendships can be painfully ambiguous. But they don't have to be. Journalist Anna Goldfarb has your back. "It's understandable if your friendships are floundering. You're up against historically new forces that we, as a culture, have no precedent for navigating," she says. With Modern Friendship, Anna shares a manual for understanding what is pushing our friendships to the brink and provides actionable advice for forming authentic, enduring connections today. It's never been easier to shed friendships, which is precisely why we need a new approach to keeping them strong. Anna argues that we need to update our approach to friendships in a way that accounts for the hyper-fluid society we live in. The key to forming a lasting bond is what Anna calls "Wholehearted Friendship"--proven strategies to enhance enthusiastic connection. Blending keen insights, cutting-edge social research, and intuitive practical tools, she invites you to explore: * Why modern friendships are so ambiguous--and how to get clarity * How desire influences friend selection, why friendships fail, and how to hone your friendship intuition * Mattering to others--establishing boundaries, being flexible, having fun, and setting up your friendships for success * Tools for the tough times--exercises, prompts, scripts, and advice on keeping friendships active even when life gets hectic * Practicing Wholehearted Friendship--how to be caring, curious, appreciative, and supportive to a friend in any situation * Trying a 14-day Friendship Cleanse--two weeks of actionable advice to clarify your wishes in friendship and strengthen your connections, both old and new Grasping the mechanics of friendships will liberate you from the prison of self-doubt. "Your friendships are precious. They're vital. They matter. So let's understand, cultivate, and harness their incredible power," says Anna. With Modern Friendship, you'll discover how to be a more self-assured and empowered friend to the most meaningful people in your life. Let Anna show you how.
You Will Find Your People
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You Will Find Your People is a narrative work of self-development that uncovers the complex, frightening, and mystical world of friendship. Author Lane Moore takes readers on a journey that challenges heteronormative western ideas of friendship, navigates the tricky world of being friends with your ex, and teaches us how to finally--and fearlessly--accept the friendships we know we deserve. Part memoir, part self-help book, and with Moore's signature self-deprecating humor, You Will Find Your People has wide commercial appeal for readers of all ages who want to challenge and better understand their sense of community.
The Art of Gathering
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"Hosts of all kinds, this is a must-read!" --Chris Anderson, owner and curator of TED From the host of the New York Times podcast Together Apart, an exciting new approach to how we gather that will transform the ways we spend our time together--at home, at work, in our communities, and beyond. In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play. Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings--conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp--and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience. The result is a book that's both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue--and how you host and attend them.
Seek You
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From the acclaimed author of Imagine Wanting Only This--a timely and moving meditation on isolation and longing, both as individuals and as a society. A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century There is a silent epidemic in America: loneliness. Shameful to talk about and often misunderstood, loneliness is everywhere, from the most major of metropolises to the smallest of towns. In Seek You, Kristen Radtke's wide-ranging exploration of our inner lives and public selves, Radtke digs into the ways in which we attempt to feel closer to one another, and the distance that remains. Through the lenses of gender and violence, technology and art, Radtke ushers us through a history of loneliness and longing, and shares what feels impossible to share. Ranging from the invention of the laugh-track to the rise of Instagram, the bootstrap-pulling cowboy to the brutal experiments of Harry Harlow, Radtke investigates why we engage with each other, and what we risk when we turn away. With her distinctive, emotionally-charged drawings and deeply empathetic prose, Kristen Radtke masterfully shines a light on some of our most vulnerable and sublime moments, and asks how we might keep the spaces between us from splitting entirely.
Tell Me Who You Are
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An eye-opening exploration of race in America In this deeply inspiring book, Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi recount their experiences talking to people from all walks of life about race and identity on a cross-country tour of America. Spurred by the realization that they had nearly completed high school without hearing any substantive discussion about racism in school, the two young women deferred college admission for a year to collect first-person accounts of how racism plays out in this country every day--and often in unexpected ways. In Tell Me Who You Are, Guo and Vulchi reveal the lines that separate us based on race or other perceived differences and how telling our stories--and listening deeply to the stories of others--are the first and most crucial steps we can take towards negating racial inequity in our culture. Featuring interviews with over 150 Americans accompanied by their photographs, this intimate toolkit also offers a deep examination of the seeds of racism and strategies for effecting change. This groundbreaking book will inspire readers to join Guo and Vulchi in imagining an America in which we can fully understand and appreciate who we are.
Hungry Hearts
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Sixteen innovators, creatives, and thought leaders--Austin Channing Brown, Sue Monk Kidd, and Luvvie Ajayi Jones, among others--share intimate stories of uncovering beauty and potential through moments of fear, loss, heartbreak, and uncertainty. "You'll find kindred spirits in these tales of resilience, transformation, and joy."--Time Over the course of four years, the traveling love rally called Together Live brought together diverse storytellers for epic evenings of laughter, music, and hard-won wisdom to huge audiences across the country. Well-known womxn (and the occasional man) from all walks of life shared their most vulnerable truths in a radical act of love, paving the way for healing in the face of adversity. Now, off the stage and on the pages of Hungry Hearts, sixteen of these beloved speakers offer moving, inspiring, deeply personal essays as a reminder that we can heal from grief and that divisions can be repaired. Bozoma Saint John opens herself up to love after loss; Cameron Esposito confronts the limits of self-reliance in the wake of divorce; Ashley C. Ford learns to trust herself for the first time. A heartfelt anthology of transformation, self-discovery, and courage that also includes essays by Luvvie Ajayi Jones, Amena Brown, Austin Channing Brown, Natalie Guerrero, Sue Monk Kidd, Connie Lim (MILCK), Nkosingiphile Mabaso, Jillian Mercado, Priya Parker, Geena Rocero, Michael Trotter and Tanya-Blount Trotter of The War and Treaty, and Maysoon Zayid, Hungry Hearts shows how reconnecting with our own burning, undeniable intuition points us toward our unique purpose and the communities where we most belong.
How to Know a Person
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A practical, heartfelt guide to the art of truly knowing another person and fostering deeper connections at home, at work, and throughout our lives--from the author of The Road to Character and The Second Mountain "More than a guide to better conversations, it's a blueprint for a more connected and humane way of living. It's a must-read for anyone looking to deepen their relationships and broaden their perspectives."--Bill Gates, GatesNotes (Summer Reading Pick) As David Brooks observes, "There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen--to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood." And yet all around are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In How to Know a Person, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing essential questions: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them? What kind of conversations should you have? What parts of a person's story should you pay attention to? Driven by his trademark sense of curiosity and determination to grow as a person, Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience and the worlds of theater, philosophy, history, and education to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection. How to Know a Person helps readers become more understanding and considerate toward others, and to find the joy that comes from being seen. Along the way it offers a possible remedy for a society that is riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception. The act of seeing another person, Brooks argues, is profoundly creative: How can we look somebody in the eye and see something large in them and, in turn, see something larger in ourselves? How to Know a Person is for anyone searching for connection, and yearning to be understood.
