Personal Philosophy

These are difficult days in our world's history. Natural disasters are gouging entire nations, 1.75 billion people are desperately poor, and economic uncertainty still reigns across the globe. But you and I have been given an opportunity to make a big difference. What if we did? What if we rocked the world with hope? Infiltrated all corners with God's love and life?

Many believe that people are just born with the ability to think critically, but that's not true! Critical thinking is a skill that anyone can learn how to do and how to build upon in order to make themselves master critical thinkers. Those who are in college, in careers where they have to make decisions on a regular basis, or would just like to know how they can become better learners should take a listen to this book.

In Talking Across the Divide, social justice activist Justin Lee explains how to break through the five key barriers that make people resist differing opinions. With a combination of psychological research, pop-culture references, and anecdotes from Justin's many years of experience mediating contentious conversations, this book will help you understand people on the other side of the argument and give you the tools you need to change their minds - even if they've fallen for "fake news."

Good problem-solving skills are not something you're born with.... They’re something you can master. If your struggle is not coming up with solutions, but coming up with the best solution, look no further.

Break free of your destructive relationship with money, and learn how money can make you happy. Our relationship with money is one that lasts a lifetime. It can be as important as family life, as competitive as work, and as exciting and secretive as love. Yet books about money tend to take one of two routes: a) how to get more, or b) how to deal with less. This book turns these questions upside down, and looks not at money itself, but at the way we view it. How does money drive us? How does it frighten us?

This mindfulness meditation primer is really two books in one. The first is a guide for parents to the basics and benefits of meditation for children in terms of health, managing emotions, and promoting success in school. The second is a concise practice program for children, featuring Yupsi, the magical dragon. The tales of Yupsi, which are infused with a sense of adventure as well as compassion and empathy, provide a fun and engaging entree to the practice.

Whether you have no religious background or feel uncomfortable with the one you do have, whether you want to question your beliefs or develop your own relationship with God, Rabbi Kushner helps you understand how a spiritual commitment can make a real, practical difference in your life - and how you can find more meaning and live better today!

The founder of the international Transition Towns movement asks why true creative, positive thinking is in decline, asserts that it's more important now than ever, and suggests ways our communities can revive and reclaim it.

Ethical intelligence may not get as much attention as other forms of "smarts", but as Bruce Weinstein reveals, it is the most practical, valuable, and even courageous form, determining success on the job, fulfillment in relationships, and sense of self-worth. After reviewing the basic ethical principles agreed upon by cultures and religious traditions around the world and throughout time, Weinstein tells listeners how to develop their ethics IQ by applying these principles in daily life.

From the real-life experiences of two successful engineers comes a unique, practical approach to achieving success and balance in the key areas of your life (economic, physical, emotional, and social)! The Philosophy of Intentional Living is a new approach that harnesses the power of extreme intentions to transform your life! This is a detailed and practical framework, with concrete examples, that answers the tough questions like: What is my purpose? What is holistic success? How do I improve my relationships? How I do I achieve balance? Plus much more!

Over 30 years, Burning Man has gone from two families on a San Francisco beach to a global movement in which hundreds of thousands of people around the world create events on every continent. It has been the subject of fawning media profiles, an exhibit in the Smithsonian, and is beloved by tech billionaires and boho counterculturalists alike. But why does it matter? What does it actually have to offer us? The answer, Caveat Magister writes, is simple: Burning Man's philosophy can help us build better communities.

It ought not to be necessary to ask a man if he likes his work. The radiance of his face should tell that. His very buoyancy and pride in his task, his spirit of unbounded enthusiasm and zest ought to show it.

Who doesn't worry sometimes that smart phones, the Internet, and TV are robbing us of time and preventing us from having a life? How can we make the most of our time on earth? In the first century AD, the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger offered one of the most famous answers to that question in his essay "On the Shortness of Life"—a work that has more to teach us today than ever before.

Seen in The New York Times, on CNN, FOX, VICE, and more–Social skills and relationship coach Anthony Recenello’s brash approach to life transforms the ever-present media narrative that says that you must be extroverted and dominating to achieve romantic success and find fulfillment. Characterized as “the balanced introvert”, Recenello seeks to revitalize the seemingly lost art of soft spoken charm.

Using examples from literature, poetry, and spiritual texts, Michael Lipson, Ph.D, articulately describes how to turn one's life into an art form. By following Emerson's description of harmonious living, Lipson shows us through simple and thoughtful exercises how to achieve peace and realization of one's life's purpose.

In the original meaning of the word, hackers are enthusiastic computer programmers who share their work with others; they are not computer criminals. This is the book that cracks the stigma of the hacker and articulates their invaluable role in the information age.

The modern understanding of what it means to be stoical is never showing any form of outward emotion regardless of all circumstances, good or bad, and indeed not having any emotions whatsoever. The entire species of the Vulcans in the popular science fiction franchise Star Trek exemplifies the popular definition. But it's easy to recognize an absence of outward emotion as not necessarily being a good thing.

From a highly regarded feminist cultural critic and professor comes a polemic arguing that the stifling sense of sexual danger sweeping American campuses doesn't empower women, it impedes the fight for gender equality. Feminism is broken, argues Laura Kipnis, if anyone thinks the sexual hysteria overtaking American campuses is a sign of gender progress.

When confronted with an ethical dilemma, most of us like to think we would stand up for our principles. But we are not as ethical as we think we are. In Blind Spots, leading business ethicists Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel examine the ways we overestimate our ability to do what is right and how we act unethically without meaning to.

A written leadership philosophy, which we call The Leader's Compass, achieves the same thing on a personal level; it lets people know what you expect, what you value, how you'll act, and how you'll measure performance, with the additional benefits of making the workplace less stressful and more productive. And, like a compass, it helps to keep you, the leader, on course.