Fear

October is all about the spooky, creepy, and scary, so let's explore fear!

Do It Scared: Finding the Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Adversity, and Create a Life You Love by Ruth Soukup - What would you do if fear no longer stood in your way?
What would happen if you were no longer afraid to dive in, head first, and go after your dreams, instead of feeling like you were sitting on the sidelines of your own life?
What then?
We tell ourselves we are too busy to pursue our dreams. That there's no time, or that it's not practical. But what if the real reason we're putting off our goals is FEAR?
The fear that we're not good enough, not smart or talented or capable enough. It's the fear that others might laugh at us, or that we'll get hurt or be rejected, or that pursuing our true potential will simply be too hard.
And most of all, the fear that we'll fail.
But courage doesn't mean we are never afraid. True courage means taking action, despite the fear. True courage means doing it scared.
The question is - how? How do we face those fears and take that first step in the right direction? How do we overcome those obstacles that stand in our way and sometimes feel insurmountable?
In Do It Scared, popular blogger and podcast host Ruth Soukup will help you to:
Identify your own unique Fear Archetype(tm) - the specific type of fear that keeps you stuck - and learn how to conquer it.
Dare to start thinking bigger about your life and your goals.
Learn how to seek out honest feedback to accomplish big things.
Embrace the core beliefs you need to overcome different types of fears.
Discover why our magical idea of 'balance' is totally overrated and let go of the guilt, once and for all.
Equal parts inspiration and tough love, Do It Scared combines easy-to-implement tips with the motivation to start making real changes that lead to big results. Get ready to get off the sidelines and jump into your own life as you dare to Do It Scared.

Fear: Essential Wisdom For Getting Through the Storm by Thich Nhat Hahn - Most of us live in a constant state of fear--of our past, of illness and aging and death, and of losing the things we treasure most. But it doesn't have to be this way, promises Zen master and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Drawing on a lifetime of mindfulness in action, Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how to use the practice of living in the present to acknowledge and embrace our fears, recognize their origins, and render them powerless. He guides us through practical exercises for transforming fear into clarity. Not only are we are able to handle challenging emotions as they arise, but we can summon feelings of well-being and contentment, no matter what the unknown may bring. Rooted in the moment, we have the capacity to restore balance and happiness and be present with what is beautiful and affirming inside us and around us, every day.

Fearless Living: Live Without Excuses and Love Without Regret by Rhonda Britten - With her acclaimed Fearless Living program, Rhonda Britten has helped thousands of people let go of indecision, gain clarity of purpose, and take life-changing risks. With inspiring true stories, self-affirmations, and exercises, she exposes the roots of fear and gives the reader tools to move beyond them. The result is a practical step-by-step guide that gives the reader a world of unlimited possibilities.

Fearless: Imaging Your Life Without Fear by Max Lucado - Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear.
They're talking layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East, turnovers at headquarters, downturns in the housing market, upswings in global warming. The plague of our day, terrorism, begins with the word "terror." Fear, it seems, has taken up a hundred-year lease on the building next door and set up shop. Oversized and rude, fear herds us into a prison of unlocked doors. Wouldn't it be great to walk out?
Imagine your life, wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats? If you could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract every last shaving of dread, insecurity, or doubt, what would remain? Envision a day, just one day, where you could trust more and fear less.
Can you imagine your life without fear?

The Frighteners: A Journey Through Our Cultural Fascination With the Macabre by Peter Laws - The Frighteners is a bizarrely compelling, laugh-out-loud exploration of society's fascination with the dark, spooky, and downright repellent, written by a man who went from horror-obsessed church hater to a God-fearing Christian, who then reconciled his love of the macabre with his new faith. Laws takes us on a worldwide adventure to shine a light on the dark corners of our own minds. He meets the people who collect serial killers' hair, spends a night in a haunted hotel, and has dinner with a woman who keeps her own coffin in her living room, ready for the big day. He's chased by zombies through an underground nuclear bunker, hunts a supposed real-life werewolf through the city streets, and meets self-proclaimed vampires who drink actual blood. From the corpse-packed crypts of Rome to the spooky streets of a Transylvanian night, he asks why he, and millions of other people, are drawn to ponder monsters, ghosts, death, and gore. And, in a world that worships rationality and points an accusing finger at violent video games and gruesome films, can a love of morbid culture actually give both adults and children safe ways to confront our mortality? Might it even have power to re-enchant our jaded world? Grab your crucifixes, pack the silver bullets, and join the Sinister Minister on this celebratory romp through our morbid curiosities.

Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear by Srinivasan S. Pillay - Everyone experiences some level of apprehension about major life decisions--from wedding day jitters to new job nerves. But what about the quieter, less noticeable fears that inform everyday choices and disrupt relationships? Fearing intimacy, change, or failure may sound cliché, but for most people, deeply embedded anxieties such as these can act as subconscious saboteurs.
In Life Unlocked, Harvard psychotherapist Dr. Srinivasan Pillay draws from cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience to show that the biggest roadblock to happiness is fear. Brain imaging studies reveal that when fear is reframed, a person can become less fearful. In fact, fear itself doesn't cause anxiety--fear of fear is what causes anxiety and dread. Recognizing and understanding fear is the first step toward overcoming it.
Based on his research and extensive clinical experience, Dr. Pillay addresses specific, common problems such as fear of success, economic worries, and relationship anxieties, and also explores broader subjects such as the biology of prejudice and the science of positive thinking. With helpful exercises and proven techniques, Life Unlocked shows how to move past fear and unlock the happiness you deserve.

Mastering Fear: A Navy SEAL's Guide by Brandon Webb & John David Mann - Brandon Webb has jumped out of airplanes, served as a sniper under terrifying conditions, and piloted planes through dangerous turbulence. As a Navy SEAL, he learned how to manage his impulse to panic when facing frightening situations, and as a public speaker and entrepreneur, he learned how to apply those things in civilian life. When a friend admitted he was terrified of the water and couldn't swim, Brandon volunteered to help and learned that his techniques for mastering fear worked in that case, too.
It's impossible to prevent fear, but it is possible to harness it when it does rear its ugly head. In Mastering Fear, Webb shows that people from all walks of life can stretch boundaries little by little through habit and practice and learn to use their fear as fuel to accomplish more than they ever thought they could.
Breaking down the process of turning fear to your advantage, Webb and his bestselling co-author John David Mann have written a must-read for anyone in need of courage.

My Friend Fear: Finding Magic in the Unknown by Meera Lee Patel - On the heels of her bestselling journal Start Where You Are, author and illustrator Meera Lee Patel takes us deeper into her artistic vision and emotional journey in this stunning new four-color book. A mix of personal reflections, inspirational quotes, questions for reflection, and breathtaking watercolor visuals , My Friend Fear asserts that having big fear is an opportunity to make big changes, to discover the remarkable potential inside ourselves.

Nerve: Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and Cool by Taylor Clark - Nerves make us bomb job interviews, first dates, and SATs. With a presentation looming at work, fear robs us of sleep for days. It paralyzes seasoned concert musicians and freezes rookie cops in tight situations. And yet not everyone cracks. Soldiers keep their heads in combat; firemen rush into burning buildings; unflappable trauma doctors juggle patient after patient. It's not that these people feel no fear; often, in fact, they're riddled with it.
In Nerve, Taylor Clark draws upon cutting-edge science and painstaking reporting to explore the very heart of panic and poise. Using a wide range of case studies, Clark overturns the popular myths about anxiety and fear to explain why some people thrive under pressure, while others falter-and how we can go forward with steadier nerves and increased confidence.

Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear by Margee Kerr - For as long as we've gathered by campfires to tell ghost stories, humans have always loved a good scare. From the splatter flicks of the 70s, to Japan's obsession with drowned girls, to creepy modern experiences like the overnight ghost hunt at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, the horror industry has thrived across time and cultures. Our obsession with getting scared is obvious to anyone who visits ScareHouse, a haunted house in Pittsburgh that is annually ranked among the scariest in the country, and has become a booming attraction with nearly 150 employees and lines wrapping around the block. It even has its own sociologist, who conducts surveys and observations to make its performances ever more terrifying. Her name is Margee Kerr. In this surprising, scary, entertaining book, Kerr puts her expertise to the test. Not merely content to observe others' fear, she confronts it in the form of things like skydiving, paranormal investigations, and a visit to Japan's infamous "suicide forest." In her willingness to explore the world's scariest attractions, Kerr shows why we seek out terror even when there is plenty to fear in everyday life. Whether she's dangling by a cable from a 116-story tower or experiencing New York City's "Extreme Haunt," BlackOut, in which participants are handcuffed, forced to crawl through dark tunnels, and given a gun and told to shoot someone, Kerr parses the elements of fear with humor and the precision of an expert. Along the way, she takes a personal journey that leads to valuable insights about what we fear--and what it says about who we are.

Ethics

March is Ethics Awareness Month.  Here are ten selections of readings on ethics.

An Appeal to the World: The Way to Peace in a Time of Division by Dalai Lama - In this brief yet profound address to global humanity, His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet reveals that we all hold the seeds of world peace within us: "I see with ever greater clarity that our spiritual well-being depends," the Nobel Peace Prize winner writes, "on our innate human nature, our natural affinity for goodness, compassion, and caring for others."
Already a major international bestseller, An Appeal to the World, the new book by one of the most revered spiritual leaders of our time, outlines both the inward and outward paths to peace, addressing a wide range of contemporary topics--from the rise of nationalism, Trump presidency, refugee crisis, climate catastrophes, and materialism to meditation, universal ethics, and even neuroscience. Here is a small book that can truly change the world.

The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates by Frans de Waal - For many years, de Waal has observed chimpanzees soothe distressed neighbors and bonobos share their food. Now he delivers fascinating fresh evidence for the seeds of ethical behavior in primate societies that further cements the case for the biological origins of human fairness. Interweaving vivid tales from the animal kingdom with thoughtful philosophical analysis, de Waal seeks a bottom-up explanation of morality that emphasizes our connection with animals. In doing so, de Waal explores for the first time the implications of his work for our understanding of modern religion. Whatever the role of religious moral imperatives, he sees it as a "Johnny-come-lately" role that emerged only as an addition to our natural instincts for cooperation and empathy.But unlike the dogmatic neo-atheist of his book's title, de Waal does not scorn religion per se. Instead, he draws on the long tradition of humanism exemplified by the painter Hieronymus Bosch and asks reflective readers to consider these issues from a positive perspective: What role, if any, does religion play for a well-functioning society today? And where can believers and nonbelievers alike find the inspiration to lead a good life?

Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things That Matter by Peter Singer - Peter Singer is often described as the world's most influential philosopher. He is also one of its most controversial. The author of important books such as Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, Rethinking Life and Death, and The Life You Can Save, he helped launch the animal rights and effective altruism movements and contributed to the development of bioethics. Now, in Ethics in the Real World, Singer shows that he is also a master at dissecting important current events in a few hundred words.
In this book of brief essays, he applies his controversial ways of thinking to issues like climate change, extreme poverty, animals, abortion, euthanasia, human genetic selection, sports doping, the sale of kidneys, the ethics of high-priced art, and ways of increasing happiness. Singer asks whether chimpanzees are people, smoking should be outlawed, or consensual sex between adult siblings should be decriminalized, and he reiterates his case against the idea that all human life is sacred, applying his arguments to some recent cases in the news. In addition, he explores, in an easily accessible form, some of the deepest philosophical questions, such as whether anything really matters and what is the value of the pale blue dot that is our planet. The collection also includes some more personal reflections, like Singer's thoughts on one of his favorite activities, surfing, and an unusual suggestion for starting a family conversation over a holiday feast.
Provocative and original, these essays will challenge--and possibly change--your beliefs about a wide range of real-world ethical questions.

Good Citizens: Creating Enlightened Society by Thich Nhat Hanh - In Good Citizens: Creating Enlightened Society, Thich Nhat Hanh lays out the foundation for an international solidarity movement based on a shared sense of compassion, mindful consumption, and right action. Following these principles, he believes, is the path to world peace. The book is based on our increased global interconnectedness and subsequent need for harmonious communication and a shared ethic to make our increasingly globalized world a more peaceful place. The book will be appreciated by people of all faiths and cultural backgrounds. While based on the basic Buddhist teachings of the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-Fold Path, Thich Nhat Hanh boldly leaves Buddhist terms behind as he offers his contribution to the creation of a truly global and nondenominational blueprint to overcoming deep-seated divisions and a vision of a world in harmony and the preservation of the planet. Key topics include the true root causes of discrimination; the exploration of the various forms of violence; economic, social, and sexual violence. He encourages the reader to practice nonviolence in all daily interactions, elaborates on the practice of generosity, and teaches the art of deep listening and loving speech to help reach a compromise and reestablish communication after misunderstandings have escalated into conflicts. Good Citizens also contains a new wording of the Five Mindfulness Trainings (traditionally called "precepts") for lay practitioners, bringing them in line with modern-day needs and realities. In their new form they are concrete and practical guidelines of ethical conduct that can be accepted by all traditions.

The Idea of Justice by Amartya Sen - The most important contribution to the subject since John Rawls' A Theory of Justice. Sen argues that what we urgently need in our troubled world is not a theory of an ideally just state, but a theory that can yield judgments as to comparative justice, judgments that tell us when and why we are moving closer to or farther away from realizing justice in the present globalized world.

The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values by Sam Harris - In this explosive new book, Sam Harris tears down the wall between scientific facts and human values, arguing that most people are simply mistaken about the relationship between morality and the rest of human knowledge. Harris urges us to think about morality in terms of human and animal well-being, viewing the experiences of conscious creatures as peaks and valleys on a "moral landscape." Because there are definite facts to be known about where we fall on this landscape, Harris foresees a time when science will no longer limit itself to merely describing what people do in the name of "morality"; in principle, science should be able to tell us what we ought to do to live the best lives possible.
Bringing a fresh perspective to age-old questions of right and wrong and good and evil, Harris demonstrates that we already know enough about the human brain and its relationship to events in the world to say that there are right and wrong answers to the most pressing questions of human life. Because such answers exist, moral relativism is simply false--and comes at increasing cost to humanity. And the intrusions of religion into the sphere of human values can be finally repelled: for just as there is no such thing as Christian physics or Muslim algebra, there can be no Christian or Muslim morality.
Using his expertise in philosophy and neuroscience, along with his experience on the front lines of our "culture wars," Harris delivers a game-changing book about the future of science and about the real basis of human cooperation.

Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them by Joshua David Greene - Our brains were designed for tribal life, for getting along with a select group of others (Us) and for fighting off everyone else (Them). But modern times have forced the world's tribes into a shared space, resulting in epic clashes of values along with unprecedented opportunities. As the world shrinks, the moral lines that divide us become more salient and more puzzling. We fight over everything from tax codes to gay marriage to global warming, and we wonder where, if at all, we can find our common ground. In this grand synthesis of neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, a pathbreaking neuroscientist reveals the underlying causes of modern conflict and lights the way forward.

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt - Why can't our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding.
 His starting point is moral intuition--the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right. He blends his own research findings with those of anthropologists, historians, and other psychologists to draw a map of the moral domain, and he explains why conservatives can navigate that map more skillfully than can liberals. He then examines the origins of morality, overturning the view that evolution made us fundamentally selfish creatures. But rather than arguing that we are innately altruistic, he makes a more subtle claim--that we are fundamentally groupish. It is our groupishness, he explains, that leads to our greatest joys, our religious divisions, and our political affiliations. In a stunning final chapter on ideology and civility, Haidt shows what each side is right about, and why we need the insights of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians to flourish as a nation.

The Self Beyond Itself: An Alternative History of Ethics, The New Brain Sciences, and the Myth of Free Will by Heidi M. Ravven - Few concepts are more unshakable in Western culture than free will. In The Self Beyond Itself, Heidi M. Ravven throws a wrench into this view, calling free will a myth that reflects the still-powerful influence of Christian theology on popular thinking. The book offers a riveting and accessible review of neuro-scientific research into the brain's capacity for decision-making, pointing to the profound, virtually inescapable social influences on moral choices. Ravven shows that it is possible to build a theory of ethics that doesn't rely on free will.

Ten Universal Principles: A Brief Philosophy of the Life Issues by Robert J. Spitzer - How do we make sense of life? How should we treat others? How should we reasonably be expected to be treated by others? When human life is at stake, are there reasonable principles we can rely on to guide our actions? How should our laws be framed to protect human life? What kind of society should be built?Many people rely on their religious beliefs to answer these questions. But not everyone accepts the same religious premises or recognizes the same spiritual authorities. Are there public arguments--reasons that can be given that do not presuppose agreement on religious grounds or common religious commitments--that can guide our thoughts and actions, as well as our laws and public policies?In Ten Universal Principles: A Brief Philosophy of the Life Issues, Jesuit Father Robert Spitzer sets out, in a brief, yet highly-readable and lucid style, ten basic principles that must govern the reasonable person's thinking and acting about life issues. A highly-regarded philosopher, Father Spitzer provides an intelligent outline for thinking and talking about human life. This book is a powerful tool for persuasively articulating and effectively inculturating a prolife philosophy.