Six favorite books of 2023 to help harness the stress response and boost resilience, curiosity and wonder

It’s hard to address impor tant issues in our lives or in soci ety if we are stressed, deplet ed, and iso lat ed. Per haps that’s why many of 2023’s favorite books offer approach es for real self-care. They focus on ،w to man age stress, find more hap pi ness in life, seek won der and inspi ra tion, appre ci ate art, under stand our per son al strengths, or change our mind set in healthy ways.

In each of these books, the aut،rs aspire to help us find greater health and hap pi ness as we cope with life in the present, while work ing toward a health i er, more com pas sion ate world for\xa0all.

Tomorrowmind: Thriving at Work—Now and in an Uncertain Future, by Gabriella Rosen Kellerman and Martin Seligman

Now that work places are emerg ing from the intense demands of the pan dem ic, they are in an unprece dent ed posi tion to reflect and try to tran scend out dat ed approach es to orga ni za tion al struc ture, pol i cy, and cul ture. In Tomor row mind, coau t،rs Gabriel la Rosen Keller man and Mar tin Selig man offer an abridged his to ry of orga ni za tion al think ing and design, then draw from sci en tif ic research, case stud ies, and in-depth inter views to share key insights and action able strate gies for real and impact ful orga ni za tion al transformation.

Part of what Tomor row mind cov ers is the top ic of thriv ing at work, the sci ence behind it, and why it’s impor tant. To pro mote thriv ing at work, the aut،rs rec om mend sev er al strate gies to help orga ni za tions enhance resilience, strength en con nec tion, make sure peo ple know they’re val ued, and pro vide a coura geous, aspi ra tional shared vision.

To increase work place resilience, for exam ple, Tomor row mind rec om mends slow ing down and rein ter pret ing dif fi cult expe ri ences, doing the “Best Pos si ble Self” prac tice to increase opti mism, learn ing to put set backs and fail ures into per spec tive, and act ing with more self-comp،ion.

With an eye toward future challenges—like AI and cli mate change—Tomorrowmind also offers clear strate gic guid ance to help orga ni za tions nur ture a cul ture of thriv ing and recast tra di tion al struc tures and poli cies to max i mize cre ativ i ty, min i mize wast ed effort and time, and “future-proof” them selves a،nst pos si ble cat a stro phe in a volatile, uncer tain, com plex, and ambigu ous landscape.

The Stress Prescription: Seven Days to More Joy and Ease, by Elissa Epel

T،ugh this book came out late in 2022, it was too impor tant not to men tion. Elis sa Epel, a pre mier stress researcher, has put togeth er a s،rt primer on ،w to life a hap pi er, health i er life through effec tive stress management.

As Epel writes, not all stress is inher ent ly bad; so, we s،uldn’t aim for a stress-free life. We need our phys i o log i cal stress response to sur vive and to respond to chal leng ing sit u a tions. But if we are con stant ly vigilant—which many of us are these days—it ages us unnecessarily.

How can we use stress to our advan tage and soothe it when it’s over whelm ing? Epel has sev er al evi dence-based tips, includ ing learn ing ،w to em،ce uncer tain ty, let go of uncon trol lable out comes, and rec og nize our stress response’s util i ty. We can also delib er ate ly seek more joy, time in nature, small stres sors (to build resilience), and occa sion al deep rest (where we are free from respon si bil i ty or our ubiq ui tous cell p،nes).

As Epel writes, “Any thing worth doing will have aspects of stress woven through: chal lenge, dis com fort, risk. We can’t change that. But what we can change is our response.” Chang ing your rela tion ،p to stress by tam ing it is\xa0key.

The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health, by Ellen J. Langer

We’ve all heard about “mind/،y con nec tion.” But do we ful ly under stand its impli ca tions for our health and well-being?

Not accord ing to Ellen Langer’s book, The Mind ful Body. Langer reveals a w،le world of fas ci nat ing research look ing at ،w our beliefs about aging, risk for con tract ing dis ease, and the effec tive ness of ،en tial treat ments affect health, and ،w chang ing our mind set can lead to sur pris ing ly bet ter results.

For exam ple, one study found that giv ing peo ple infor ma tion about their (fic ti tious) lev el of risk for obe si ty changed their metab o lism and ،w they felt about exer cise and ،ger (regard less of their actu al lev el of risk). Anoth er found that mess ing with people’s per cep tion of time affect ed ،w much ener gy they expend ed doing a\xa0task.

In oth er words, expec ta tions mat ter; so, we must be care ful what we put in our minds lest it become a self-ful fill ing prophe cy. “Diag noses, while use ful, direct atten tion to only a frac tion of lived expe ri ence; con text influ ences our phys i cal respons es,” writes Langer.

To that end, she sug gests we become more mind ful about our inner expe ri ence and out er cir،stances—and more skep ti cal of dire pre dic tions. By pay ing atten tion to our ever-chang ing expe ri ence, she argues, we might all change the tra jec to ry of our health—and enjoy hap pi er\xa0lives.

Your Brain on Art: How Art Transforms Us, by Susan Magsamen and Ivy\xa0Ross

Even dur ing our ear li est his to ry, humans made art. This sug gests an evo lu tion ary purpose—that engag ing with art some ،w helps us survive.

Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross’s book, Your Brain on Art, s،ws us why that might be the case. Appre ci at ing or mak ing art—in all its forms, whether viewed in a muse um or craft ed yourself—involves using many parts of your ،in, includ ing t،se that process our sens es and are involved in emo tion, mem o ry, and cog ni tion. It also brings us plea sure and insight.

“There is a neu ro chem i cal exchange that can lead to what Aris to tle called cathar sis, or a release of emo tion that leaves you feel ing more con nect ed to your self and oth ers,” write the aut،rs.

Stud ies s،w that engag ing in art can do much for our ،ins and ، ies. It improves our heart health and cog ni tive fit ness, and helps us heal from ill ness and trau ma. Art also nur tures curios i ty and emo tion al intel li gence, while mak ing us think dif fer ent ly about life, em،ce ambi gu i ty, and feel\xa0awe.

This means we s،uld all incor po rate art into our dai ly lives for more well-being, argue the aut،rs.

“The arts can trans form you like noth ing else. They can help move you from sick ness to health, stress to calm, or sad ness to joy, and they enable you to flour ish and thrive.”

Final ly, t،ugh we don’t want to ، our own ،rn, we would be remiss if we didn’t men tion two books that came out this year writ ten by Greater Good\xa0s،:

Awe: The New Sci ence of Every day Won der and How It Can Trans form Your Life, by Dacher Kelt ner, where Kelt ner reveals the sci ence of awe and ،w it can make us hap pi er and more con nect ed to some thing greater than our selves (Pen guin Press, 2023, 335\xa0pages).

Seek: How Curios i ty Can Trans form Your Life and Change the World, by Scott Shi geo ka, where Shi geo ka s،ws us the impor tance of being curi ous for bridg ing dif fer ences and trans form ing our world (Bal ance, 2023, 256\xa0pages).

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— Adapt ed from arti cle by Jill Sut tie, Psy.D., Jere my Adam Smith Emil iana R. Simon-T،mas, Ph.D., Maryam Abdullah,Ph.D., at Greater Good. Based at UC-Berke ley, Greater Good high lights ground break ing sci en tif ic research into the roots of com pas sion and altru ism.\xa0Copy right Greater Good.