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PRAISE FOR WHY SMART PEOPLE HURT
“Eric Maisel has devoted his life to sharing his deep understanding of creativity, meaning, and life purpose. In this new book, Maisel explores the suffering of smart people and once again offers innovative paradigms and practical solutions to end their pain.”
—Gail McMeekin, author of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women and The 12 Secrets of Highly Successful Women
“In this insightful examination of the challenges bright individuals face, Eric Maisel explores how to reclaim your passion and to live a richer and more productive life. It's a smart move to read this wise book.”
—John Moir, author of Return of the Condor: The Race to Save Our Largest Bird from Extinction
“If you're so smart, why are you in so much pain? Dr. Maisel gets to the root of the special mental challenges of bright people, provides a new system for deriving meaning and joy from life, and helps you conquer the special challenges of being smart with compassionate and invaluable advice! This book will make a smart person even smarter.”
—Dr. Katharine Brooks, author of You Majored in What? Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career
“Eric Maisel's Why Smart People Hurt is original, provocative, and also reassuring. His conceptualization of mania as a thinking disorder and his treatment for this are original ideas that to my knowledge have never before been expressed. I have taken several courses from Eric and I know personally how powerful his methods are. His principles of natural psychology are, as he describes, simple and yet immensely practical and effective.”
—Dr. Laurie Jo Moore, MD, ABPN, FRANZCP
“This is a wise, insightful, and compassionate guide for bright, sensitive, and creative people. If you're smart, you'll get it.”
—Michael J. Gelb, author of How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day
OTHER BOOKS BY ERIC MAISEL
NONFICTION
Affirmations for Artists
The Art of the Book Proposal
The Atheist's Way
Become a Creativity Coach Now!
Brainstorm
Coaching the Artist Within
Creative Recovery
The Creativity Book
Creativity for Life
Deep Writing
Everyday You
Fearless Creating
A Life in the Arts
Living the Writer's Life
Making Your Creative Mark
Mastering Creative Anxiety
Natural Psychology
Performance Anxiety
The Power of Sleep Thinking
Rethinking Depression
Sleep Thinking
Ten Zen Seconds
Toxic Criticism
20 Communication Tips at Work
20 Communication Tips for Families
The Van Gogh Blues
What Would Your Character Do?
Write Mind
A Writer's Paris
A Writer's San Francisco
A Writer's Space
FICTION
Aster Lynn
The Blackbirds of Mulhouse
The Black Narc
Dismay
The Fastest Horse Available
The Fretful Dancer
The Kingston Papers
Love in Focus
Murder in Berlin
Murder on Capitol Hill
New Israel
JOURNALS
Artists Speak
Writers and Artists on Devotion
Writers and Artists on Love
MEDITATION DECKS
Everyday Calm
Everyday Creative
Everyday Smart
First published in 2013 by Conari Press, an imprint of
Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
With offices at:
665 Third Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94107
Copyright © 2013 by Eric Maisel
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maisel, Eric, 1947-
Why smart people hurt : a guide for the bright, the sensitive, and the creative / Eric Maisel.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-60925-885-6
1. Gifted persons--Psychology. 2. Intellect. I. Title.
BF412.M32 2013
153.9'8--dc23
2013017678
Cover design by www.levanfisherdesign.com/Barbara Fisher
Interior by Fortuitous
Typeset in Goudy and Solano
Portions of Chapter 14: The God-Bug Syndrome were previously published in a slightly different form as “The God Bug Syndrome” in Psychology Today.
Printed in the United States of America
MAL
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).
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