Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength (Reduce Anxiety and Boost Your Confidence and Self-Esteem with this Self-Help Book for Introverted Women and Men) Paperback – February 1, 2013

In "Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength," Dr. Laurie Helgoe prescribes what ultimately turns out to be Freedom, your own personal freedom -- by giving you the power to be who are, and to do what you know deep down is intrinsically right for you to do.Greta Garbo, the great beauty of silent and talking films, sought that freedom. As the characters she played in her movies, she frequently said, "I want to be alone." But in real life she said, "I never said, `I want to be alone.' I only said, `I want to be let alone.' There is a world of difference." After relatively few films, she fled that life, and retired to seclusion at age 34, never married, and lived till age 84.On a less elevated level, a good friend of mine said to me about going to his large gym: "I just want to be left alone. I don't want to talk to anybody. I don't go there to socialize. I go there to work." He found it amusing that one member there has a reputation of being the "mayor" of the place, and who is hard to avoid, actually "stalks" people, and engages with many. If you back away, the guy doesn't take it kindly. I counseled my friend that a good place for being undisturbed for half an hour at the gym is on the treadmill. But, when it comes right down to it, I said, he could just stop going there at the times he knows the harrier is usually there. Not all problems are quite so simple.Dr. Helgoe knows the ropes. She's a professional, and an introvert. She has the tools to show you that the Extrovert Extreme goal of our modern American culture does not have to be yours. She'll show you that other strong national cultures are just the opposite, as in Japan and Scandinavia, especially in Finland.The doctor advises that it is okay to be standoffish, to not like chitchat, to avoid it. It's okay to spend your time thinking. To hate the telephone, and Skype. It's okay to prefer reading and writing.And if someone catches on that you do write, it's okay to beg off chores that they want done. If an acquaintance is writing a long memoir and wants you to "survey" what he has written and to do his rewriting and editing for him, you can say no. You can be blunt enough to direct him to people who do that for a living, for pay, and say you are not interested. He wants you to step in and do it: Just say No.Are you caught in the grips of an unending talker? Dr. Helgoe tells you to: Just walk away. Turn around and walk away. Walking away is okay. Do it. Literally turn around and walk away. You do not have to be imposed upon. Dr. Helgoe is straightforward.Does the world demand that you believe and recite mantras you know to be false, mantras that others want you to recite with them weekly to be part of their group? Decide that you will stop saying the mantras. You are not in a madras school with its mindless repetitions. You do not have to blindly repeat the mantras you know are not true. You can leave.In matters large and small, Dr. Helgoe gives you the insight, the courage, and the independence, the strength, to be yourself. You will benefit and the world will benefit. Freedom to be yourself is Dr. Helgoe's prescription. It can be life changing.

Fun book to read for both introverts and extroverts. Here's what I learned from it...-The field of psychology labeled introversion a disorder until recently-America is an extroverted society equalling more murders, but Japan is an introverted society equalling more suicides-Depression commercials appeal to introverts because society tells us we should always be happy-Pharmaceutical companies, especially those that make pills for depression have a hard time selling them in Japan, whereintroversion and reflection are respected.-Introverts prefer a neutral state of being than an excited state that extroverts prefer-Introverts prefer dry humor and melancholic music and intimacy vs large crowds-People aren't depressed, they are unexpressed. People overindulge when they underindulge their creativity.Easy read. Teaches you how to navigate a social situations and gives a great history lesson on how introversion.

I just discovered that I am an Accessible Introvert. I thrive onstage and as an entertainer and yet require quiet to refuel. Large crowds and wild parties and night clubs have always felt like sandpaper on my soul, however, I have pushed myself to be "out there"... Except for the times when I literally retreated to the ashram. The meditations. The weekend at the monastery in Big Sur. Everyone thought I was somehow weird and so I did, too. Until now. Whew!I have financed my artistic career in the past few years with network marketing, in which I have been very successful and which I love, and yet I literally got to the point where I would start "my time" for reading, journaling and writing at 10:30 every evening and go till 2 or 3 a.m. every morning...arising promptly at 8 a.m. and being on phone calls all day without a rest. I love people and truly love helping people, but became so exhausted and baffled by my need and my behavior that I came to a crossroads. Network marketing is a fabulous profession. There is lots of positive and extrovert energy. I now realize that I a an Introvert (or as I like too think of it - Introspective. I have this huge channel inside me that sources to the Infinite.). If I spend too much time in the crowd trying to pretend that I'm an Extrovert my senses literally start to shut down. However, I just spent the last weekend with 5,000 amazing, joyful, enthusiastic screaming people with loud music and constant cheering and was able to show up as an Introvert...journaling my own thoughts in my notebook rather than just taking in everyone else's thoughts. I did not feel overwhelmed by the outside...I journaled to myself that I was just at The Circus. The Circus is a wonderful place...it's all God. All part of the beauty of life. Not to be resisted...but I don't have to go on the roller coater if I don't feel like it. I can enjoy the clowns (and maybe even be one) while enjoying the clown's sadness and pathos at the same time. I came home feeling refreshed, rather than drained. This is a first.I recommend this amazing book to anyone who might feel the need for silence and introspection and especially if you live and work in an ebullient and outgoing social whirl. It will give you the insight and the tools you need to stay strong in your introversion and the wherewithal to step back multiple times during the day to refuel your sacred inner self. It will also show how you can show up in the raging crowd empowered by your stillness...holding to who you are like a light house in the midst of raging seas. It feels great.Enjoy!