Welcome Home: A Guide to Building a Home for Your Soul

Activist and educator Zebian (Mind Platter) shares an uplifting but simplistic self-help guide grounded in her experiences of feeling unworthy. Zebian walks readers through how she came to value herself independently of the opinions of others, including dealing with rejection from a significant other and learning to “not run away from labels” regarding her Muslim faith. The breakthrough came when she started asking herself why she doesn’t have what she wants rather than why she couldn’t have it. Zebian gets at her own desires through a series of exercises, including inner dialogues to foster self-compassion by treating one’s self as one would a friend in need, and by comparing the state of a person’s life with what they’d want it to be. There isn’t anything revolutionary here, and the opening framing device—labelling those reliant on others’ opinions as homeless people who need to create their own home within—will be offensive to some. Slogans (“You are the CEO of the company of YOU”) and some bland exhortations (“Work toward being as secure as possible”) overly simplify complex issues. While Zebian’s personal story is inspiring, readers will be let down by the skimpy advice. (June)