The Genius of Instinct: Reclaim Mother Nature's Tools for Enhancing Your Health, Happiness, Family, and Work

Author and psychologist Weisinger (Nobody's Perfect), an executive educator specializing in organizational psychology, posits the idea that human beings are ""hard-wired for success"" (not simply for survival) by mechanisms in our brain developed over ten million years of natural selection-instinctual mechanisms like emotion and empathy which we devalue against higher functions like reason and analysis. In this lively self-help, Weisinger offers fairly standard advice (maximize attractiveness, keep learning, practice reciprocity), but his approach is frequently counterintuitive, often with illuminating results. Locating the hardwired center for emotions in the face (rather than, say, the brain stem), he suggests that the way to get yourself out of a bad relationship is to use ""your angry face,"" which communicates feelings not just to your partner but to the rest of your body, ""giving you the energy to rid yourself of something that is toxic to you""-literally, the strength to walk out the door. Elsewhere, Weisinger explains why contentment often prevents growth, and why ""tending,"" giving care to others, is a ""life enhancer for the entire family"" and/or the office staff.