You’re Grounded: An Anti-Self-Help Book to Calm You the F*ck Down

Novelist and illustrator Huntley (I Want You More) offers a wry invitation for readers to “look beyond the mundane surface of things and see beauty” in the present moment. Contending that “fantasies, fears, and regrets”—along with such “escapes” as shopping, phone time, and grandiose dreams of self-improvement—distract from reality, the author encourages readers to tweak daily habits and meditate to restore appreciation of the little things. “If you are paying attention to the details,” Huntley writes, “then nothing will ever be lackluster again.” Among other creative meditation exercises, she asks readers to ground themselves by drawing trees and staring at them for longer and longer periods of time while contemplating “how big nature is and how small you are.” Even skeptics will appreciate Huntley’s self-aware humor and candid admission of her own meditation struggles (“My phone... is as powerful as a tornado. And I am as powerful as one of Angelina Jolie’s eyelashes,” she admits, before sharing a simple solution: turning one’s phone off). Accompanied by the author’s spare line drawings, it’s a fun and unorthodox starting point for beginners looking to give meditation a try. (June)