Loveable: Embracing What Is Truest About You, So You Can Truly Embrace Your Life

by Kelly Flanagan

Overview

Kelly Flanagan is a psychologist, father, and blogger who is best known for the letters he has written to his children on his blog, one of which landed him on The Today Show with his four-year-old daughter.

In Loveable, Flanagan answers three fundamental human questions: Am I enough? How do I become unlonely? Do I matter? He shows us how to rediscover our worthiness and remember that we are good enough. He encourages us to shed the false self that keeps us lonely and to find people who accept us as we are. And he inspires us to fully embrace our passions, regardless of how ordinary those passions may be.

Reading like an extended love letter to readers, Loveable uncovers three essential truths: you are enough, you are not alone, and you matter. Flanagan invites us to disconnect from the distractions and demands of daily life and to listen more intently for the voice of grace within each of us, so we might fully awaken to the redemptive story we are here to live.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310345169
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	03/21/2017
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	348,616
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Kelly is a licensed clinical psychologist and co-founder of Artisan Clinical Associates in Naperville, IL. In 2012, he discovered writing was the thing he never knew he always wanted to do, so he began the now popular blog, Un Tangled, where he writes weekly about the redemption of our personal, relational, and global lives. Kelly is married to another clinical psychologist named Kelly, because they decided to make life even more confusing than it already is. The Kellies—as they are called by friends and family—have three children, and they have a deal with them: they teach the kids how to grow up, and the kids teach them how to grow young.

Website and Blog: http://drkellyflanagan.com

Table of Contents

A Glimpse Behind the Scenes 9

The Backstory: The Wound, the Search, and the Healing

1 The Original Wound 17

2 The Search for Healing in Our Relationships 24

3 The Search for Healing Through Significance 29

4 Healing in Three Acts 35

Act 1 Worthiness (You Are Enough)

Dear Little Ones, You Are Enough (No Matter What) 47

5 You Are What's Underneath Your Underneath 49

6 The First Breadcrumb on the Way to Your Worthiness 55

7 Why the Secret to Being Worthy Is Doing Nothing 62

8 The Difference between Getting Rich and Living Richly 69

9 Why We Need to Quit Looking into Mirrors (and Become a Mirror) 75

10 The Good News That Sounds Too Good to Be True 82

11 What Grace Sees Underneath Your Mess 89

12 Worthiness Isn't Being Cocky (It's Being Honest) 95

13 You Are a Somebody (and So Is Everybody Else) 100

A Father's Letter to His Daughter (About the Worthiness of Everyone) 107

Act 2 Belonging (You Are Not Alone)

A Daddy's Letter to His Little Girl (About Her Future Husband) 111

14 Why Loneliness Happens, How We Make It Worse, and What We Can Do to Make It Better 113

15 A Castle, a Chrysalis, a Tomb, and a Bodyguard 121

16 How to Let Go of Your False Self 127

17 What If a Stiff Arm Is the Most Loving Thing You Can Give? 132

18 Maybe Heaven Really Is in Our Midst 137

19 The One Sentence That Can Disarm Any Bully 143

20 The Most Painful Part of Finding Belonging 149

21 When Announcing Yourself Means Announcing Your Need 155

22 Why Belonging Is Another Beginning 161

A Father's Letter to His Son (about the Only Good Reason to Get Married) 166

Act 3 Purpose (You Matter)

Words from a Father to His Daughter (from the Makeup Aisle) 171

23 The Thing You Never Knew You Always Wanted to Do 174

24 The Question That Can Silence Any Story 183

25 Why Backward Is the New Forward 189

26 Courage Isn't a Character Trait (It's a Direction) 196

27 Why There Was No Crowd at the Foot of the Cross 203

28 The Redemptive Relationship Between Passion, Pain, and Purpose 209

29 A Peace That Surpasses All Understanding 217

A Last Letter to My Little Ones (in Case I'm Not Around for the Important Moments) 224

Seasons, Sequels, and Souls 227

Acknowledgments 233

Sources 237

Editorial Reviews

01/09/2017
Flanagan, clinical psychologist and founder of the UnTangled blog, wants readers to think about the elusiveness of feeling good about oneself. The book’s origins come from his experience writing personal letters to his children about faring well in life by turning off the critical, negative sound bites that can poison a restless mind—these thoughtful essays got him an invite on The Today Show, which took his blog readership to new heights. Flanagan offers readers many small observations about life, relationships, and the inner workings of the heart and mind in easily digestible fashion. Men and women alike will benefit from his humble transparency as he untangles his own struggles with acceptance of himself. Although the book will be helpful to any reader looking for affirmation and relief from self-criticism, Christian readers especially will find solace, a gentle nudge to change as needed, and tender reminders that all people struggle in similar ways. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

In Loveable, Kelly Flanagan artfully weaves spirituality, psychology, and personal narrative into a compelling invitation to believe the often unbelievable: each and every one of us is deeply beloved. Wise and encouraging, honest and inspirational, Loveable is a handbook for how to be human.

Pastor and Author of Very Married: Field Notes Katherine Willis Pershey

'Written like a love letter to his readers, Kelly quiets the noise of shame, while gently inviting us all to listen for another sound - the peaceful, playful, and powerful voice of Grace.'

author of Overcomer: Breaking Down the Walls o Aubrey Sampson

'Written like a love letter to his readers, Kelly quiets the noise of shame, while gently inviting us all to listen for another sound - the peaceful, playful, and powerful voice of Grace.'

author of Overcomer: Breaking Down the Walls o –Aubrey Sampson

In Loveable, Kelly Flanagan artfully weaves spirituality, psychology, and personal narrative into a compelling invitation to believe the often unbelievable: each and every one of us is deeply beloved. Wise and encouraging, honest and inspirational, Loveable is a handbook for how to be human.

Pastor and Author of Very Married: Field Notes –Katherine Willis Pershey

"Men and women alike will benefit from [Kelly Flanagan's] humble transparency as he untangles his own struggles with acceptance of himself." ---Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher