The Little Book of Big Lies: A Journey into Inner Fitness

by Tina Lifford

Overview

An inspiring and illuminating guide to true self care, from the sage teacher and breakout star of the critically acclaimed drama, Queen Sugar, from Executive Producers Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay for OWN.

Featured on Essence Magazine's Culture List

In all your years of schooling, did you ever take a single class that explained how to navigate the hurt, drama, and fear that come with living? Tina Lifford sure didn’t. She learned the hard way—through experience as both a Hollywood actress and as the founder of the personal development network The Inner Fitness Project. Now, she brings together her own hard-won insights as well as those of her clients in this helpful and transformative guide. A blend of personal anecdotes and meaningful, practical—and most important, actionable—advice, The Little Book of Big Lies is the life skills class you need to nurture the inner you and move beyond the past.

In fourteen raw, personal stories, Tina teaches you how to change your self-perception—to see yourself in the best possible light, to love and honor what you see, and to forge a new sense of what’s possible in every aspect of your life. But make no mistake, The Little Book of Big Lies is not a “rah-rah” quick fix for fear and pain. Like physical fitness, building and maintaining emotional strength requires continued effort. This invaluable book is the foundation you need to start building inner health and well-being so you can thrive.

Tina guides you on a journey of self-discovery that will help you turn shame into self-acceptance, self-rejection into self-love, blame into freedom, and old hurt into power. Wise and powerful, The Little Book of Big Lies will completely change how you think and live.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062930286
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/19/2019
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	740,642
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Tina Lifford began her acting career in 1983. She is also recognized playwright and CEO of The Inner Fitness Project, a personal development network that teaches individuals to focus more on thriving than on surviving. She desires to inspire people from all walks of life to invest in their emotional wellbeing and act on their dreams so that they can feel less stressed and respond to life with more personal power, insight, and wisdom. She lives in Hollywood, California.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction: A Journey into Inner Fitness 1

Finding Your True Self 7

The Truth About Lies 23

Questions for Unpacking the Lies That Make You Feel Sad or Small

1 Are You Thinking That Some Pain Lasts Forever? 37

2 Are You Living Life Thinking Something's Wrong or Against You? 51

3 Are You Bullied by an Old Sacred Torture? 65

4 Are You Tired of Being Knocked Off Your Center by That Old Pattern? 81

5 Do You Think That How You Feel Doesn't Matter? 93

6 What Does Your "I Can't" Really Mean? 105

7 When Was the Last Time You Said, "I'm Upset Because"? 115

8 What If "One Day" Starts TODAY? 127

9 What Is Real Confidence? 137

10 Are You Stuck in I Thought I Was Done with That! Thinking? 151

11 Do Your Circumstances Boss You Around? 163

Epilogue: Living Your Truth 179

Acknowledgments 183

#InnerFitnessJourney-Snapshot 187

Glossary 205

Editorial Reviews

09/16/2019

Actor and playwright Lifford provides a valuable road map to achieving “inner fitness”—self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-care—in her frank and practical debut. The author aims to help readers recognize the “big lies” that hold them back from living a fulfilling life through a series of questions intended to unpack the things that make one feel sad or small, among them the belief that some pain lasts forever, the tendency to stay stuck in thoughts about the past, and the habit of avoiding difficult moments by rushing through days with the belief that “one day” life will be better. “Every time we avoid our feeling today,” she writes, “we set ourselves up for inevitable sadness ‘one day.’ ” Chapters begin with a question, such as “Are You Living Life Thinking Something’s Wrong or Against You?” and “Do Your Circumstances Boss You Around?” and Lifford wraps up each with “inner fitness” practices—which include a restatement of the “untruth,” followed by a self-empowering truth—and “try this” advice. Lifford’s sage lessons will be an antidote to poisonous thoughts for those with battered self-esteem. Agent: Johanna Castillo, Writer’s House. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

This little book is overflowing with the wisdom, vitality, truth telling and magic that could only be called Tina Lifford.

Eve Ensler author of The Vagina Monologues and The Apology

This little book is overflowing with the wisdom, vitality, truth telling and magic that could only be called Tina Lifford.

Eve Ensler author of The Vagina Monologues and The Apology

In, The Little Book of Big Lies, Beloved Tina Lifford proves herself to be an "inner workout" coach.  So many things we accept as truth simply aren't. So many things that we accept without question, stunt our growth.  If you are ready to work through some lies that may be holding you back, give this little book a big read.” — Rev. Dr. Iyanla Vanzant, Spiritual Life Coach, Host, Iyanla Fix My Life

“This little book is overflowing with the wisdom, vitality, truth telling and magic that could only be called Tina Lifford.” — Eve Ensler author of The Vagina Monologues and The Apology

“From the moment I met Tina Lifford, I knew this beautiful woman had a gift. She is profoundly wise and has the most gentle, reassuring voice. As she takes us through her life lessons in The Little Book of Big Lies, she helps guide our path to a better understanding of ourselves. I’m now an Inner Fitness devotee, and you will be too after reading this gem-filled book.”  — Shaun Robinson, founder of the S.H.A.U.N. Foundation, producer, and author of Exactly As I Am

Lifford’s sage lessons will be an antidote to poisonous thoughts for those with battered self-esteem. — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

From the moment I met Tina Lifford, I knew this beautiful woman had a gift. She is profoundly wise and has the most gentle, reassuring voice. As she takes us through her life lessons in The Little Book of Big Lies, she helps guide our path to a better understanding of ourselves. I’m now an Inner Fitness devotee, and you will be too after reading this gem-filled book.” 

Shaun Robinson

In, The Little Book of Big Lies, Beloved Tina Lifford proves herself to be an "inner workout" coach.  So many things we accept as truth simply aren't. So many things that we accept without question, stunt our growth.  If you are ready to work through some lies that may be holding you back, give this little book a big read.

Rev. Dr. Iyanla Vanzant

Delivering this gentle invitation to develop all the layers of yourself, a veteran TV actress narrates with the slow cadence and solid believability of a bighearted preacher. Tina Lifford’s vocal tone and style are deeply rewarding to hear; her sound has the character of someone who cares about how her listeners grapple with today’s world of false narratives and fragmented identities. She says that too often we merely survive, doing what we must just to keep our heads above water. With 11 deep-dive questions and her audible compassion, she tells us how we can combine that surviving self with the thriving self and the infinite self—the selves that believe we have everything we need to thrive and to maintain a connection with the Divine that makes us indestructible. T.W. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2020 - AudioFile

Delivering this gentle invitation to develop all the layers of yourself, a veteran TV actress narrates with the slow cadence and solid believability of a bighearted preacher. Tina Lifford’s vocal tone and style are deeply rewarding to hear; her sound has the character of someone who cares about how her listeners grapple with today’s world of false narratives and fragmented identities. She says that too often we merely survive, doing what we must just to keep our heads above water. With 11 deep-dive questions and her audible compassion, she tells us how we can combine that surviving self with the thriving self and the infinite self—the selves that believe we have everything we need to thrive and to maintain a connection with the Divine that makes us indestructible. T.W. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2020 - AudioFile