Why Good People Do Bad Things: How to Stop Being Your Own Worst Enemy

"In this book, Debbie Ford brilliantly exposes the greatest human tragedy: the loss of the authentic self by ineffective parenting and the resulting split that ravages the life of the self and its consequences for others. I heartily recommend this book to everyone." -- Harville Hendrix, Ph.D., author of Getting the Love You Want "Anyone who reads this book will find the means to become whole once again." -- Deepak Chopra, author, Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore "This masterpiece of unflinching clarity is Debbie Ford's most important and brilliant book." -- Andrew Harvey, author of Son of Man "...a sage discussion of the dualistic nature of the human mind..." -- Richard Moss, MD, author of The Mandala of Being "An exceptionally helpful book." -- Paul Babiak, Ph.D., coauthor of Snakes In Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work "Debbie Ford has an amazing way of casting light onto our personal darkness. She's done it before, and now she's done it again. She's a great explorer of our depths." -- Marianne Williamson, author of The Age of Miracles "Debbie Ford has hit a spiritual bullseye in this extraordinary roadmap to self-understanding, compassion, and what we all want most -- happiness. I was touched, inspired, and enlightened by Debbie's masterful blend of wisdom and heart. This landmark book will help many people." -- Alan Cohen, author of Why Your Life Sucks and What You Can Do About It

We've all heard the stories - some of them show up on the evening news and as headlines on the weekly tabloids, these public demonstrations of good people going astray dominate the media, but countless other examples take place, unbeknownst to us, in our own backyards. Birthed out of fear and shame, it is the wounded aspect of our ego that misdirects good intentions and drives us to act out and self-destruct. "Why Good People Do Bad Things" exposes the two contradictory forces that exist within each one of us: the force that compels us to expand our ability to give and receive love, and be a contributing member of our community; and the force that holds us back, sabotages our best efforts, and repeatedly steers us in a direction that is inconsistent with our values.Ford provides eight archetypes or personas that come to the surface in each of us when our dark side rears its ugly head. Each of these personality types live within us waiting for an opportunity to sabotage our best intentions and sidetrack our lives. They take the form of either an aggressor or a victim, a predator or prey.