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It All Starts When You Do: How to Do the Real Work of Self-Healing
Brought to you by Penguin.
Have you ever wondered what's stopping you from achieving your dreams? Is it you?
Self-sabotage is a common human trait, and it can be the silent force that derails your goals and aspirations. Did you know that 80% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by February? While an abandoned resolution might seem trivial, chronic self-sabotage can destroy positivity in both your personal and professional life.
In Good Things Are Allowed to Happen, popular therapist Kier Gaines guides you through the transformative process of identifying and overcoming the obstacles that hold you back. Through a blend of practical advice and profound insights, this book empowers you to stop sabotaging your own success and start living life to the fullest.
Good Things Are Allowed to Happen isn't about quick fixes; it's about doing the deep, inner work that leads to lasting change. By embracing self-honesty, you'll learn to recognise how you're getting in your own way, and take actionable steps towards self-acceptance. This book serves as your roadmap to a more fulfilling life, encouraging you to take a long, hard look in the mirror and make the changes necessary to allow good things to happen.
Are you ready to break free from self-sabotage and embrace a life of unlimited potential? Good Things Are Allowed to Happen will help unlock the power of self-honesty and transformation. Your best life is waiting – take the first step today.
Kier Gaines 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
Have you ever wondered what's stopping you from achieving your dreams? Is it you?
Self-sabotage is a common human trait, and it can be the silent force that derails your goals and aspirations. Did you know that 80% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by February? While an abandoned resolution might seem trivial, chronic self-sabotage can destroy positivity in both your personal and professional life.
In Good Things Are Allowed to Happen, popular therapist Kier Gaines guides you through the transformative process of identifying and overcoming the obstacles that hold you back. Through a blend of practical advice and profound insights, this book empowers you to stop sabotaging your own success and start living life to the fullest.
Good Things Are Allowed to Happen isn't about quick fixes; it's about doing the deep, inner work that leads to lasting change. By embracing self-honesty, you'll learn to recognise how you're getting in your own way, and take actionable steps towards self-acceptance. This book serves as your roadmap to a more fulfilling life, encouraging you to take a long, hard look in the mirror and make the changes necessary to allow good things to happen.
Are you ready to break free from self-sabotage and embrace a life of unlimited potential? Good Things Are Allowed to Happen will help unlock the power of self-honesty and transformation. Your best life is waiting – take the first step today.
Kier Gaines 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
272 pages, Hardcover
Published September 1, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 19, 2026
Self-development books written by therapists all look the same... tell of patients' experiences mixed with a little theory. Though there isn't anything new in this book, Kier does a good job of compiling everything already out there and adding a bit of himself to the mix.
I like Kier - He's a very positive guy. I think listening to his book as a podcast rather than reading it was a good decision.
I like Kier - He's a very positive guy. I think listening to his book as a podcast rather than reading it was a good decision.
September 27, 2026
You get what you pay for in that this is your typical self-help book, all about helping yourself. Nothing really earth-shattering in the book but he makes several good points to think about ("Many people perceive healing as an issue of ability. It's not. It's an issue of understanding"). In effect we are our own worst enemy many times which I agree. How to change and modify that to a winning attitude and mindset, well that is the quintessential $64,000 question. Not sure I would recommend this to anybody needing a guide to deal with consistent mental health issues, but I imagine he comes off pretty good in the various media platforms.
September 29, 2026
One of my biggest takeaways from this book: there really isn’t an “-ed” in healing. It’s “-ing.”
I’ve had moments where something I thought I had already healed from resurfaced, and I would beat myself up about it. Like, Girl, we dealt with this already. Why are we back here?!
Kier reminded me that self-healing is a forever journey. There isn’t an endpoint. You work through something, move forward, and sometimes that same thing comes back in a different form. That doesn’t mean the work didn’t work. It means there may be more work to do.
And the work begins when you begin. It stops when you stop.
You can have licensed professionals, trusted friends, and people who love you help you see your patterns and behaviors, but ultimately, you hold the gauge. You will go as far in this work as you decide to go.
One of the biggest signs of progress for me is realizing that external people and circumstances don’t have to have such an impact on what I do internally. I can acknowledge something, take accountability where I need to, stew on it for a little bit because I’m still human 😂, maybe even give myself a designated window to dwell…but then, move on.
What I appreciated most was how Kier gave language, clear definitions, examples, and visuals to things I’ve already been working through. His discussion of Alderfer’s model and its reworking of Maslow’s hierarchy really landed for me. Seeing our needs as something more fluid, rather than this neat little ladder we climb and complete, helped me recognize the strides I’ve made in my own self-actualization work.
And honestly, I loved learning in a way that didn’t feel so…Caucasian. 😂 IYKYK.
Sometimes personal-development books can make me understand something intellectually without ever really seeing myself in it. Kier incorporates cultural context, language, humor, and experiences that allowed me to understand the work, receive it, and actually see how to practice it in my own life.
His voice is compassionate, challenging, clinical when it needs to be, and very big-brother-ish. I kept wondering when he was going to let us into some of his own ish, and eventually he did. I appreciated seeing that Kier is working through some stuff too. It made his vulnerability feel real rather than presenting himself as somebody who had figured it all out.
Reading this felt like sitting through an extended Kier Gaines TED Talk. I’m used to getting him in 3-to-5-minute doses on social media. This gave me the longer experience, and it lived up to what I hoped it would be.
My work isn’t finished.
Self-acceptance. Letting some ish GO…like for real, for real. 😂
But maybe that’s part of the point. I’m learning not to measure my healing by whether something ever bothers me again. I’m paying more attention to what I do when it does.
And I’m also learning to acknowledge how far I’ve already come.
I’ve had moments where something I thought I had already healed from resurfaced, and I would beat myself up about it. Like, Girl, we dealt with this already. Why are we back here?!
Kier reminded me that self-healing is a forever journey. There isn’t an endpoint. You work through something, move forward, and sometimes that same thing comes back in a different form. That doesn’t mean the work didn’t work. It means there may be more work to do.
And the work begins when you begin. It stops when you stop.
You can have licensed professionals, trusted friends, and people who love you help you see your patterns and behaviors, but ultimately, you hold the gauge. You will go as far in this work as you decide to go.
One of the biggest signs of progress for me is realizing that external people and circumstances don’t have to have such an impact on what I do internally. I can acknowledge something, take accountability where I need to, stew on it for a little bit because I’m still human 😂, maybe even give myself a designated window to dwell…but then, move on.
What I appreciated most was how Kier gave language, clear definitions, examples, and visuals to things I’ve already been working through. His discussion of Alderfer’s model and its reworking of Maslow’s hierarchy really landed for me. Seeing our needs as something more fluid, rather than this neat little ladder we climb and complete, helped me recognize the strides I’ve made in my own self-actualization work.
And honestly, I loved learning in a way that didn’t feel so…Caucasian. 😂 IYKYK.
Sometimes personal-development books can make me understand something intellectually without ever really seeing myself in it. Kier incorporates cultural context, language, humor, and experiences that allowed me to understand the work, receive it, and actually see how to practice it in my own life.
His voice is compassionate, challenging, clinical when it needs to be, and very big-brother-ish. I kept wondering when he was going to let us into some of his own ish, and eventually he did. I appreciated seeing that Kier is working through some stuff too. It made his vulnerability feel real rather than presenting himself as somebody who had figured it all out.
Reading this felt like sitting through an extended Kier Gaines TED Talk. I’m used to getting him in 3-to-5-minute doses on social media. This gave me the longer experience, and it lived up to what I hoped it would be.
My work isn’t finished.
Self-acceptance. Letting some ish GO…like for real, for real. 😂
But maybe that’s part of the point. I’m learning not to measure my healing by whether something ever bothers me again. I’m paying more attention to what I do when it does.
And I’m also learning to acknowledge how far I’ve already come.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2026
I’ve never been big on self help books but I knew Kier would have a lot of gems in this one so I had to have it. I really love how he put together an index of phrases of what you’re dealing with, along with page numbers to jump to, so that you can get information on how to solve those dilemmas. That was brilliant.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
This was a goodreads giveaway arc.
I enjoyed a good portion of this book. The advice is good but a lot seems to depend on having people you trust in your life that you can talk to openly. This more or less made me realize a therapist would be a good idea. I came to a few realizations about myself and hope im on my way to healing and self-acceptance.
I enjoyed a good portion of this book. The advice is good but a lot seems to depend on having people you trust in your life that you can talk to openly. This more or less made me realize a therapist would be a good idea. I came to a few realizations about myself and hope im on my way to healing and self-acceptance.
September 25, 2026
Most of the information in this book isn’t groundbreaking if you’ve read other self-development books, but I appreciated the analogies the author used to make the concepts easy to understand and relate to. I was between 3 and 4 stars, but I found it enjoyable as an audiobook, so I bumped it up to 4.
September 16, 2026
A great starting point if you are looking for personal growth and/or self-healing. The author provided great metaphors and writes in a very accessible way.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews