I founded Next Self in 2025.

If you want my psychology book recommendations, skip below.

I studied at the Rabbinical College of Canada (chabad) through 8th grade, then at the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland (Litvak) through 11th grade and then moved to israel. Since 2009, I have continued studying Jewish texts through online classes and teachers, including Rabbi Tzvi Freeman on Chabad.org, Aleph Beta, Rabbi YY Jacobson (600+ claasses), Rabbi Yossi Paltiel (700+ classes on kabbalah/chassidus), Rabbi Manis Friedman, and Rabbi Glatstein.

Rabbi Paltiel gave class on more then half the Maamarim (talks) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, they’re at http://insidechassidus.org/

In 2012, I started building consumer product brands through Amazon. Over time, those businesses reached more than $40 million in annual revenue. I have also been studying consumer psychology/marketing since 2009.

My team is available for Amazon ecommerce consulting, with rates ranging from $150 to $450 per hour depending on the kind of guidance, strategy, or labor needed and also for building and managing marketing teams of 5+ in jerusalem/tel aviv.

From 2018 to 2023, I was living with severe autoimmune physical disease activity, it began after I learned an individual I was close with fled to another country to avoid going to jail and I haven’t heard from him since. During those years, I started noticing clear patterns between emotional stress (like anger, severe depression and anxiety, etc), my nervous system, and my physical health, I started experiencing moderate-severe disease activity around age 6-8 but it was in remission by age 12.

Medications, vitamins, peptides, years of a basic diet of quinoa, carrots, and tahina, Chinese medicine, and exercise were not enough. Disease activity causes an intense trauma for a nervous system/body.

In early 2021, I heard Dr. Bessel van der Kolk explain that healing trauma requires becoming an expert with feelings (on a rabbi yy jacobson class). That idea changed the direction of my life. I went on to study more than 16 books that year and many classes on psychology and trauma research.

By late 2023, I no longer needed a wheelchair. I was able to reduce my autoimmune medication significantly, regain enough muscle to live without chronic pain, and build more self esteem through learning self compassion and boundaries for a bunch of business relationships. Living in Thailand was critical because it is peaceful for my body, doing a lot of physical therapy, and using fresh placenta stem cells also helped.

If the temperature goes below 70 degrees Fahrenheit, my muscles tighten, below 60 degrees it tightens enough to trigger disease activity, as of 2026, it’s not as intense as it used to be. Air pressure also effects my nervous system, tropical climates are the least triggering for me.

Because of AI, I can now publish content much faster and explain ideas that were helpful in my healing journey and relationships.

You can follow my latest psychology and spiritual content on Facebook, Instagram, the Next Self Daily Wisdom page, or the NS blog. Or this page https://nextself.ai/wisdom/index – Let me know if you have any feedback to improve ideas.

You can reach me at ben@nextself.ai.

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Psychology Book Recommendations

These are some of the books that helped me understand generational trauma, emotional healing, self compassion, boundaries, and intimacy. There is also YouTube content about many of these ideas.

Peaceful Parenting: How To Stop Yelling and Start Connecting: https://www.amazon.com/Peaceful-Parent-Happy-Kids-Connecting/dp/0399160280 – I paid for this book to be translated to Hebrew, let me know if you want a Hebrew copy.

The Body Keeps the Score

The first half explains the research on trauma. The second half explains the research behind practices that help people heal.

amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748/

Breaking Patterns of Depression

Helpful for understanding depressive patterns and how they keep repeating.

amazon.com/Breaking-Patterns-Depression-Michael-Yapko/dp/0385483708

Summary of book: https://nextself.ai/mental-health/breaking-patterns-of-depression/

Self-Care for Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

Helpful for understanding many symptoms of trauma.

amazon.com/Self-Care-Children-Emotionally-Immature-Parents/dp/1684039827

Addictive Thinking

Helpful for understanding how addictive thinking works, and how trauma patterns can become addictive. amazon.com/Addictive-Thinking-Abraham-Twerski-M-D/dp/1568381387

Love Worth Making

Helpful for understanding how intimacy works.

amazon.com/Love-Worth-Making-Ridiculously-Long-Lasting/dp/1250113105

What My Bones Know

Includes guidance from Dr. Ham and helps explain the struggle with aggression and trauma.

amazon.com/What-My-Bones-Know-Healing/dp/0593238109

Healing the Shame that Binds You

Helpful for understanding toxic shame.

amazon.com/Healing-Shame-Binds-Recovery-Classics/dp/0757303234

Running on Empty No More

Helpful for understanding how to recover from childhood emotional neglect.

amazon.com/Running-Empty-More-Transform-Relationships/dp/1683506731

Silently Seduced

Helpful for understanding what happens when a parent uses a child for emotional support.

amazon.com/Silently-Seduced-Parents-Children-Partners/dp/0757315879/

The Gift of Therapy

Helpful for understanding how vulnerability works.

amazon.com/Gift-Therapy-Generation-Therapists-Patients/dp/0061719617

Recovering from Emotionally Immature Parents

Helpful for boundaries and recovery.

amazon.com/Recovering-Emotionally-Immature-Parents-Boundaries/dp/1684032520

Internal Family Systems Skills Training Manual

Helpful as a practical system for self compassion.

amazon.com/Internal-Family-Systems-Skills-Training/dp/1683730879/

Codependent No More

Helpful for building self esteem and recognizing common symptoms of codependency.

amazon.com/Codependent-No-More-Controlling-Yourself-ebook/dp/B0B18JHYMC

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Helpful for understanding abusive/unhealthy thinking and how it works (i was dealing with multiple people with out of control unhealthy thinking through business).

amazon.com/Should-Stay-Relationship-Can-Should-be/dp/042523889X These two posts are also helpful summaries of that kind of pattern:

People don’t suddenly lose control.

Not all abusive people are narcissists.