On November 24, author Nancy Boyd released What You're Really Hungry For: Recognizing the Wanting That Drives You, Book One in the foundational volume of her groundbreaking 15-book Healing the Wanting series. This first book provides the recognition skills essential for healing any form of lack—from addiction and codependency to money shame and chronic dissatisfaction.

"You can't heal what you can't see," Boyd explains. "Most people spend years chasing solutions—trying to quit drinking, fix relationships, change money patterns—without recognizing the underlying hunger driving it all. This book turns on the lights."

Beyond Symptoms to Source

What You're Really Hungry For addresses a gap in self-help and recovery literature: most books focus on treating symptoms (the addiction, the codependency, the money problems) without addressing the root cause. Boyd's framework reveals how these seemingly separate issues all stem from wanting—the persistent feeling that something essential is missing.

The book guides readers through recognizing wanting in six comprehensive chapters:

Chapter 1: What is Wanting? – Clear definitions and frameworks for identifying wanting in physical, relational, and abstract realms.

Chapter 2: The Many Forms of Wanting – From addiction and codependency to grief and longing, seeing how the same hunger takes different shapes.

Chapter 3: How Wanting Hides – Learning to spot wanting even when it disguises itself or masquerades as something else.

Chapter 4: Patterns of Wounding – Understanding where wanting comes from—the childhood wounds and family patterns that created templates for lack.

Chapter 5: Working with Your Mind – How thoughts create and maintain patterns of wanting.

Chapter 6: The Bigger Picture – Recognizing how systemic forces—capitalism, patriarchy, racism—manufacture feelings of lack.

For Anyone Who Feels Something's Missing

This book is for readers who:

• Have tried multiple healing approaches without lasting results
• Struggle with addiction, codependency, money shame, or relationship patterns
• Sense there's a deeper issue beneath surface symptoms
• Want comprehensive understanding, not just quick fixes
• Are intellectually curious and willing to do real work
• Appreciate both personal psychology and systemic analysis

"I wrote this for people who are tired of band-aid solutions," Boyd says. "People who want to understand what's really going on—not just get told 'do these five steps.' Real healing requires seeing clearly first."

Personal Experience Meets Professional Framework

Boyd brings both lived experience and professional expertise to this work. Born into poverty and marked by childhood abuse, she spent years learning what wanting is through direct experience. Her decades-long healing journey, combined with professional training and extensive study, forms the foundation of this comprehensive series.

"My transparency about my own journey isn't self-indulgence—it's letting readers know I understand," Boyd explains. "I've walked this path. I know the pain of wanting intimately. And I know the remedy."

Foundation for Complete Healing

What You're Really Hungry For is Book 1 of the Foundation Trilogy, the essential starting point for the complete 15-book series. Recognition work prepares readers for Book 2 (From Shame to Dignity: Making the Shift That Changes Everything), which provides healing practices, and Book 3 (From Grasping to Gratitude: The Practice of Living Whole), which addresses long-term sustainability.

Subsequent books in the series will provide specialized applications for addiction recovery, abuse survival, codependency healing, poverty consciousness, PTSD, and other specific forms of wanting.

A Different Kind of Self-Help Book

Unlike feel-good platitudes or oversimplified solutions, What You're Really Hungry For honors the complexity of healing work. The book integrates personal psychology with systemic awareness, acknowledging both childhood wounds and cultural forces that create patterns of lack.

"Healing isn't just about fixing yourself," Boyd notes. "You need to see both personal patterns and systemic forces. Otherwise you blame yourself for struggles that have structural roots."

This both/and approach—addressing personal healing without ignoring systemic oppression—resonates with readers seeking depth and authenticity.

Availability

What You're Really Hungry For: Recognizing the Wanting That Drives You

By Nancy Boyd

Release Date: November 24, 2024

ISBN: 979-8275531053

Price: $17.99 paperback, $9.99 eBook

Pages: 210

Available: Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and through libraries

Review Copies and Interviews

Advance review copies available for mental health professionals, recovery advocates, trauma specialists, social justice educators, therapists, counselors, and book reviewers. Author available for interviews, podcasts, and speaking engagements.

Contact: https://brightwings.com/contact

About the Author

Nancy Boyd is an author, healing expert, and entrepreneur who brings decades of personal recovery and professional expertise to understanding patterns of wanting and lack. Training with CoachU founder Thomas Leonard and studying with master healers, she developed frameworks that bridge personal healing and systemic awareness. A professional writer supported by the Cat Writers' Association and Dog Writers Association of America, Boyd lives in Eugene, Oregon.

About Healing the Wanting Series

Healing the Wanting is a comprehensive 15-book series addressing the root cause of addiction, codependency, money shame, trauma, and chronic dissatisfaction. The series uniquely integrates personal healing practices with systemic analysis, providing frameworks for both individual transformation and collective healing. Learn more at https://healing-the-wanting.com.

Keywords

healing shame and trauma, addiction recovery, codependency healing, overcoming scarcity mindset, money shame, childhood wounds, self-help transformation, comprehensive healing framework, poverty consciousness, systemic oppression and healing