Take it from Michael Longyear, a researcher with Life University in Georgia and the clinic director at Brain Optimization Institute in Florida. After a devastating diagnosis of a spinal stroke, Michael was told he’d never walk again. This book is his personal journey to not only walking again, but learning to live a reasonably normal life after his injury.

He wants to teach others that a diagnosis is not a limitation, it’s simply something we’re told. It doesn’t have to become your whole life or a new normal.

Using neuroscience, he describes his healing method and even includes patient stories. It’s not junk science or popular science, it’s complex neuroscience that breaks down how our bodies can heal from most injuries. He attempts to simplify this difficult to understand topic for anyone to understand.

So if you’re ready to learn cutting edge, complex ideas in research and healthcare that are showing we can heal, then this is the book for you.

Everyone sees the smile. No one sees the sadness underneath.

Behind every polished answer and brave face is a story of survival. The Sad Heart Behind the Smile is that story—a raw and intimate journey through depression, anxiety, and the lifelong search for purpose. Dr. Meaghan McGinnity Longyear spent decades feeling broken—like something inside her was too heavy, too much, or simply unfixable. She wondered if anyone could truly understand what she was going through. But through her own healing journey, and in working deeply with patients, she discovered a quiet truth: so many of us feel this way.

We just don’t talk about it.

This book is for the ones who smile to get through the day. The ones who ache for meaning but feel lost in their own skin. The ones who have believed the stories in their heads that tell them they’re not enough. It’s not just a memoir—it’s a mirror, a companion, and a reminder that you are not alone.

If you’ve ever carried invisible pain or felt like no one truly sees you—this book is a soft place to land.