Reading List
10 books for healing, self-discovery, and fulfilling your potential…
1
Loving What Is
Byron Katie
The ultimate game-changer for me. It shook up my life, and the after-shocks are still continuing. Could the way out of suffering be this simple? Yes. This book and Byron Katie helped me undo a fundamental assumption – that my happiness is dependent on outside events. Hint: It’s not!!
2
I Need Your Love – Is That True?
Byron Katie
The best roadmap I’ve come across to find and experience true love. Until I read this book, I didn’t realise just how much I was adjusting myself to gain approval. This book and its exercises gave me permission to drop the facade and just be myself. The consequence? Love and acceptance of who I am, just as I am. I need reminding, though, so it’s a permanent fixture on my bedside table.
3
A New Earth
Eckhart Tolle
Ah, this book woke me up, alright. So many rich passages; each sentence is a jewel you can meditate on for a few minutes. It gave me a clear understanding of how the ego works – how it wants to be right and superior and possess things, and how it will do anything to keep itself alive. Read if you’d like to incrementally awaken, page by page.
4
The Way of Integrity
Martha Beck
When I quit my law job without a back-up plan, I needed to be told everything would be alright. Over three days sitting by a pool in Ubud, Bali, I soaked in this book, and by the end of it, everything was alright. I knew that all I needed to do, forever and always, was to be my authentic self – not the false shell I had built on top. This is great reading if you’re ready to come out of your shell.
5
Big Magic
Elizabeth Gilbert
During my law degree, I realised there was all this creative potential in me, but it was dormant. I used this book to awaken in me a spirit that is in everyone – it brought forth my work and passion as a writer, and gave me confidence to call myself “a creative person”. This is for you if you’d like to uncover and celebrate your gifts, but one thing’s in the way – fear.
6
The Untethered Soul
Michael Singer
One chapter at bedtime each night was enough to send me floating deep into the cosmos and it was in that infinite darkness I’d fall asleep. There was a fortnight of that. A precious gift to experience my insignificance. Michael Singer’s writing is so spare and sharp, it somehow describes the indescribable thing beyond us. More of an experience than a read.
7
Waking Up
Sam Harris
My introduction to meditation. In the early days I wanted a manual which was as un-esoteric as possible, and a book by the rationalist Sam Harris was an obvious choice. It turned out esoteric anyway, but by then I realised I needed that. For anyone curious about the benefits of meditation – beyond “stressing less” – that reveal the nature of consciousness.
8
Be Here Now
Ram Dass
A galactic journey. When I first read (adventured?) this book many years ago, it didn’t work. The messages couldn’t come in – at my level of awareness. I read it again recently. Whoa! It clicked. For those interested in Ram Dass’ transformation from identifying as a psychology professor, addicted to sex and money, to returning to his natural state, radiating love, wisdom, and compassion.
9
Anxiously Attached
Jessica Baum
One of the best books I’ve found on attachment. Jessica Baum writes with love and warmth, and I felt so supported by her whenever I picked up this book (in an emergency, to deal with a relationship trigger). By understanding the science of my own nervous system, I felt much more compassion for myself whenever I’d go into fight-or-flight. For the anxiously-attached who feel stuck in a loop!
10
Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow
Marsha Sinetar
My career-transition bible. I’ve read it now many times over, and each time I’m reminded: Be patient, all is coming. (Also: all is already here.) For those who don’t want to do what they’re doing, but don’t know what to do instead. And for those who do know, but don’t know how.