Thousands upon thousands of personal development and spirituality books fill the shelves of your local book store. While they all offer wonderful food for thought, here are 10 in particular that you shouldn’t miss out on.
The world of literature is a magical one. Despite being equipped with only words, books have the incredible ability to make us think, feel, and imagine new worlds.
As an avid reader, I can think of a number of books that changed my life for the better. While many of these were works of fiction, I’d like to instead focus upon 10 largely nonfictional works devoted to personal development.
While most that I will be listing have topped several best-seller lists at one point or another, an astonishing number of us have still never taken the time to read them.
Here are 10 books that I believe have life changing potential:
1. Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives
How it impacted me: The book effectively taught me the power of being truly present and attentive to every moment in life. For me, the character of Socrates represents what I’ve come to know as my intuition, and reminded me of how my thoughts and belief systems (rather than external factors) are my greatest limitation.
2. Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!
How it impacted me: Choosing to actively complete each of the suggested exercises as I came across them meant that the book had an immediate impact on virtually every facet of my life. It helped me to identify conflicting values, better lay out my goals, and appreciate everything that has made me into who I am today. As an extrovert myself, Tony’s style of writing and motivational speaking has always resonated with me, but I feel that this book in particular can be just as effective on even the most introverted among us.
3. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
How it impacted me: I first absorbed the teachings of this book as an audio book while renovating my mother’s house several years ago. I wasn’t particularly happy to be doing the renovations at the time, but I was soon amazed by how the book shifted my perspective toward the work (and ultimately so much of what I do). It helped me realize just how many of my thoughts are charged by things that truly need to have no bearing on my current experience.
4. How to Win Friends & Influence People
How it impacted me: As the name suggests, this book significantly improved my communication and relationship skills. It showed me unhealthy speaking habits I had made a part of my regular life and gave me effective ways to replace them (that don’t involve manipulation).
5. Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue
How it impacted me: What particularly impressed me about this book is just how many things that I had often wondered about were reflected in the conversation. Nearly all of the answers resonated with me, and gave me such a profound new perspective on life that I actually read it several times in a row, taking notes on my second and third pass.
6. The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth
How it impacted me: When I first read this book in 2013, it had such an emphatic influence on me that I wrote an entire article on my 12 key takeaways from it. Among those memorable nuggets were the importance in accepting responsibility, the need to be open to change, and the power in genuine self-love.
7. Think and Grow Rich
How it impacted me: Despite its financial and business focus, the book had a surprisingly profound impact on other areas of my life. It changed the way I looked at my aspirations as well as my approach to dealing with many of them, all while reminding me of the incredible power in my thoughts.
8. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
How it impacted me: The book literally picked apart much of what my mind loves to preoccupy itself with and place importance upon. It showed me the vicious cycle these thoughts create and how much simpler life can be when we instead choose to focus on this moment. It inspired me so deeply that it played an integral role in me tattooing the phrase “This Moment” on one of my shoulder blades.
9. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
How it impacted me: While all four of the core agreements presented within the book are powerful, the one that stood out to me the most is to not take anything personally. It’s remarkable how much time we waste preoccupied in taking offence to even the most unrelated of circumstances.
10. Living in the Light: Follow Your Inner Guidance to Create a New Life and a New World
How it impacted me: Having just completed the book, I was pleasantly surprised by how effectively it strengthened my awareness of and connection to my intuition. Each of the exercises offered up a unique tool that I will forever use to shed light on my inner knowing.
Written by MARK DENICOLA. Mark has been writing for Collective Evolution and other online platforms for over 6 years. Much of his content centers around personal development, self-help, and conscious food for thought.
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