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Having come a long way from the standard thinking of going with the flow, settling down and pursuing an average life, I am so thrilled to share with you my list of most inspiring books that motivated me to reevaluate my life, come closer to finding my true passion and dare to pursue something out of the ordinary.
Reading books is so cozy!
It's an amazing way to spend a rainy Sunday at home, a sunny day on the beach, a relaxing evening at the country side, a long flight or train ride, get some inspiration and unwind just before going to bed, or get excited and motivated for the new day as soon as you wake up.
That's why when I found myself in a sudden realization, a few years ago, that there is more to life than just going with the flow and settling down, I turned to self-improvement books.
Several of the books I read helped me to get out of feeling unmotivated, stressed and unhappy with my life, and made a significant impact on where my life is heading.
Thanks to them, I became totally motivated to find my life's purpose instead of settling down for something and ending up unhappy in the mid-life. I also learned how to become better at controlling my stress, emotions and impulses.
Without trying to sound too dramatic, I could really say that several books that I've read really transformed and are still transforming my life to much better.
They made me question many things in my life, such as:
What is truly important for me in life?
If I had unlimited amout of money, would I still be doing the same things I am doing right now?
What would a day in my dream life look like?
What steps should I take could I get closer to my dream life?
Why am I stressing so much about every day things when I could be enjoying my life and even find ways to accept my stressors, removing their power over me?
And so many more similar things. It just really started making me question LIFE.
Cool ideas arose as I was educating myself on self-improvement, such as doing something crazy, like starting this blog!
Therefore I am extremely excited to share the books with you here and tell you a little bit about them!
I love reading them because they keep my mind stimulated and I learn new things all the time.
Here's a list of books that have thus far had the largest impact on my journey towards mindfulness, motivation to do something different and get closer to finding my life's purpose:
1. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
My whole mindfulness journey basically started with this book as I came across it by accident.
Browsing for self-improvement books when I was feeling stressed and unhappy, feeling like my days were controlling me and time was going way too fast, I saw its great reviews and instantly thought that it could be helpful.
Eckhart Tolle has gone through anxiety and panic attacks, until he transformed his life through realizing the power of mindfulness and living in the present moment instead of constantly thinking about the past, or worrying about the future.
I really like the way he explains mindfulness in such simple and relatable ways.
The Power of Now opened my eyes to the fact that there is a whole different level of our conscience than just our thoughts and emotions. It also taught me an invaluable lesson of becoming aware of our ego and recognizing its ways of manifesting itself in unhealthy thoughts that don't give us any value, such as making ourselves feel like victims.
It also inspired me own my days and time, instead of letting them control me.
It showed me that it is possible to slow down time by truly living every moment of our lives, appreciating what we have, which I had difficulties doing before.
I would really recommend to read The Power of Now if you want to learn how to control your emotions and your life, by also learning to understand yourself as well as not feel like time is passing by in an uncontrollable speed anymore.
You can order this book on Amazon by clicking on the picture above, or here.
2. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Even though most of us already possess the knowledge of how to interact with others within us, Carnegie compiled them in an easy-to-follow way, outlining the main principles that are required for successful communication.
It is great to these principles on paper, compiled in one book in order to create a hollistic view of the underlying psychological factors in human communication.
Having worked with sales, this book has firstly had a great impact in my career. It helped me to understand how to best tailor for my clients, without having to traditionally pitch the products too much. It helped me develop more personal relations with my clients rather than basing them solemnly on the product.
It also helped me form much deeper connections with my friends, family and boyfriend. It really opens our eyes on how we ourselves like to be talked to and in that way also allows us to be more mindful and empathetic towards the ones we are talking to.
I highly recommend reading How to Win Friends & Influence People if you'd like to learn how to become more inspirational, ensure that others feel appreciated and give others a great chance to understand your opinion and accept it because they truly believe it, not because you've convinced, or tricked them to do it.
You can purchase the book directly off Amazon by clicking on the picture above, or here.
3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
Amazing and inspirational book!! It brings up all the main aspects of productivity, self-improvement, emotional control, success, mindful, empathic communication and even mindfulness.
You may have already seen my earlier blog post about how to be proactive, that was highly inspired by this book.
Covey reveals the 7 habits, firstly by outlining how to become independent of our perceptions and become proactive and mindful of the things that matter most to us.
The book teaches us how to also figure out what is most important to us and how to align our lives to pursue our goals, which I found extremely useful.
It also teaches us how to become interdependent, finding the win-win scenarios in all kinds of situations in life as well as similar vital communication skills to those discussed in How to Win Friends and Influence People.
I personally enjoyed reading this book after having read The Power of Now and How to Win Friends and Influence People as it slightly connected the principles of those books and also built upon the knowledge I gained from the first two.
You can order the book on Amazon by clicking the picture above, or here.
4. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
I read this book quite recently and it was such a cozy, lovely story to read right before going to bed, or while taking a break, in order to truly become motivated to live my best life.
Written in a form of fiction, this book teaches us the importance of slowing down our lives and focusing on the important things, as well as finding our life purpose and living according to it.
It helps us to reevaluate our choices and provides with an interesting insight to what true success, wellbeing and happiness is.
I felt as though this book collected the best principles from many other self-improvement books and put them all into a relatable story, which made the teachings very memorable.
I would really recommend this book for everyone, but especially if you find reading more serious self-improvement books a bit too much to digest. This is a lighter, more engaging self-improvement book, that discusses all the principles of success and productivity just as effectively.
You can have a quick access to purchase it on Amazon by clicking on the book above, or here.
5. Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Dr. Joe Dispenza
I am currently reading this book and so far really enjoying its different way of thinking about our mind and life in general!
In this book, Dr. Joe Dispenza explains how our thoughts, emotions, our bodies and life outcomes are connected.
I really like the way he explains endless possibilities of how our lives can turn out, depending on our thought patterns and how we have much more control of the outcome of our lives than we may think.
Personally, I find this book really interesting and would really recommend reading it if you would like to learn about mindfulness from a different angle.
If you'd like to order this book on Amazon, click here, or on the picture above.
6. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Last, but not least, is actually the fist self-improvement book I ever read.
This book really taught and inspired me to:
increase my productivity,
improve my way of thinking,
analyze my personality in terms of real interests and weaknesses in order to learn what to pursue and what to improve,
dare to take action in pursuing my passions in life, and
how to have much more power over success in my lives.
The title of this book implies becoming rich not necessarily only in the monetary sense, but also how to find your passion and become successful, living a life rich in happiness and productivity.
I highly recommend reading this book if you want to learn about the power of our thoughts and the brain in pursuing a successful and happy life.
It teaches and motivates how to effectively strive for our goals in order to live our best life.
You can order this book by clicking here, or on the picture above.
I am extremely happy to share my so far best book tips with you! I hope that they can also be helpful and inspirational for you in your journey towards mindfulness and successfully finding and pursuing your passion!
Now, I am also really interested to hear what YOUR favorite books are!
I would really appreciate it if you could leave a comment below and tell me about your favorite books that have had the largest impact on your lives, or that you just really enjoyed reading.
I'm really looking forward to gaining more inspiration and reading the books that you recommend! :)
Stay tuned for more science-backed evidence and tips on mindfulness that I will post in this blog, by subscribing to my mailing list below.
I am very interested to hear your opinion and tips on what you'd like to read about in this blog, so you are more than welcome to leave a comment here, or contact me on info@thegreatermindfulness.com :)
Cheers!
Laura | MSc in Medical Science, Creator of The Greater Mindfulness