One of the things I enjoy most about the holidays is having the time to escape into a great book. Books were always waiting under the Christmas Tree for us growing up, I used to get so excited looking over the fabulous new books Mum had picked for us. No matter what you are going through in life, there is bound to be a book that will mirror your energy, get you where you are at, offer profound wisdom and guidance to support you in the moment and to support you in your growth.
So with that in mind I would love to share some of my most recent favourite books that can support your growth and understanding on a variety of topics.
Happy holiday reading.
Lighter: Let Go of the Past, Connect with the Present, and Expand the Future. By Yung Pueblo.
My absolute most favourite book of recent years. The only book I finished and immediately started reading again, it just gave me that much. A New York Times bestseller, it is described as “a radically compassionate plan for turning inward and lifting the heaviness that prevents us from healing ourselves and the world.” Yung Pueblo had years of drug abuse that took a toll on his mind and body. During a dark night of the soul he realised in order to live he had to find a path to deep healing. He began by dedicating himself to meditation and trusting his intuition, allowing himself to honestly address his fears and anxieties, leading him to no longer feel like a stranger inside his heart and mind. With chapters including: emotional maturity, relationships, self love, healing, and letting go. Yung Pueblos’ hope with Lighter is that “as more of us heal, our actions will become more intentional, our decisions will become more compassionate, our thinking will become more clearer, and the future will become brighter.”
A beautiful read if you are looking at becoming more intentional in your life.
Us: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship. By Terrence Real.
Romantic relationships, they can cause us so much joy and so much pain and confusion. As my mentor once said to me, “relationships are the best training on earth.” Learning how to lovingly communicate in a relationship would be one of the top keys to relationship success and that’s exactly what Terrence Real, renowned marriage counsellor, aims to support the reader with. “Not much is harder than figuring out how to love your partner in all their messy humanness – and there’s also not much that’s more important” (Gwyneth Paltrow). Terrence Real guides us to get past our knee jerk reactions and into our wiser self, moving past the separate corners of “you” and “me” and back to “us”. Packed with lots of stories from his therapist’s chair, Terrance guides you to transform your relationship into one that’s based on collaboration, compassion and closeness.
Such a wonderful read if you are wanting to understand and unpack what triggers you in your relationship and learn more loving, compassionate communication to help you move past the old ego reaction.
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture. By Gabor Mate, Daniel Mate.
Gabor Mate is a renowned physician, healer and author. In The Myth of Normal, Gabor examines how Western Cultures, that pride themselves on good healthcare, actually have terrible chronic illness and poor health. In America, nearly 70% of people are on one prescription medication, with 50% on at least two. In Canada, one in five have high blood pressure and everywhere else adolescent mental health is on the rise. So what is normal? Gabor notes that for all our technological advancement, Western medicine fails to treat the whole person, often ignoring “how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance.”
The first two thirds of this book is research heavy, so it’s great if you love facts and science. The last third is a beautiful summation of the common myths that make us sick, the connection between the maladies of individuals (for example, common personality traits that lead to certain disease processes like cancer), and a compassionate guide to healing. A fascinating and important read if you really want to understand wellness in our modern culture.
Untamed. By Glennon Doyle
Untamed is described as “an intimate memoir and a galvanising wake up call”, and I would wholeheartedly agree. It is a story of bravery and truth as one woman navigates divorce, blending a family and giving herself permission to be who she is, not who she is expected to be. This book has a cult following by women around the world as they feel seen and heard in Glennon’s story.
It is a hilarious, empathic, sensitive and empowering read.
A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles.” By Marianne Williamson
Marianne Williamson has dedicated her life to understanding and teaching the renowned spiritual book “A Course in Miracles.” In a Return to Love she shares her reflections on A Course of Miracles and her insights on the application of love in the search for inner peace. I absolutely loved this book, along with Lighter these would be my two favourite spiritual reads in the past few years. A Return to Love is a life teaching on such beautiful topics as love and forgiveness. Williamson helps us understand that love is the potent force we need to accept in order to create inner peace in all areas of our life – relationships, career, health, and how as communities if we learn to collectively accept love we can start to exert the loving change that most of us would like to see in the World. A must read.
Stop Missing Your Life: How to be deeply present in an Un-Present World. By Cory Muscara.
Cory Muscara is a mindfulness teacher and lecturer and offers some of the kindest and most wise knowledge I have come across. I have been lucky enough to do one of Corys courses on Working with Thoughts and it was one of the most powerful courses I have done. In his book Stop Missing Your Life, Cory offers up a four part FACE model (Focus, Allow, Curiosity, and Embodiment) to help us chip away at what he calls “The Pain Box”, walls we all build up over time that ultimately prevent us from experiencing the richness of our lives. This book supports us in discovering true Presence: “a quality of being that is unmistakably attractive about a person, and one that only comes when we have peeled back the layers of guarding that prevent us from being our full, honest, and integrated selves in the world.”
A beautiful book and an easy read from a man that offers profound wisdom.
As Christmas approaches I just wanted to express our gratitude for every one of you, our beautiful patients who show up and permit us to be part of your lives and your health journey. It is an absolute honour and something we take very seriously. Wishing you all a peaceful Christmas and I hope that 2024 can bring everyone much joy as we continue this adventure on Earth.
Our last day in the office will be Friday the 22nd of December and we will re-open Monday the 8th of January.
Lots of love.
