Seven Must Read Books to Expand Your Mind
My personal recommendation for living your best life — is healing, improving relationships, finding purpose, and living healthfully.
The Value of Books
As a writer, I deeply value the importance of reading in my life. In school, I did not enjoy reading because that usually meant being tested and I was a poor test taker. To this day I cannot retrieve facts or knowledge under pressure. Prefer to read non-fiction because I love to learn, particularly about relationships, psychology, spirituality, food, and self-study.
I still prefer paper books to digital, although I do understand the value of online books not consuming trees and paper and taking up space on shelves. I still like to underline, star, and highlight so that I can return to important facts in my favorite books and refer to those when I need to for my clients or when I am writing.
It was tough for me to narrow down my list of must reads for mind expansion because there are so many wonderful books I have read loaded full of nuggets of knowledge that I find helpful from authors like Paulo Coelho, Eckhart Tolle, and Brene Brown, but most of those have been written about many times. Today I tried to choose a few I felt might be a bit more uncommon to share since this is a more exclusive reading group.
My List of Must-Read Books to Expand Your Mind and Soul
1. The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga, by Deepak Chopra, MD, and David Simon, MD
2. Perfect Health, The Complete Mind Body Guide, by Deepak Chopra, MD
3. The Five Love Languages, The Secret to Love That Lasts, by Gary Chapman
4. The Rhythm of Life, by Matthew Kelly
5. Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, by Peter A. Levine with Ann Frederick
6. The Food Revolution, How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World, by John Robbins
7. The Seven Secrets to Healthy Happy Relationships, by Ron Miguel Ruiz Jr. & Heatherash Amara
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga
This book explains what yoga is and how to live and practice a yogic lifestyle in simple easy to understand terms. Deepak has a lovely way of explaining and simplifying meditation and breathing techniques to make them easily accessible to people who have not had formal training. There are even clear illustrations. With how to do yoga postures and the benefits of each posture, or asana. I find this book extremely easy, helpful, and inspirational I continue to revisit it often.
Perfect Health
In a world where obesity is on the rise, and we are in a mental health crisis post-Covid Pandemic this book is a wonderful guide for living a healthier life. Deepak explains Ayurveda and its effects on the body and mind. There is even a quiz to see which body type you are he then advises what to eat for your body type for optimal health.
He explains the extensive benefits of meditation, aromatherapy, and music therapy as healing modalities. He also emphasizes the importance of nature. Basically, the book gives a well-rounded holistic guide for living well through simple improvements that are very easy to make in daily life.
The Five Love Languages
This book is so relevant to relationships that I truly believe every single person should read it regardless of your relationship status because it will give you a deeper understanding of your own personal needs and desires. It is a short and easy-to-read book.
The Five Love Languages are:
1. Words of Affirmation
2. Quality Time
3. Gifts
4. Acts of Service
5. Physical Touch
There is a quiz for both men and women at the back of the book if you are unsure of your primary love language. It helps to be sure you meet the needs of your partner and likewise that your emotional needs are being met. Long-lasting relationships require a high level of emotional maturity and emotional intelligence which requires empathy and good communication. When we foster our partner’s love language, we show our partner we care and nurture that love and are willing to meet their emotional needs.
The Rhythm of Life
This book is a spiritual game changer in my humble opinion. When I say spiritual, I do not mean religious. It is extremely eye-opening and packed full of tidbits of logical concepts that make you look at things from new perspectives. Matthew Kelly talks about the profound meaning and purpose of life and how a human cannot live without meaning. He goes so far as to say, “The meaning and purpose of life is for you to become the best version of yourself.”
He talks about self-acceptance and the difference between our wants and our deepest desires. It is an extremely empowering and inspiring book.
Waking the Tiger
As someone who suffered from PTSD, this book was extremely helpful, in fact, life-changing. I had read several other great books on PTSD, but Levine was able to help me uncover subconscious thoughts that I had buried deep down. I truly had an aha moment while reading the book that helped me overcome the trauma.
Levine explains that “traumatic symptoms are not caused by the ‘triggering’ event itself. They stem from the frozen residue of the energy that has not been resolved and discharged; this residue remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and spirits. The long-term alarming, debilitating, and often bizarre symptoms of PTSD develop when we cannot complete the process of moving in, though, and out of ‘immobility’ or ‘freezing’ state.”
He uses the analogy of a cheetah hunting and chasing an impala and an impala passing out and “freezing” when caught to protect itself. The impala then comes to and immediately flees getting freed safely when the cheetah drops its prey in the den upon returning from the hunt. When doing this it’s able to rid its body of the damage done to the nervous system. Humans do not have this ability instead we feel like we hit the brakes at massively high speed, but instead of necessarily feeling the impact physically we feel the effects mentally. He explains it far better than I and it truly makes sense.
If you or anyone you know has suffered from PTSD this is a must-read for somatic healing.
The Seven Secrets to Healthy Happy Relationships
Ruiz explains throughout the book that, “the seven secrets to healthy happy relationships are commitment, freedom, awareness, healing, joy, communication, and release.”
He explains that the first commitment is to and with yourself in order to build a healthy foundation for the relationship. You must accept yourself and break up with the victim mentality. He talks a lot about understanding emotions which I find valuable and helpful in relationships. I believe he has navigated and created the perfect recipe for a lasting relationship. In essence, what he is suggesting is to raise emotional intelligence in order to have the best healthy happy relationship.
Conclusion:
Reading helps me expand my mind. Sometimes I explore new books. Other times I revisit old favorites. Sometimes I prefer reading short articles or poetry on Medium. As long as I continue to grow, I am happy and content.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this book review. Without you as readers it would be pointless for me to write, so thank you for giving me the opportunity to do what I love. I also appreciate all the incredible writers out there who inspire me to keep learning and growing like Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, Sahil Patel, Thief, Art Bram, Dr. Preeti Singh, Liberty Forrest, Author, and Diana Meresc and there are many many more that I will thank another day!
Please comment and tell me what you enjoy reading and what your favorite books are! I am always looking for something new. I invite you to join the Medium Partner Program here with my referral link.
