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Suggested
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Living
Life Fully Home |
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We're listing books that have affected us
positively, mostly because they offer a unique, positive perspective on life.
Some of them may be classified as self-help, some as counseling, some as
literature--but classifications mean nothing. Content is everything. We don't
think for a second that everyone will like every book here, but we're putting
in books that have positively affected us. They're in no particular order,
and we're not going to categorize them for now, but we think you may find
something here that can speak to you, wherever you are in life.
Please note that
you can purchase all of these books by clicking on the image, which will
send you to a page for that book at Amazon.com. If you do purchase
by clicking here, we will receive a small commission on the
purchase. We tell you this simply because we want to be completely
straightforward on this--we don't want to present this without letting you
know what's going on. |
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Read
Some Excerpts!
We've
just started a page of excerpts from these books--they're not all on the
page yet,
but there is a lot of good material there. Just
click here to visit! |
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Susan Taylor has done
it again! Similar to her monthly column, "In the Spirit,"
which motivates and stimulates the Essence subscriber, this
compilation of writings is another honest expression of her life's
journey and the "lessons" that she has learned. Taylor
offers intimate expressions on self-worth, empowerment, faith, and
commitment for the benefit of others. Her ability to describe
"loving ourselves" in a moving and thought-provoking way
is the style that has endeared her to Essence subscribers
over the years. Readers never feel as if she is lecturing on or
dictating the only way to deal with life's challenges but rather are
inspired to face life's challenges by listening to their own inner
voices. This is one of my favorite books of all, one that I
revisit on a very regular basis for feelings of peace and hope and
balance. |
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Do One Thing Different. Bill O'Hanlon
A lot of practical, common-sense suggestions for dealing with many aspects
of your own life, such as your own perspective, co-dependencies,
etc. Quite a few step-by-step ideas for dealing with things that may
be bringing you down. His website is at possibilitycenter.com if
you'd like to learn more about him or see his other books. |
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Prescriptions for Living. Bernie S.
Siegel
A nice look at life from a formerly anal-retentive
doctor who shaved his head, changed his name from "Dr. Siegel" to Bernie,
and actually started caring for his patients. He learned more from the change
than they did. |
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A Touch of Wonder. Arthur
Gordon
A series of essays examining life and perspectives
on life. I bought it because I loved the subtitle: "Staying in Love with
Life." The essays here are very personal, and very
insightful--Gordon is a strong and insightful observer. My
favorite is the essay in which he takes an aging rabbi out fishing. |
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A Strategy for Daily Living. Ari
Kiev
A nice look at sort of "putting your life
in order," without being compulsive about doing so. A small, short, easy
read that helps us to see the importance of our day-to-day
existence. |
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Simple Abundance. Sarah Ban
Breathnach
With reservations--not for most males, and
there's quite a bit of self-indulgence here. All in all, though, a positive
experience. But please, Sarah--find a synonym or two for
"authentic." |
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The Art of Loving. Erich
Fromm
Fromm was a follower of Freud's who seemed
to take many of Freud's ideas and humanize them, presenting them in a very
accessible way. If you want to know about love from a very human psychological
perspective, Fromm hits a lot of nails right on the head, especially in Chapter
Three, "Love's Disintegration in Western Society." |
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Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. . .and it's
all small stuff. Richard Carlson
A nice little series of lessons on perspective--we
all sweat a lot of stuff that really doesn't deserve so much attention. Many
practical suggestions here. Be careful, though, as this promises to
get as annoying as the Chicken Soup books--now there's Don't Sweat
the Small Stuff at Work, and more. When will these people stop
milking markets? |
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The Sermon on the Mount. Emmet
Fox
Emmet's great--a strong Christian who's able
to reach people on their own level, no matter what or where that level is.
Practical, caring, and insightful, this book should prove to be a real eye-opener
for anyone who thinks about how to live life fully, and a great reinforcement
for anyone who has doubts. Rather than take more space, we'd recommend anything
by Emmet, but especially this one. |
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Lead the Field. Earl
Nightingale
A six-tape audio program available from
Nightingale-Conant, this set offers
a very practical and human approach to life and success. Nighingale loved
life, and it shows through clearly here. The version I have has the text
printed, also. |
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The Celestine Prophecy. James
Redfield
Though Redfield's lost a great deal of credibility
with his efforts to milk the success of this book for all it's worth, the
book remains a nice synthesis of many different teachings and philosophies.
There's nothing new here, but it's brought together in a very readable
fashion. |
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Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Richard
Bach
A wonderfully timeless exploration of what
it means to go against the grain and follow the need inside to accomplish
what others just don't understand. Illusions is another by Bach that challenges
your perspective on life. |
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Favorite Poems. Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
Another Dover Thrift Edition--no one who's
in love with life should be without Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life," "The
Village Blacksmith," "The Rainy Day," and many more here by a poet whose
meaning is actually accessible, not buried in poetic form. |
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"Self-Reliance" and Other
Essays. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Dover Thrift Edition--Emerson is always
wonderful, though a bit too pithy at times for some people. But his wonderful
celebrations of the beauty of being human and the potential we all have is
extremely uplifting, and for a dollar, it's more than worth its price. If
you haven't seen the Dover Thrift Editions, look for them--you'll find great
books at a wonderful price. Thank you, Dover. |
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Care of the Soul. Thomas
Moore
We try to take care of our minds and our bodies,
but if we believe we have a soul, shouldn't we nurture it and help it grow?
Why do we harm it? A bit heavy at times, but well worth the effort,
especially if we're willing to admit that we do have a soul, and
that it does deserve to be cared for. |
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The Power of Positive Thinking. Norman
Vincent Peale
The concept of "positive thought" has come
under attack from many conservative Christians lately, but the bottom line is that this
book can help us to change our perspective on who we are and how we fit in
this world. Peale was a caring, loving person who shared a great
deal of himself with the world, and his "positive
thinking" school of thought can help us all to see the great
things in our lives rather than focus on the limitations and
problems. |
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In His Steps. Charles M.
Sheldon
A wonderful examination of what it means to
lead a truly Christian life, and the consequences thereof. The major influence
of the WWJD movement, this work examines the lives of a few individuals
who decide to make all decisions in their lives dependent on the
answer to the question: "What would Jesus do if He were
in my situation?" Sometimes acting on that answer isn't
at all easy. |
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Every Day Light. Selwyn
Hughes
Selwyn's a bit more stodgy with his prose
than Emmet (who isn't at all stodgy), but these examinations of Biblical
principals and passages in daybook form is a nice read, and the paintings
by Thomas Kinkade add nicely to the message. |
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Chicken Soup for the Soul. Canfield
and Hansen editors
The crass commercialism that's resulted from
the success of this series has turned a lot of people off, but there are
still some very positive, uplifting stories to be read, especially in the
first few that weren't for specific audiences. |
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Manifest Your Destiny. Wayne
Dyer
This book provides a fascinating perspective of the world and our
place in it. Just how much of our lives is under our own control? More than
we think, Dyer says.
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Creating
True Prosperity.
Shakti Gawain
An interesting look at the concept of prosperity in our lives, and
what the term truly means to each of us. Shakti's perspective
is that prosperity is available to all of us, as long as we're
willing to shift our perspectives and change our ideas about what
prosperity means. Money, power, inner strength--she examines
the different aspects of our inner and outer wealth. |
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Subtitled
"The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth," this book is a
guide to working towards being the best person you can be.
Spirit is everywhere, in everyone, and if we can allow ourselves to
see it and live it, we can reach our full potential in our
lives. The author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior and The life
You Were Meant to Live, Millman is a former world-champion athlete
and college professor whose focus is on the practical rather than
the abstract. |
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A
Return to Love, Marianne Williamson
Williamson
reveals how we each can become a miracle worker by accepting
God and by the expression of love in our daily lives.
Whether psychic pain is in the area of relationships,
career, or health, she shows us how love is a potent force,
the key to inner peace, and how by practicing love we can
make our own lives more fulfilling while creating a more
peaceful and loving world for our children.
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The
Aladdin Factor, by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
"Ask and you shall receive." You've heard it
more times than you can count, right? Well, a truer line was
never written. Asking is the key to getting what you want, no
matter what it is. But asking is an art. And because
we're all programmed from an early age not to ask, and not to feel
worthy or deserving, arriving at the place where you are prepared to
ask, and can do it with power and conviction, is a process. The
Aladdin Factor will take you through this process, and empower
you to start asking the questions that will change your life.
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In Creating Love,
John Bradshaw provides a new way to understand our most crucial
relationships: with parents and children, with friends and
co-workers, with ourselves, and with God. He shows us how we
have been literally "entranced" by past experiences of
counterfeit love, how we can break these destructive patterns, and
how we can open ourselves to the soul-building work of real love.
John Bradshaw has touched and
changed millions of lives through his nationally televised PBS
series and his best-selling books. His previous book, Homecoming,
introduced the concept of the inner child to a vast new audience.
Now he defines the "next great stage of growth"--how we
can work to create healthy, loving relationships in every part of
our lives.
Written for everyone who has
struggled with painful relationships and is seeking hope and a new
direction, Creating Love is a life-changing book. |
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Lucidly
and beautifully written, Peace Is Every Step contains
commentaries and meditations, personal anecdotes and stories from
Buddhist Nhat Hanh's experiences as a peace activist, teacher, and
community leader. It begins where the reader already is (kitchen,
office, driving a car, walking in a park) and shows how deep
meditative presence is available now. Nhat Hanh shows how to be
aware of relationships with others and of the world around us, its
beauty and also its pollution and injustices. Through deceptively
simple practices, Peace Is Every Step encourages the reader
to work for peace in the world as he or she continues to work on
sustaining inner peace by turning the "mindless" into the
mindful. Peace Is Every Step is a useful, and necessary,
addition to any Buddhist studies or self-help reference shelf. |
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Further
Along the Road Less Traveled
takes the lectures of Dr. Peck and presents his profound insights
into the issues that confront and challenge all of us today:
spirituality, forgiveness, relationships, and growing up. In this
aid for living less simplistically, you will learn not to look for
the easy answers but to think multidimensionally. You will learn to
reach for the "ultimate step," which brings you face to
face with your personal spirituality. It will be this that helps you
appreciate the complexity that is life. |
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Simple
Truths. Kent Nerburn
A very nice, simple collection of thoughts and reflections on many
of the aspects of our daily lives that most of us take for
granted--possessions, giving, love, money, travel, and many
others. Very readable and thought-provoking, and well worth a
read. |
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A
note on the false self: This concept isn't new, and it
isn't proprietary, though many people have written about it
over thousands of years. For one of the most
interesting and thorough examinations of how to
"defeat" the false self, we'd recommend Guy
Finley's The Secret of Letting Go, a very nice book on the
power of not trying to control every aspect of our lives. |
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A
Life Complete explains how the choices we make in life
can become distilled and irreversible by the time we reach
our last years. Having worked intimately and
rewardingly with countless people in the last years of their
lives, psychological counselor and ordained minister
Sallirae Henderson offers a practical plan for healing in
middle age so we can avoid elderly regret, unexpressed
grief, and unresolved spiritual issues before it's too late. |
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In
this collection of heartwarming, introspective stories,
you'll find Welch's examinations of the things in life that
are truly important: the people you cherish, the
dreams you share, and the talents God has given exclusively
to you. You'll be reminded of the things that make
life so special: love, friendships, and building
relationships that last a lifetime. |
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