Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Books That Have Changed My Life For The Better!

I am often asked to recommend books and I've come to realize that I have a short list that I absolutely recommend to anyone and everyone. In fact, if it were up to me, these would be mandatory reading.
"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear," is one of my favorite quotes. The teacher can be in the form of the lyrics of a song on the radio that suddenly resonate with you in that moment in time and deliver the precise message that you need.  The teacher may also appear in the form of a simple conversation between friends. Other times, the teacher comes in the form of parts of a sermon that you were barely paying attention to, yet that one line just jolted you out of whatever rabbit hole your mind had wandered down to bring you back on your path.  The teacher may also appear in the form of a book as they have for me, time and time again.

I believe that we all have spirit guides and angels who guide us everyday. Now I know I might lose some of you at this point with this "woo woo" talk but humor me. These angels and spirit guides which I believe are assigned to me  by my Higher Power aka God use many of the mediums mentioned above to guide me on my path. We are presented with opportunities to learn these lessons daily in many different forms but alas, we tend to miss many of them. The key I have found is to pay attention to that little voice in my heart and head that whispers, "Pay Attention Anita. This one is important." So I get myself out of my head and pay attention and on most days, get the lesson but there have been many times when I completely miss the lesson and so I get presented with more and more opportunities to learn the lessons.  The storyline changes, the actors change but the lesson is always the one needed.

So without further delay, here is a list of my favorite books of all times. Please note that that I am sharing them in no particular order. I do believe that you will read whichever one you need to read. Just be open!

1. Seagull - Jonathan Livingston












2. Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield












3. Seven Spiritual Laws of Success - Deepak Chopra












4. Conversations with God - Book 1 - Neale Donald Walsch - I read this book some 18 years ago before my children were born.
There is also a book 2 and 3 in this series along with another 20 some books that Neale has written and they are all excellent books but Book 1 remains my favorite. I actually had the opportunity to spend an entire week with this author  a few years ago. I went to Oregon and met a group of 30 some people from all around the USA and the world and we had a once in a life time experience listening to this brilliant teacher in person.












5. The Seat of the Soul - Gary Zukav - now this is a book that sat on my bookshelves for almost ten years. Every couple of years, I would pick it up and attempt to read it but just got lost in the heavy jargon and I would get frustrated and put it back on the shelf. Then some ten plus years later, I picked it up and started to read it and realized that I had already received the messages that were in this book except they had come to me in the form of other authors and their books. But I am still including it here.












6. The Heart of the Soul - Gary Zukav - this book was life changing because it challenged me to really look at my behavior and forced me to face the underlying issues behind them. And as Maya Angelou said, "When you know better, you do better." Thus this book helped me "know myself better."












7. 40 Rules of Love - Elif Shafaq - an exquisitely written book in the most simple form yet the author weaves the tales of two separate families (Rumi and Shams de Tabriz and the character of this woman in her late 40's/50's). The 40 rules of love are pearls of wisdom that are scattered throughout the book and made my heart sing with joy at discovering them. I can't say anymore without giving it away so I'll stop here.












8.The Purpose Driven Life - by Rick Warren. This book kept showing up right around the time of my divorce some ten years ago until I finally realized that I was suppose to read this book. A MUST READ!!!












9. The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran - a short read but one you must take your time with. I read this book also some 18 years ago when I was pregnant with Aly (who is now 17 years old). The chapter on children along with Deepak Chopra's books have outlined how I've chosen to raise my boys. Essentially by honoring them as the individual souls that they are on their own journey. I understand that I have been entrusted with them but they are not my property to impose my own dreams and desires upon. I have and continue to encourage my boys to discover their gifts and use them to serve humanity. I believe that when you follow your passion, you never work a day in your life.












10. The Alchemist - Paulo Coehlo - this is a must read!!!!












11. Brene Brown's books are fantastic and everyone should read them.

 


12. Simple Abundance - A Daybook by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book literally saved my life. After Aly was born, I got hit with post partum depression. I was living in Tucson, Arizona with an 8 month old and a husband who was away all day long at work. We had only one car between us which left me stuck at home. Tucson is beautiful but we were renting an apartment in the hills which made it very difficult to just walk to places. I saw this author on Oprah and immediately bought the book and started reading and writing the gratitude journal as directed in this book. Within a month, I started to feel better and more positive. Many of us women tend to lose ourselves in the process of being someone's daughter, someone's wife and then someone's mother. We forget who were were prior to all of that and this book helped me uncover the layers to discover my own dreams and desires.  This is a very powerful book for women. The author also wrote a version of this for men.












13. The Laws of the Spirit World by Khorshed Bhavnagari - This book found me about a year ago and I am still working through it.












I'm sure there are many more books I could recommend and maybe in time, I'll write another post but this is it for now. Please do not rush through any of these books. Instead, take your time and read them and then re read them to really absorb the messages. These took me about 20 years to read as they found me or I found them only when I was ready for them.
Therefore, pay attention to which one tugs at your heart and go read that one first. The others will find you in time.

Love, Light and Blessings,

Anita

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