Self Help Book Mania!

Here are five books I've read over the past year that I haven't blogged about, but are worth reading.


"Steering by Starlight" by Martha Beck. I checked this out of the library last week. Martha Beck is a columnist for "Oprah" Magazine and a "life coach." I've read her column ocassionally,but never read her books. There is a self help book prior to this one called "Finding Your Own North Star". It doesn't seem necessary to read that one first though. I like her stories about clients she's had and I appreciate the knowledge she bring to the table. I did not fill out all of the worksheets in the book..it's a library book for god's sake! I like some of her psychological concepts like feeding your inner lizard, the ring of fire, backwards living contrarians, and the defense against the dark arts. I loved this quote by Gandhi she uses:

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall-think of it, always."

"Painting the Walls Red" by Judy Ford. I picked this book up at TJMaxx for a dollar! Yes, I'm over 40 so I qualify! Some of the chapters are: Creativity is a Miraculous Matter, Mourning Glory and Sacred Spaces, On not Taking yourself so Seriously" A quick fun read. I think I got my dollars worth!

"Change your Thoughts- Change your Life" by Wayne Dyer. I read this book slowly throught a long time period. There is much here. The subtitle is "Living the Wisdom of the Tao". He takes each verse of the "Tao Te Ching" by Lao-tzu and put an updated spin on it. There are 81 verses. Read it slow.

"A New Earth Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" by Eckhart Tolle. Who didn't read this book last year? I enjoyed it. I find it a bit hard to now look back at all of the craziness surrounding this book and to identify what it meant to me personally. Lots of talk about egos and overcoming it.

"At the Root of this Longing" by Carol Lee Flinders. A friend loaned me this book. It is a look at spirituality and women. There are two main concepts that I took away from this book. One is that change comes in a three-phase cycle: enclosure,magnification and emergence. Obviously a caterpillar to butterfly pictoral, but if you think about it deeply it is true. We all need private spaces to examine life and emerge with a new outlook. The other concept this book introduced to me was the three Islamic Gates: Is it True? Is it Kind? Is it Necessary? I find myself needing this filter system alot!