Each month, a ton of new spiritual and self-help books hit the market. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or miss out on some new releases.
I created Elevated Existence Monthly Book Picks to help narrow down your search, and make sure you don’t miss some great options!
Here are the picks for December 2017. They are listed below in alphabetical order. Click on each title to go directly to Amazon and find out more about the book.
“15 Minutes to Happiness: Easy, Everyday Exercises to Help You Be the Best You Can Be,” by Richard Nicholls
Written by the creator of the UK’s No. 1 self-help podcast, “Motivate Yourself,” with over 5 million downloads, “15 Minutes to Happiness,” offers the ability to feel happier and more fulfilled even when you feel like you don’t have time to focus on yourself. In practice as a registered psychotherapist, Richard Nicholls specializes in offering effective solutions to real-life problems, and in this book he shares short, simple exercises, no longer than 15 minutes, to integrate into your day that are proven to help with happiness and wellbeing. Learn how the smallest of changes to our thoughts, lifestyle and interaction with others can dramatically improve our lives.
“The Awakened Dreamer: How to Remember and Interpret Your Dreams,” by Kala Ambrose
Our dreams can be an important part of decision-making, relationships, and problem-solving, and this book shows readers how to strengthen the connection between our conscious and unconscious self, helping us achieve our goals and discover valuable insight. Readers will explore dreams and sleep phenomena of all kinds, including recurring, prophetic, teaching, visitation, lucid, nightmare, daydream, sleep-walking and sleep talking. The book offers exercises, guided meditations, example dreams, and instructions for creating one’s own symbol guide, and learn how to combine daydreams with powerful visualizations that can be channeled into nightly dreams, allowing us to manifest our desires into reality.
“Believe and Receive: Use the 40 Laws of Nature to Attain Your Deepest Desires,” by Melissa Alvarez
The universe wants you to achieve everything you desire in life, and with this practical book’s guidance, you can. This powerful reference book examines 40 natural laws of the universe through a realistic approach to help you see the opportunities in any situation and work with intention toward your goals. There is a chapter dedicated to each natural law, providing description and history, and associated affirmation, useful application tips, and exercises. Once you learn how to properly combine your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and expectations with positive energy, you’ll grow spiritually and live a successful, abundant life.
“Believe It to Achieve It: Overcome Your Doubts, Let Go of the Past & Unlock Your Full Potential,” by Brian Tracy and Christina Stein, Ph.D.
Letting go of negative thoughts is one of the most important steps to living a successful, fulfilling life, but also often the most difficult. In this practical, research-based guide, bestselling authors Brian Tracy and psychotherapist Christina Stein present their “Psychology of Achievement” program to help you identify and overcome detrimental patterns and ideas preventing you from achieving your goals or feeling happy and satisfied in your life. Whether this negativity stems from a past relationship that ended badly, a childhood trauma, a business or career failure, or general insecurity, Tracy and Stein help you recognize how conscious — and more oftentimes unconscious — negativity affects your personality, your outlook and your decisions. You will also learn how to regain control of your thoughts, feelings, and actions, turn negatives into positives, and learn to accept unexpected life changes without falling back into old negative patterns.
“Just Sit: A Meditation Guidebook for People Who Know They Should But Don’t,” by Sukey and Elizabeth Novogratz
From the cofounders of this meditation guidebook includes an eight-week plan for busy novices to help even the busiest would-be meditator incorporate this practice into their lifestyle and enjoy its many physical and emotional benefits. In this approachable and visually engaging beginner’s guide, the authors offer a hands-on look at what meditation really is, what is does, and how to do it, with a blend of information and instruction. And it includes advice on how to combat awkwardness, understand the physical and emotional benefits of meditation, show readers how to find those precious minutes to meditate every day, and more.
“Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How to Book,” by Dan Harris
ABC News anchor Dan Harris had a panic attack on live television, and as a result, turned to meditation, which he chronicled in his book “10% Happier.” In this new book, he and his friend Jeff Warren embark on a cross-country quest to tackle the myths, misconceptions and self-deceptions that stop people from meditating. They rent a rock-star tour bus and travel across 18 states, talking to scores of would-be meditators — including parents, military cadets, police officers, and even a few celebrities. They create a taxonomy of the most common issues (“I suck at this,” “I don’t have the time,” etc.) and offer up science-based life hacks to help people overcome them.
“Sacred Powers: The Five Secrets to Awakening Transformation,” davidji
Award-winning author of Secrets of Medtiation and destressifying, meditation teacher and stress management expert davidji offers his five time-tested secrets to awakening transformation so you can ground yourself, gain clarity, make life-affirming decisions, step into your power, own your impact, and soar. The wisdom of nature teaches us that we are never stuck—even if it feels we have strayed far from the path that we had envisioned. This moment is a defining moment. This is the time we can make the most powerful decision of our life. We can plant the seeds of a new direction and use our thoughts, words, and actions to ripple them into a magnificent journey back to wholeness and ultimately our dream life.
“Soulful Simplicity: How Living With Less Can Lead to So Much More,” by Courtney Carver
Learn to use the power of simplicity to improve health, build more meaningful relationships and relieve stress in professional and personal lives in this new book where author Courtney Carver shares how a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) caused her to change her life. Stress became like gasoline on the fire of her symptoms and she realized she needed to root out the physical and psychological clutter that were the source of her debt and discontent. In this book, she shows how to pursue practical minimalism so we can create more with less — more space, more time, and even more love. Carver invites us to look at the big picture, discover what’s most important to us, and reclaim lightness and ease by getting rid of all the excess things.
“The Two Most Important Days: How to Find Your Purpose — and Live a Happier, Healthier Life,” Sanjiv Chopra & Gina Vild
What are the two most important days in your life? “The day you are born and the day you find out why,” Mark Twain famously wrote. The search for happiness is hardwired in our DNA. It transcends age, gender, geography, vocation, and personal circumstances. But how do you achieve it? Through inspirational storytelling, scientific evidence, practical advice, captivating exercises and poetry, Dr. Sanjiv Chopra and Gina Vild present a powerful message that shows you how to achieve happiness no matter the challenges and stumbling blocks you face along the way. They also reveal the best way to be happy: Discover and live your life’s purpose. The book offers a path to discovering it by illuminating the value of gratitude, forgiveness, meditation, music, friendship and so much more. It will set you on the right path and spark sustained happiness, joy and bliss.
“Waking Up in Winter: In Search of What Really Matters at Midlife,” by Cheryl Richardson
Internationally recognized coach and New York Times bestselling author Cheryl Richardson has toured the world empowering others to make lasting change. But when Richardson’s own life no longer worked as it once had, a persistent, inner voice offered unmistakable guidance: it was time to reevaluate her life to uncover what really mattered. Her newest book is the candid and revelatory account of how at midlife, Richardson found renewed contentment and purpose through a heroic, inward journey.
With an experienced coach’s intuition and an artist’s eye, Richardson reexamines everything – her marriage, her work, her friendships, and her priorities – gracefully shedding parts of the self that no longer serve along the way. In the end, she not only discovers what really matters at midlife, she invites readers to join her in the inquiry process by providing thought-provoking questions designed to usher them through their own season of transformation.