Elevated Existence April 2018 Spiritual and Self-Help Book Picks

Posted on by Tammy

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 March 2018. They are listed below in alphabetical order. Click on each title to go directly to Amazon and find out more about the book.

“Anxiety Happens: 52 Ways to Find Peace of Mind,” by John P. Forsyth PhD and Georg H. Elfert PhD
Building on the success of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, this quick reference guide offers fifty-two simple tools and strategies—one for each week of the year—based in proven-effective acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you break free from worry, fear and panic. In addition to “in-the-moment” tools for staying calm, you’ll learn about the underlying causes of your anxiety, why avoidance just doesn’t work, how to move past your negative inner voice, and how focusing on your values can help you move past anxiety and live a rich, meaningful life.

AUDIO: “Beditations: Guided Meditations and Rituals for Rest and Renewal,” by Latham Thomas
With Beditations, bestselling author, acclaimed wellness expert and voice of women’s empowerment, Latham Thomas, shows you how to reboot yourself with a complete audio program designed to help you get grounded, present and centered; sleep better; and recharge your physical, cognitive, and spiritual reserves.

Created for maximum benefit with minimal effort, this audio guide explains how to “punctuate your days and nights with ritual and a rhythm of moments to restore and heal.” Thomas leads listeners through rejuvenating meditations and practices, plus a wealth of proven “life hacks” to boost your health, mental clarity and productivity.

This information-rich learning experience features both healing daytime practices and calming nighttime sessions, each with Latham’s personal guidance. You’ll also learn best practices, nightly rituals, and many other ways to boost your physical and mental energies, optimism and productivity.

“Dodging Energy Vampires: An Empath’s Guide to Evading Relationships That Drain You and Restoring Your Health and Power,” by Christiane Northrup, M.D.
In Dodging Energy Vampires, Christiane Northrup, M.D., draws on the latest research, along with stories from her global community and her own life, to explore the phenomenon of energy vampires and show us how we can spot them, dodge their tactics, and take back our own energy. You’ll delve into the dynamics of vampire-empath relationships and discover how vampires use others’ energy to fuel their own dysfunctional lives. Once you recognize the patterns of behavior that mark these relationships, you’ll be empowered to identify the vampires in your life too. She also offers a toolbox of techniques to use to leave these relationships behind, heal from them and let your own light shine.

“In Conclusion, Don’t Worry About It,” by Lauren Graham
In this expansion of the 2017 commencement speech she gave at her hometown Langley High, Lauren Graham, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, reflects on growing up, pursuing your dreams, and living in the here and now.

“Whatever path you choose, whatever career you decide to go after, the important thing is that you keep finding joy in what you’re doing, especially when the joy isn’t finding you.”

Graham reminds us to be curious and compassionate, no matter where life takes us or what we’ve yet to achieve. Grounded and inspiring—and illustrated throughout with drawings by Graham herself—here is a comforting road map to a happy life.

“Kind is the New Classy: The Power of Living Graciously,” by Candace Cameron-Bure
Learning to stay true to herself with grace has been one of the biggest fights of Candace’s Cameron-Bure’s life. Known for her role on Full House, and her many Hallmark movies, she has learned the secret to it all is kindness. It’s classy, unexpected, even counter-cultural, and ultimately wins the day.

In Kind Is the New Classy, Candace reveals the thought patterns and practices that have empowered her to stay centered in who she is while practicing radical graciousness toward others. Whether you’re navigating major life choices, questions of calling and career, relationships, or personal goals, this book will show you how to keep your cool under pressure; respond to criticism with grace; stay grounded yet go places in life; stay true to who you are despite the expectations of others; stay centered in what ultimately matters the most; and more.

“Napoleon Hill’s Action Activities for Health, Wealth & Happiness,” by Napoleon Hill
It only takes a moment for each of us to realize that something needs to be changed. By taking positive action toward that change, the moment of our personal dedication can become an empowered movement! Many little actions soon add up to a lot. By letting little actions accumulate until they become too big to go unnoticed, we begin to change the world.

With contemporary commentary by Judith Williamson, the director of the Napoleon Hill World Learning Center, this book will guide you to live your own life, think your own thoughts, find your own goals, and achieve them by gaining power over your own mind. Simply by exercising this profound privilege, you can bring abundance into your life and with it know the greatest wealth of all peace of mind, without which there can be no real happiness.

Organized into short, easily digestible chapters complete with action activity prompts, this book is an interactive experience that can truly change the way you approach your success journey.

“This is How I Save My Life: From California to India, a True Story of Finding Everything When You Are Willing to Try Anything,” by Amy B. Scher
The true story of a fiery young woman’s heartwarming and hilarious journey that takes her from near-death in California to a trip around the world in search of her ultimate salvation. Along the way, she discovers a world of cultural mayhem, radical medical treatment, an unexpected romance, and, most importantly, a piece of her life she never even knew she was missing.

When Amy B. Scher was struck with undiagnosed late-stage, chronic Lyme disease, the best physicians in America labeled her condition incurable and potentially terminal. Deteriorating rapidly, she went on a search to save her own life — from the top experts in Los Angeles and the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis to a state-of-the-art hospital in Chicago. After exhausting all of her options in the US, she discovered a possible cure — but it was highly experimental, only available in India, and had as much of a probability of killing her as it did of curing her. Knowing the risks, Amy packed her bags anyway and flew across the world hoping to find the ultimate cure.

This Is How I Save My Life is a powerful and uplifting story of sheer determination for anyone who believes in–or doubts–the existence of miracles and self-healing when it seems like all hope is lost.

“Waking Up in Paris: Overcoming Darkness in the City of Light,” by Sonia Choquette
Devastated by the unexpected end of her decades-long marriage, renowned spiritual teacher and intuitive guide Sonia Choquette undertook an equally unexpected move and relocated to Paris, the scene of many happy memories from her life as a student and young mother. Arriving in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, she found a Paris as traumatized by this unforeseen event as she had been by her divorce. Together, over the following years, she and the city she loves began a journey of healing that involved deep soul-searching and acceptance of new, sometimes uncomfortable, reality.

In this follow-up to Walking Home, Sonia shares her intimate thoughts and fears, as well as the unique challenges of setting up a new life in a foreign land. From moving into a freezing, malodorous apartment, to a more pleasant—yet haunted—flat across the Seine, to her current light-filled home, Sonia shares how these changes parallel her inner transformation.

Along the way, Sonia regales readers with vivid stories of her unfortunate encounters with French hairdressers and beauticians, her adventures in French fashion, and her search for the perfect neighborhood café. Her companion throughout is the city of Paris—a character unto itself—which never ceases to fill her with wonder, surprise, and delight, and provides her with the spiritual strength to succeed in establishing her new life.

Elevated Existence September 2017 Spiritual and Self-Help Book Picks

Posted on by Tammy

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.

We created Elevated Existence Monthly Book Picks to help our readers narrow down their search, and make sure they don’t miss some great options!

Here are the picks for September 2017. They are listed below in alphabetical order. Click on each title to go directly to Amazon and find out more about the book.

“Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain and Body,” by Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson
Two New York Times–bestselling authors team up to unveil new research showing the truth about what meditation can really do for us and our brain, as well as exactly how to get the most out of it. The authors demonstrate the real payoffs from meditation are lasting personality traits that can result. But we need smart practice, including crucial ingredients such as targeted feedback from a master teacher and a more spacious, less attached view of the self — all of which are missing in widespread versions of mind training. They also reveal the latest data from Davidson’s own lab that point to a new methodology for developing a broader array of mind-training methods with larger implications for how we can derive the greatest benefits from the practice.

“Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone,” by Brene Brown
A timely and important new book that challenges everything we think we know about cultivating true belonging in our communities, organizations and culture, social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW, redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarization. Brown argues we’re experiencing a spiritual crisis of disconnection, and introduces four practices of true belonging that challenge everything we believe about ourselves and each other, offering the clarity and courage we need to find our way back. And that path cuts right through the wilderness. Brown writes, “The wilderness is an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching. It is a place as dangerous as it is breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared. But it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it’s the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand.”

“The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles that Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better, Too),” by Gretchen Rubin
During her multibook investigation into understanding human nature, Gretchen Rubin realized that by asking the seemingly dry question “How do I respond to expectations?” we gain explosive self-knowledge. She discovered that based on their answer, people fit into Four Tendencies: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers and Rebels. Our Tendency shapes every aspect of our behavior, so using this framework allows us to make better decisions, meet deadlines, suffer less stress and engage more effectively. More than 600,000 people have taken her online quiz, and managers, doctors, teachers, spouses, and parents already use the framework to help people make significant, lasting change. This book will help you get happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative because it’s far easier to succeed when you know what works for you.

“The Happiness Prayer: Ancient Jewish Wisdom for the Best Way to Live Today,” by Evan Moffic
Turning to an ancient instruction manual — a prayer for life composed 2000 years ago — Rabbi Evan Moffic shares 10 practices, any person of any faith can follow. The prayer has helped thousands of people-couples, teenagers, empty nd,esters struggling with loss, divorce, and ruptured relationships, find renewed meaning and purpose in their lives. But it’s not a typical prayer in that you just say it. It is an active prayer because you live it. The magic is not in the words. It is in the way you use the words to change yourself. You will discover those words in this book–and the ten life-changing practices it reveals.

“High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way,” by Brendon Burchard
After extensive original research and a decade as the world’s highest-paid performance coach, Brendon Burchard finally reveals the most effective habits for reaching long-term success. Based on one of the largest surveys ever conducted on high performers, it turns out that just six habits move the needle the most in helping you succeed. Adopt these six habits, and you win. Neglect them, and life is a never-ending struggle. Anyone can practice these habits and, when they do, extraordinary things happen in their lives, relationships, and careers. Whether you want to get more done, lead others better, develop skill faster, or dramatically increase your sense of joy and confidence, the habits in this book will help you achieve it. Each of the six habits is illustrated by powerful vignettes, cutting-edge science, thought-provoking exercises, and real-world daily practices you can implement right now.

“How to Own Your Mind,” by Napoleon Hill
Locked in a vault since 1941, “Think and Grow Rich” author Napoleon Hill’s definitive lesson on how to organize your thinking to attain success I found in the pages of this new book — a master class in how to think for success. In three chapters, Hill demonstrates how to organize, prioritize, and act on information so that it translates into opportunity. Knowledge is not power. Only applied knowledge is power. This book teaches you how to use what you know, and how to know what’s worth knowing.

“A Mind at Home with Itself: How Asking Four Questions Can Free Your Mind, Open Your Heart, and Turn Your World Around,” by Byron Katie
In her new book, spiritual teacher Byron Katie illuminates one of the most profound ancient Buddhist texts, The Diamond Sutra (newly translated in these pages by Stephen Mitchell) to reveal the nature of the mind and to liberate us from painful thoughts, using her revolutionary system of self-inquiry called “The Work.” She doesn’t merely describe the awakened mind — she empowers us to see it and feel it in action. It offers us a transformative new perspective on life and death.

“Own Your Glow: A Soulful Guide to Luminous Living and Crowning the Queen Within,” by Latham Thomas
Celebrity wellness and lifestyle guru, Latham Thomas provides soulful principles that offer an illuminated path for examining life’s challenges, helping you curate your path to greatness, while embracing your uniquely feminine attributes. Packed with rituals, meditations, and snackable lifestyle tips — combining spiritual, psychological, and self-reflective tools — Thomas provides a clear framework for harnessing your passion, developing spiritual fitness, and embracing true vulnerability. This guide is for anyone who wants to witness her own life transform and contribute to the positive change of the world around her.

“Practice You: A Journal,” by Elena Brower
When the way forward seems uncertain, where can we turn for guidance we can trust? For yoga luminary, meditation teacher, and artist Elena Brower, the answer has always been close at hand. “Whenever I’ve needed direction, strength, or centering, I’ve so often turned to my own journals. Why? Because many of the answers we seek are found within ourselves,” she says in the book. The author invites us to gather our own wisdom through writing, self-inquiry and reflection. Practice You is a portable sacred sanctuary to record our flashes of insight, find our ground, create and clarify our goals, and bear witness to our own evolution. With more than 150 beautiful pages of questions, teachings, inspiring imagery, and plenty of space to write, draw, and reflect, this journaling adventure guides us into nine compelling portals to our highest ways of living.

“Spiritual Graffiti: Finding My True Path,” by MC Yogi
Before he was one of the most well-known yoga teachers in North America and an international hip hop artist, MC YOGI was a juvenile delinquent who was kicked out of three schools, sent to live at a group home for at-risk youth, arrested for vandalism, and caught up in a world of drugs, chaos and carelessness. At 18, fate brought him to his first yoga class, and he devoted himself to the practice. From traveling to India to study with gurus to living and learning with many American yoga masters, MC YOGI soaked in the knowledge that would revolutionize his entire life and put him on the path to healing, wholeness, and peace. Through stories of graffiti and guns, mystics and musicians, love, loss, and finding his soul’s purpose, MC YOGI’s journey is saturated in spiritual wisdom, illuminating the potential for transformation within us all.