I was asked this recently and promised to share. I’ll keep it simple and to the point…just a few reads that have made a difference to me and might to you, too. Feel free to add to the list below…
A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield
A wonderful manual for deep meditation practice. His “choose the one seat” lesson sticks with me (choose one style of meditation or practice and just stick with it…because the style doesn’t matter, it’s the doing it part that does).
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
Sublime…the kind of thing that Lada Gaga gets tattooed on her arm. Insights like this: “I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other.” Word.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Somehow this guy just nails the whole “oneness” concept better than anyone else. If you’re after a starting point or a refresher, this is your book. I refer back to it from time to time, opening it to where it naturally falls and reading a page. I finally got the beauty of the “present moment” with this exercise. He instructs you to ask yourself “what’s the issue right now?”. Not tomorrow, not in 30 minutes, not in 1 minute, not in one second from now. What’s the issue right now. Of course, you find yourself realising that there is no issue in the present. You just can’t conjure one. Only in the past and the future are there issues.
Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
When I was 21 going through a rough time, a stranger gave me a copy of this book. Out of the blue. It taught me how to do walking meditation. It’s a small book. Makes a great gift. And I really do recommend trying walking meditation.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
I wrote on this recently. You can learn what I took from this marvelous book here.
What must-read spiritual guides (not too much woo-woo!) do you swear by?
