Books to make you Wonder

Reading is “my thing”, no surprise to my readers, but it would perhaps amaze you at how often the books that have influenced me the most have come to my in a seemingly haphazard way.  One of the very best books, and the first, simply fell into my hands at a really terrific used book store in downtown Calgary.  The cover, oddly, appealed to me.  The book, Sarah Ban Breathnach’s “Simple Abundance”.  It literally changed my perception of myself and put me on a path of gratitude and light.  It’s written as a daybook but it is also a step by step prompter to set your thinking straight.  I highly recommend this book as a wonderful first step in making your life and your thinking brighter.

The next book was one that was featured in Oprah magazine and recommended by Ellen de Generes “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz.  Again this is a book that releases you from a lot of grief by 4 simple agreements you make with yourself:

·         Be Impeccable With Your Word

·         Don’t Take Anything Personally

·         Don’t Make Assumptions

·         Always Do Your Best

“The Art of Being” by Dennis Merritt Jones again simply appealed to me on a book shelf at Chapters.  It was a simple cover but the title was what really appealed to me.  Since when was “being” an art form?  I simply had to read this one and again, profound it was.  Then along came John Maxwell’s little workbook “Jumpstart your Thinking” for a mere $6.99 at Costco.  A truly wonderful tool that can boost anyone’s thinking (and life and goals, and leadership and just so much more).  Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s “A Gift from the Sea” was also recommended by Maria Shriver in the Oprah magazine.  Another insightful book on woman’s role in the world and in her family.  Delightful.

Lastly Deepak Chopra’s book “How to Know God” was so inspirational and so profound that it has been a sustaining force in my life since reading it.  And how was I to know how much I was going to need all that inner hope and strength with his insights on the universe, the spirit world and God just a little over a year before I was diagnosed with cancer?

Many books affect me, intrigue me, please me, but these books were particularly powerful in directing me to a stronger inner life of reflection, gratitude and an appreciation for life and people.  I hope my readers may find something in them that is useful to them also.  Go on, take a chance at my recommendation.  J

“I like living.  I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.”  Agatha Christie