I know it may feel like Groundhog Day, but summer is here and I thought it would be fitting if I shared some interesting books to read. Books that will personally help you develop during these times. These particular books changed my life and opened my eyes to a new world. They are classic and timeless and have some backstories as to how I found them.
I’ve always been interested in spirituality. As a child my parents didn’t have a strong spiritual foundation, we only attended Christian church when it was holiday season or a special family occasion. Religion never made sense to me, the pastor was boring and I’d fall asleep during service. My parents did most of it for show. The word church to me meant fall asleep for an hour. It just didn’t make any sense and when I would ask them questions about it they would tell me I was being disrespectful, or that they didn’t know, it is what it is.
As I was becoming a young adult (around 18 or 19) I started questioning everything. You see, I was born a disruptor, a curious cat, one that always questioned authority and marched to the beat of my own drum. The world never fully made sense to me and the parental figures that I had in my home were very impatient and had no answers to back up their belief systems. It was always, “that’s the way it is, so deal with it.”
I literally had to figure out everything on my own. By the time I finished high school, I had no idea how to apply for college, or what an SATs purpose was, so this were the cards I was dealt. Yes, it was that bad and yes, I did go to college and got my B.A. (it took me 7 years to do it but hey, we all learn on our own time). One day, I was looking through my mom’s mini library. It was a barrage of books she had but never read. I happened to find this book (I will never forget this) called, “The Magic of Thinking Big” by David Schwartz. It was a ratty book. I took it to my room and when I started reading it something happened. It was like my body just awoke, I was jolted. The book was written in 1959. And it still made sense to me that day. I loved it so much I wanted to find Mr. Schwartz and hug him, write him a letter, but he was long dead by then. I was so elated that I kept that book with me everywhere I went.
I kept it close to me because it felt like the truth and made me feel safe. To give you a short version of it, it’s basically a book about how to master your subconscious mind. That was my very first experience with reading about the law of attraction before it was a thing. A spiritual seed was planted and despite my ups and downs in life, it was always fertilizing for me to be who I am today.
Now I’m not going to tell you that everything in my life magically came together after that book. I had to go thru it honey. I’ll be transparent with you, I had a stint at the Christian church (God bless it) after I had a bad (my first ever) trip on LSD. I believe I was about 20-21 years old and I scared myself so bad that I felt Jesus was the answer (praise Him). So, I learned a lot about Christianity on my own and went to church heavily because I needed something to set me straight. I was all over the place and had no support and this was a void filler I needed to feel somewhat grounded and with direction. I felt so compelled at one point in my life that I wanted to travel the world and spread the news about Jesus. I was even considering going to a Christian college in order to gain the words and wisdom to convert the world. I was hooked I wanted to preach. Well, that ended quick because the church I was going to at that time looked at me as if I was crazy. The pastor’s wife said, “honey, you can’t do that. You can’t preach the word to others and become a pastor, you are a woman. There are reasons behind this.” My disruptor self immediately said, “get out of this place ASAP.” And I did. Just as fast as I got in, I got out. I was not trying to hear her reasoning either. No questions asked, I just left. I’m not going to lie, I was sad and distraught, my safe space felt safe no more. Everything had crumbled.
When I got to college, everything changed. I had a teacher who gave us a book report assignment. She gave us a list of New Age books to read, we had to pick one and talk about it in a month. Well there was one that stuck out to me and that was a book called, “Conversations with God,” by Neale Donald Walsch. This was another AHA! moment for me in my life.
It’s about a man (Mr. Walsch) and his quest to find God. Searching for answers one night he decided to start writing. Something came over him and God starts taking over his pen, he started giving him answers to his deep questions through him writing and started channeling God through a pen. A lot of the knowledge and information that he writes in the book he said he had no knowledge of ever in his life. The words that he wrote were words that he’d never even consider thinking about. It’s a very interesting read. This book also changed my life for the better. I began to live more fearlessly, and became more open to experiences. I also started to try to talk to God on my own through writing and at times it worked but other times it went flat. But none the less the lessons that I gained from that book I will cherish forever.
About 10 years later, my parents had joined some type of marketing program that required them to learn about personal development. They were heavily into a lot of self-help books and randomly suggested I read “Think and Grow Rich.” It ended up becoming one of my all-time favorite books. I liked it so much that I got one of the chapter titles tattooed on my wrist (persistence). Although the stories are a little outdated, it was written in 1937, there’s wisdom in it that still holds true to this day. It’s about 13 principles that should be mastered in order to create the life that you want. Hill can be considered a forefather of the self-development industry.
These books opened my eyes, planted the seeds, these were the starter points for me into my awakening. Some of them you can even download it for free! My life experience thus far is quite a story and I was fortunate to come across these books as a guiding light in my journey.
What are some books you would recommend and what are you currently reading? Let me know your suggestions, I love to read new books!