If you’ve been to my office, you know I have a thing for books.
Some may call it an addiction, I prefer to call it a passionate love story — complete with illumination, complication, longing, confusion, belonging, clarity, desire and, of course, love.
There are many classic inspirational books that have guided my life and filled my heart.
There are some less well-known but equally nourishing books in my collection. I’ve picked my favorites for living, healing, creating and loving.
This is part 1 of a 5 part series.
The Classics
“My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky.” Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.”
“No matter what your age or your life path, whether making art is your career or your hobby or your dream, it is not too late or too egotistical or too selfish or too silly to work on your creativity.”
Women, Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything
“To discover what you really believe, pay attention to the way you act — and to what you do when things don’t go the way you think they should. Pay attention to what you value. Pay attention to how and on what you spend your time. Your money. And pay attention to the way you eat.”
“We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.”
Women Who Run With the Wolves“Love in its fullest form is a series of deaths and rebirths. We let go of one phase, one aspect of love, and enter another. Passion dies and is brought back. Pain is chased away and surfaces another time. To love means to embrace and at the same time to withstand many endings, and many many beginnings- all in the same relationship.”
A Course In Miracles“The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all encompassing can have no opposite.”
The Power of Now“Love is not selective, just as the light of the sun is not selective. It does not make one person special. It is not exclusive. Exclusivity is not the love of God but the “love” of ego.”
“When [what you are deeply passionate about, what you can be best in the world at and what drives your economic engine] come together, not only does your work move toward greatness, but so does your life. For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life.”
“We waste so much energy trying to cover up who we are when beneath every attitude is the want to be loved, and beneath every anger is a wound to be healed and beneath every sadness is the fear that there will not be enough time. When we hesitate in being direct, we unknowingly slip something on, some added layer of protection that keeps us from feeling the world, and often that thin covering is the beginning of a loneliness which, if not put down, diminishes our chances of joy.”
“Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized.”
Rumi is still always personal favorite.
“Soul, if you want to learn secrets,
your heart must forget about
shame
and dignity.
You are God’s lover,
yet you worry
what people
are saying.”
The Five Love Languages“Real love” – “This kind of love is emotional in nature but not obsessional. It is a love that unites reason and emotion. It involves an act of the will and requires discipline, and it recognizes the need for personal growth.”
Coming up — the less-well known books that grace my shelf ::
10 books that could deepen how you live 6 books that could deepen how you heal 6 books that could deepen how you create 10 books that could deepen how you loveWhen it comes to books, I could go on and on {which is why I’ve limited myself to five posts}, but I’d rather hear from you.
Which books nourish your soul and guide your life?
