Books for Moving Forward

Over the past few months I’ve been in a period of transition that has required a lot of self-discovery and healing. Nearing the end of last year I was having a difficult time concentrating on anything, especially my work. I felt stuck and overwhelmed and I was honestly scared that I would never be able to function on the level I had been prior to this. So, because I love reading and it was the only thing my brain could handle at the time, I decided to pick up a self-help book (which I haven’t done in YEARS) and I ended up reading a bunch of them. Something cool happened as I was reading; I started noticing a significant shift in my perspective on both my present circumstances and my future. I was starting to come back to myself a little bit each day and I began feeling empowered to make the choice to live a life that I would be excited to wake up to. I was able to reframe my thinking from negative thoughts to feeling positive about the potential opportunities this new direction could present me with. I actually started feeling excited about life again! Because everyone goes through significant and unplanned changes in their lives, I wanted to share a few of the books that helped me find my motivation to keep moving forward.

FOR MOVING ON FROM A LOSS…

When You’re Ready, This is How You Heal

by Brianna Wiest

If you’re going through some kind of loss in your life whether it’s a friendship, a job, an opportunity, a relationship or losing someone you love – this book is for you. It’s full of gentle reminders that even through painful experiences, life is full of beauty. It will help you shift your focus from negative thoughts to positive outcomes. And you’ll start to see that whatever it is you’re going through, you can learn and become stronger from it all. This book will actually help you heal.

“When you feel strong enough to look at what’s wrong, you begin to unearth your soul. It was always there. It was just buried under years and layers of identities and styles and beliefs and ideas that had adhered themselves to you like a shield. You were never lost. You were only hidden. All the time you spent feeling so uncomfortable was just your deepest self trying to speak to you, trying to remind you of its presence. It was only the core of you saying: Keep going. There is more to life than this.” – Brianna Wiest, When You’re Ready, This is How You Heal

FOR LIVING OUT YOUR DREAMS…

Manifest: 7 Steps to Living Your Best Life

by Roxie Nafousi

This one approaches manifestation in a way that isn’t just about visualizing your best self - but also stresses that you have to actually do the work, which is where a lot of people misunderstand what it’s all about. The manifesting piece is letting go of limiting beliefs, practicing gratitude for what you have and being really clear on what you want. Then, you put in the work required to get there, you have healthy habits and boundaries in place, all while practicing self love and acceptance. If you’re at the stage of your life where you feel stuck but you’re wanting to step into your full potential, this one is for you.

“To step into your power and to really shift your energy to attract the abundance you deserve, you must start behaving in a way that is aligned with the most empowered version of yourself and not the version of you that has been limited by fear and doubt.” – Roxie Nafousi, Manifest: 7 Steps to Living Your Best Life

FOR LETTING GO OF THE PAST…

The Mountain is You

by Brianna Wiest

Not going to lie, I read all of Brianna Wiest’s books within a week because I loved the first one I mentioned so much. This one deals with self-sabotaging behaviours and how to navigate and overcome them. Empowering yourself by recognizing and healing the parts of you that you’re holding onto from the past is the main focus. You’ll come away from it with a more clear understanding on how to stop resisting who you truly are, how to let go of the past and how to embrace and nurture your most authentic self.

“Your new life is going to cost you your old one. It’s going to cost you your comfort zone and your sense of direction. It’s going to cost you relationships and friends. It’s going to cost you being liked and understood. It doesn’t matter. The people who are meant for you are going to meet you on the other side. You’re going to build a new comfort zone around the things that actually move you forward. Instead of being liked, you’re going to be loved. Instead of being understood, you’re going to be seen.” – Brianna Wiest, The Mountain is You

FOR HEALING A BROKEN HEART…

Everything You’ll Ever Need: You Can Find Within Yourself

by Charlotte Freeman

Reading a few pages of this book to start my day helped me feel more grounded and at peace with my life circumstances. This one is more poetry than self-help, but it reads as both. It’s full of beautiful reminders that your life is unfolding exactly as it’s meant to even if it feels impossible to see that. It will remind you to see the most difficult times in your life as the best learning experiences and that you are strong and capable of moving forward.

“Remind yourself that your life can turn out differently than how you thought it would and still be better than you could have ever imagined.” – Charlotte Freeman, Everything You’ll Ever Need: You Can Find Within Yourself

FOR LIVING MORE AUTHENTICALLY…

The Four Agreements

by Miguel Ruiz

This book is an invitation to change the way you move through your life. The Four Agreements are: be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions and always do your best. It will wake you up to ideas about self-limiting beliefs and what it means to live each day with ease and unconditional love for yourself and other people. I think everyone can benefit from reading this regardless if they are going through a big change or not.

“To be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive—the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans. We have learned to live our lives trying to satisfy other people’s demands. We have learned to live by other people’s points of view because of the fear of not being accepted and of not being good enough for someone else.” – don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

Challenges are going to happen in your life whether you’re prepared for them or not, so it’s worthwhile to learn what you can from them. You’ll become more resilient each time and your life will start to flow with ease. You will become better equiped to accept the duality of life; that it can be both beautiful and painful simultaneously. So, whether you’re going through a big change or a small one, I hope these books help you to move forward like they did for me.