Books I love

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Bibliotherapy can be such a powerful resource for our personal growth, healing and development. I often recommend books in session and clients get a lot out of being able to talk through what they’ve read and learned. I’m a huge reader and appreciate it when clients pass on their recommendations to me too! Here are a few of the books I think belong in the “special” category.

  • Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World
    “In an increasingly polarized world, Pema shows us how to strengthen our abilities to find common ground, even when we disagree, and influence our environment in positive ways. Sharing never-before told personal stories from her remarkable life, simple and powerful everyday practices, and directly relatable advice, Pema encourages us all to become triumphant bodhisattvas–compassionate beings–in times of hardship”.
  • Man’s Search For Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust
    “A prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that both he and others in Auschwitz coped (or didn’t) with the experience. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their last piece of bread who survived the longest – and who offered proof that everything can be taken away from us except the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances. The sort of person the concentration camp prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not of camp influences alone. Frankl came to believe man’s deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. This outstanding work offers us all a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the art of living.”
  • Resilient: 12 Tools for transforming everyday experiences into lasting happiness
    “Rick Hanson, author of the New York Times bestselling Hardwiring Happiness, is known for his trademark blend of neuroscience, positive psychology and contemplative practices. In Resilient, he explains how to build the very foundations of well-being by harnessing the power of positive experiences to build an unshakeable core. Dr. Hanson poses that anyone can build up resilience, the key to a positive mindset, unshakeable sense of self and the ability to get back up again and withstand anything life throws your way.”
  • Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results 
    “Like most people who try to change and fail, I assumed that I was the problem. Then one afternoon—after another failed attempt to get motivated to exercise—I (accidentally) started my first mini habit. I initially committed to do one push-up, and it turned into a full workout. I was shocked. This “stupid idea” wasn’t supposed to work. I was shocked again when my success with this strategy continued for months (and to this day).”
  • Feeling Good Together
    “We all have people in our lives that we just can’t seem to get along with. Whether it’s our spouse, co-worker or neighbour, something about the relationship just rubs us up the wrong way, and though our natural instinct is to blame the other person, that can just make things worse. In Feeling Good Together, renowned US psychiatrist Dr David Burns applies his successful method of cognitive interpersonal therapy to teach us how to take control of our relationships”.
  • ACT With Love: Stop Struggling, Reconcile Differences, and Strengthen Your Relationship With Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
    “In ACT with Love, therapist and medical doctor Russ Harris shows couples how developing psychological flexibility-the ability to be in the present moment with openness, awareness, and focus, and to take effective action in line with one’s values-can help them build more compassionate, accepting, loving relationships.”
  • The Reality Slap: How to find fulfilment when life hurts
    “The ‘reality slap’ takes many different forms. Sometimes it is so violent it’s more like a punch: the death of a loved one, a serious illness, a major injury, a freak accident, a shocking crime, a disabled child, the loss of a job; bankruptcy, betrayal, fire, flood, divorce or disaster. Sometimes it’s a little gentler: envy, loneliness, resentment, failure, disappointment or rejection. But whatever form it takes, one thing’s for sure: it hurts! And most of us don’t deal with the pain very well. This book is based on a scientifically proven mindfulness-based approach called ‘Acceptance and Commitment Therapy’ (ACT). Within these pages, you will learn how to cope effectively when life hurts: not just how to survive, but how to thrive.”
  • Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist
    “Personal, revealing, funny, and wise, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone opens a rare window onto a world that is most often bound by secrecy, offering an illuminating tour of a profoundly private process.”
  • In Love with the World: What a Monk Can Teach You About Living from Nearly Dying
    “One of the most generous, beautiful, and essential books I’ve ever read – beautifully written, thoroughly engaging, so clear, so honest, so courageous and full of wisdom… This book has the potential to change the reader’s life forever.”
  • No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering
    “Thich Nhat Hanh acknowledges that because suffering can feel so bad, we try to run away from it or cover it up by consuming. We find something to eat or turn on the television. But unless we’re able to face our suffering, we can’t be present and available to life, and happiness will continue to elude us. Nhat Hanh shares how the practices of stopping, mindful breathing, and deep concentration can generate the energy of mindfulness within our daily lives. With that energy, we can embrace pain and calm it down, instantly bringing a measure of freedom and a clearer mind.”