Hey guys!
Welcome back to Lavendaire.
It's Aileen.
This year I've been getting back into my reading habits.
I've been reading every single day on Kindle and also listening to books on Audible.
So I think I'm going through two books at once
because I like one book that I can listen to and one that I can read in the evenings.
Today I wanted to share a few books that you should read in 2019.
These are just some of my favorite books that I've read in the past,
books that have changed my life in some way or have just brought so much value to my life.
I'm going to separate them by category so,
depending on what you're looking for, you can find the right match for you.
The first category is: Soul.
The first book that I'll recommend is called "The Untethered Soul" by Michael A. Singer.
This is a book that will help you see that you are not your mind,
and it helps you detach yourself from this mind that just thinks nonstop.
I know sometimes we tend to overthink or sometimes let your thoughts dictate how you feel.
This book will help you make that distinction between what is the true you,
the true consciousness and awareness behind everything on the outside.
And it will help you find more inner peace and calm.
It's really an eye-opening and life-changing one,
especially if you've never read any books related to spirituality
and things that will talk about your soul and your ego in that way.
The next book in the Soul category I love to recommend is called
"A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle.
This is one of Oprah's favorite books as well.
Anything by Eckhart Tolle is actually an amazing book to read, in regards to spirituality.
But A New Earth, specifically, is a book to help you distinguish what your ego is,
and how to tell whether it's your ego or whether it's your soul
that's sending you these thoughts and feelings.
In short, the ego tends to operate on fear.
The ego tends to always want more, more, more, more.
It's never satisfied.
And the soul is the part of you that's the true part of you that is good,
is perfect, is in harmony, is invincible, and the purest part of you.
That's the part that we want to hone and be able to feel every day
and bring out into the world every day, rather than being the victim of our ego.
A lot of people tend to operate based on their ego, based on fear or those ego desires,
and this book will really help you see what that ego looks like.
It really gives you all the ways and all the descriptions, and it's a pretty in-depth book.
I remember it was kind of hard to read through that book.
That's why I recommend The Untethered Soul first, and after you read that,
maybe you can read A New Earth, because it's more detailed reading.
But it's really good stuff – highly recommend both of those books.
The next category is: Business,
and I recommend "Crushing It" by Gary Vaynerchuk.
This is a book that was written last year.
I just listened to it on Audible and I thought there was so many good nuggets of wisdom
and good practical information there, especially for the modern entrepreneur.
When I say "modern", I mean anybody trying to do business in this digital, social media age.
Anyone looking to be an influencer or learning more about this whole digital space
should listen to this book, or read this book: Crushing It by Gary V.
The book is full of success stories on people who built their business from scratch.
And as someone who is in this space, listening to this book, I still learned a few new things.
But it was mostly just really inspiring and encouraging for me
to keep going in my journey and push me to always innovate,
always learn new things, try new things, always expand and grow,
because sometimes you can get pretty complacent
or you could be doing the same things for too long
and not realize that there are people out there
who are really giving it their all doing new things.
The digital landscape is always changing
so I always recommend reading a book, just being in the know.
This is a really good one to look into.
Alright, the next category is: Love.
I don't mean romance, I mean books that will make you feel with your heart.
The first one is called "A Return to Love" by Marianne Williamson.
This is a classic book.
It is older, but it is just so deep.
When you read it, your mind will be like [whoosh] a few times,
because it shifts your whole perspective and turns your perspective to love.
And I don't know, I just think we need more of that energy in the world
which is why I will constantly, constantly recommend this book
because I think more people need to be able to see the world
through the eyes of love and be able to bring more love into the world.
That is like the most important thing we need in society,
so I will always recommend that book.
Definitely read it: A Return to Love, Marianne Williamson.
The next book in this Love/Heart category is "The Wisdom of Sundays" by Oprah Winfrey.
This one, I listened to on Audible because it's actual interviews of Oprah and other people,
whether she brought them onto her show, or something like that.
It was nice because it wasn't just someone reading a book to you.
It was actually real conversations.
So it's kind of like an extended podcast, I would say.
But it was really, really good, filled with amazing guests and snippets of stories
that will inspire you, heart-wrenching stories,
and also stories that will lift you up make you want to do better in the world.
I love Oprah, I love her energy.
And sometimes, you just need that motherly loving energy into your life,
and in those times, I'll either listen to her audiobook
or just read a page off of her book "What I Know For Sure".
The next category is: Creativity, and I recommend any book by Steven Pressfield.
His classic, most popular book is "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield.
But I know some of you out there might have read it before,
because I have recommended it before.
I mostly recently read his new book, "The Artist's Journey".
That one was interesting, but it wasn't as ground-breaking
as The War of Art or even Turning Pro.
So yeah, I recommend any of those books.
If you're a creative, then these books will change the way that you create.
It will change your mindset, because you'll learn that procrastination
and fear is just resistance, and resistance is the thing that keeps you from doing your work.
It keeps you from creating.
Reading this book and kind of breaking down resistance will help you learn how to defeat it.
That is the war of art.
As an artist, you're always at war with yourself, with your resistance.
And the secret to just doing work, is doing it.
I know, it sounds so simple but in the book, he breaks it down.
It's really wow, it helps you see things in a new perspective.
It's just so helpful.
It'll make you feel more productive as a creative.
Alright, the last category is: Society & Culture,
and I'm going to recommend the book "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari.
Not sure if I pronounced his name right,
but this is like the ultimate book on the history of humankind.
If you love to learn about humans, society, how we behave,
why we do what we do, our history, all of that, this is the book to read.
It's a widely popular book.
It's been recommended everywhere, so many times, for a good reason,
because in one book you can understand everything:
where humans came from, the trends, the movement,
the revolutions that we have gone through as human beings
in our very, very short time on this earth.
And it gives you a sense of where we might be heading.
It's just very interesting.
I actually started reading this book a year ago, and it was a pretty long book,
so I think during the middle I got tired and I was like,
"Ugh, I feel like I'm never going to finish this book,"
so I just started reading another one.
But this year I'm like,
"You know what, I'm going to go back and finish reading this book,"
because it is really interesting.
It just takes patience to get through.
But I would say that it is worth it,
so if you're interested in humans and all of that history, read this book: Sapiens.
Alright, that's it for my recommendations in this video.
I will link more favorite books down below
so you can check out my whole library of books that I have read and loved.
Let me know what are your recommendations for books down below
because I need more book recs all the time.
I mean, I have a long list of books that I'd like to read, but the way that I do it is:
After I finish a book, I just look through my list
and whatever title pops out for me, I'm like, "Hm, I'll try that book."
So I'd love to build my list, so totally send me your recs.
Thank you so much, and I will see you guys in the next one.
Bye!