When I started 2022 I only had one specific & measurable goal. I wanted to read more and remember the beauty of reading books. Well, initially I wanted to set a goal of reading 12 books, then I settled for 10 and actually read 8. And yes, I am pretty happy about that, even if I did not 100% reach this goal… I did remember how great reading is, and WOW 8 books is definitely better than what I would do without this intention.
While I am continuing with reading the next ones in 2023 (that hopefully will be reading-friendly too), I wanted to reflect on some main take-aways and reasons of reading the books I’ve read. And what they brought to my year.
1. Atomic Habits by James Clear
As my goal was to actually make reading a habit (which I did but did not manage to do), I thought that the best way to kick-start my reading is by a book about forming habits. Atomic Habits was exactly the book that people used to talk about time to time. And when is a better time for it than January? (well, whenever!)
I found the book very practical and actually enjoyed the easy (in theory) and logical approach toward creating a new positive or breaking a bad habit. From theory to examples. What still stays in my mind from this read is that we all can become 1% better every day by doing small changes consistently. To create a habit we should make them obvious, attractive, easy to do, and satisfying.
Like simply reading for 2 minutes… or just reading a page and then see if you feel like reading another one. (and usually you do!) The power of starting small for a lasting change.
And maybe this is how I actually continued with the rest of the books… page by page, day by day. (yes I skipped many but I never stopped)
2. Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown
This is visually one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read, and it is also truly emotionally touching. Well, it basically is an “Atlas” that goes inwards – into our human emotions and experiences. It touches the topic of Connection with self and others through emotions and suggests a language to better explain and communicate these emotions. It was a WOW to me since just recently I started to emotion-travel (is that a word?). Well, yeah, in Covid times this was more accessible than any other travel and therefore this book is truly a gift that everyone should be more open to receive after the rollercoaster of emotions we have all gone through.
The main quote I wrote down is: “When we sacrifice who we are, we not only feel separated from others, but we even feel disconnected from ourselves”. This opened my eyes to a lot and this is a book I would come back to. And if you are not a reader, please, watch the miniseries on HBO on this one. It’s like a Ted Talk-style series. They are awesome and Brené Brown is awesome!!! Makes me laugh about so much uncomfortable stuff. But if you are a reader – I suggest getting this book in a physical form – it is really eye-attractive!
I will come back to Brené Brown and the uncomfortable very soon.
3. The Ultimate Happiness Prescription by Deepak Chopra
It would be strange to not read a book that has “Happiness” in the title, would not it?
But to be honest I did not attempt to do that. This book came to me as a gift from my colleague Clara, as a medicine prescription almost… in a pretty low moment. Somewhere between being close to burnout, my birthday and my partner breaking his knee. It was a pretty bad point of the year so any reminders about a more joyful life were truly welcomed.
I have not read Deepak Chopra before but I was aware of his influence in the alternative medicine and spirituality.
My takeaway from this book:
- There are 2 realities – the present moment and current situation.
Your present inner state can be joyful and happy, no matter the outer reality.
4. Inner Engineering by SADHGURU
I remembered hearing about this book as a recommendation from one of the coaches. My intention was to also understand a little bit better the Yogi ideas and lifestyle, as I was practicing yoga on the side. There was something odd about this book but I truly enjoyed it.
It was deep and I think many things stayed a mystery to me at the end.
It talked a lot about the Body. Mind. Energy.
That the only way out is the way in. (it really stuck with me!) And that there is a space outside of our mind and body where we can allow ourselves to be.
There was a lot of miraculous (but obvious at the same time) reflections, almost impossible to explain. Like they must be felt and experienced.
There were some controversial (to today’s assumptions) but simple ideas that made me laugh and surprised me from time to time. Like the fact that instead of happiness and joy being a goal that we are trying to reach… it is actually essential to be able to live and achieve anything else. We must be joyful first. We are. We can be!
In a nutshell: reflective, practical and philosophical. Sometimes “foreign”. Uncovers some ideas of how yoga is present in life… but at times difficult to understand. Like engineering – kind of complicated while needs to be simple.
5. Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
Firstly, I am grateful I have discovered this author, researcher Brené Brown thanks to my friend Hilda. Awesome people share with you awesome things, this is how it is.
So I decided to read another of her books on a topic I never thought too much about – vulnerability. And uff, I do understand why we don’t talk and think about it. However, there is an interesting paradox reflected in this book:
“We want to experience vulnerability in others while we don’t want to be vulnerable ourselves”
It’s weird, isn’t it? Because Life is vulnerable! It really sucks. But the book was great! It gives you the hope to dare greatly despite things suck so much… as the only way to actually get over them is to share.
Another scary thing might be that this book talks a lot about another of the author’s favourite topics – shame! Now I know the difference between guilt and shame and I might save some future childhood traumas but create other ones (we are all flawed!). Well, enough of that. If you also agree that speaking about uncomfortable is actually healthy and healing – you will enjoy!
6. The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
I had very intentional and practical reasons to read this book.
I need to be honest – I did not like the way it was written (it was not my style at all) but I took a lot from this book straight into the practice. It felt like I was needing to read it to start appreciating my mornings more. So I actually implemented Miracle Mornings as part of my daily routine for around a month, and I still do take advantage from it.
Miracle morning offers a number of activities to practice before your day for your self-development. I won’t spoil more as you might want to read or watch a video about it. Being a nigh-owl is not an excuse. However, being more of a morning person might be one of the reasons that made me excited about this idea. I just needed the approval this book gave to me. Lame… but well, it worked! What actually worked for me was the simple idea of waking up earlier not for something but for MYSELF.
I liked that the ideas that were described were very flexible and easy to adapt to any schedule. I feel more like I could do miracle morning for the whole day if I did not have to do anything else (lol, similar as I would eat breakfast for every meal…) but that is a topic for another day.
P.S. This book does not require to follow 5AM club and not even 8AM club.
7. Awrignawl Creativity by Brian Tam
So the moment came when I got really tired of the heavy self-development stuff and all the mainstream bestsellers. Also known as end-of-the-year blues.
I wanted a visual and a different read for my miracle mornings and some inspiration. And here I found this book that I discovered on Instagram (classy!) I also knew from the very beginning that I want to give it as a gift to my friend Ineta. Of course, I was curious to read it myself first.
The truth is… I love art. And I come back to it from time to time, always. So everything that goes around creativity and its struggles and challenges – I feel that. Even if I don’t create as much as I could (of course, but let’s not start the drama here). This book is a great reflection & series of mini topics on creative process. Questioning – what the creativity actually is at the end of the day?
Some highlights of the book:
- “Thought leads to thought. Action leads to clarity.”
- Failing = entry ticket to success.
- Habit over mood.
- “Pulse moves the blood, Impulse moves the mind.”
It had lots of catchy phrases. Also, it is cool that you can just open it anywhere and read from there. It is this kind of a book to also be read creatively. Yay!
8. Mystic and the Secret of Happiness by Anne-Claire Szubaniska
December came, I got cozy, and I knew – it is time for a novel.
I was browsing Amazon and found this book by accident.
Well, if I see “Happiness” and a cat in one combination, I just take it as a sign.
And it was! I am SO grateful because, after all, I think this is my favourite read from them all. I am not even sure why (I might be biased as it was the last one and my memory still recalls it so well) but it came at the very right moment (another low point).
Its message and storytelling really clicked with me. I almost felt like a child, at the same time, the message of this book is profound. It is about the mind that speaks to us in many negative ways. It is about how to find internal happiness and make it speak louder than anything else, to find the power of intuition.
It is about friendships, love, self-care and fear. It is a very sweet read, easy and entertaining, and also very honest and relatable. At least it was to me.
A beautiful story.
And a challenging journey – to always work on oneself.
So here we are 2023 – I guess this is what we can all continue doing.
If I need to summarise, these books brought me hope, joy, happiness, entertainment, wisdom and a bit of discipline. They also brought me a bit of pride as I know that reading is feeding our brain. Even if many things fade away with time, I think every book influences us in a way. Therefore, I am carrying these takeaways to my next journey. And hope to remember the magic of reading in this one too!
Magic – that is what it will all be about this year. The magical 2023.
