pontificates, Pooh just is.”
I learned the importance of
not knowing everything and
trusting my inner nature.
And to simply allow what is.
#2: The Gift of Change:
Spiritual Guidance for Living
Your Best Life by Marianne
Williamson
Next to the Tao of Pooh, this
is my second most dog-eared,
underlined, and asterisked
book. Since 2005, the gift of
change I’ve probably read it
at least 12 times and I get something new out of it each time I read it.
One of my favorite passages leaps off the page every time I read it:
“Each of us is the center of the universe. Everything we experience is happening inside us, not outside. At the deepest level, there is no world outside us. The world as we know it is a manifest projection of our thought
forms, no more and no less. It is
thought up, and it is thought up by each
of us.”
Kind of heady but sit with that for a
moment.
Mind. Blown.
#3: The Four Agreements by Don
Miguel Ruiz
This book found its way into my life at
exactly the right moment. My marriage
was going to hell in a handbasket and I remember reading this book out loud to
my first husband as we both tried to
prevent the inescapable wreck. Within
the pages of this book and the wisdom Ruiz imparts, I knew that the lies I was telling myself had to stop.
The first agreement compels us to be Impeccable With Our Word for “we have learned to lie as a habit of communication with others and more importantly with ourselves.”
Shazam. Bingo. My first husband and I had been lying to each other and to ourselves for months and yes, years, leading up to our divorce.
The second agreement teaches each of us not
to take things personally.
I knew about my husband’s affair and for the
longest time, I thought it was about me – I wasn’t pretty enough,
good enough, or whatever enough. Truth was, his affair had more to do with his *stuff* than me.
The third agreement teaches us to quit making assumptions and ask questions.
Assumptions set us up for suffering and failure! I no longer expect people to know what I want and in return I let them know I failed mind
reading school so if there’s something they need from me, they need to let me know rather than assume that I
*should* know.
The fourth agreement teaches us to simply do our best – no more and no less.
When you’re honest with yourself and you know you’ve done your best there is “no way
you can judge yourself.”
And let’s face it … quieting the judge and jury
inside your head is a very, very good thing.
#4: Divine Intuition: Your Inner Guide to Purpose, Peace, and Prosperity by Lynn Robinson
Page after page of inspiration, Divine Intuition delivers on all levels. From tapping into your internal knower to
working through your deepest fears, Robinson layers wise quotes, journal exercises and her own insight onto every page.
In the midst of my own misery, Robinson reminded me that my mind “can only hold one thought at a time. Make it a positive and constructive one.” She also reminded me that as long as I maintained a negative mindset, I would continue to create my own negative outcomes.
The only person who could change my circumstances was me.
And that change came from within. Not from me trying to change my outside world.
48 | ElementsForAHealthierLife.com | December 2016