Inspirational Must Reads

Just to start your week off right,  the top 6 inspirational reads that have really made an impact on me in case you want to pick one of them up.

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz

It is a beautiful book of toltec wisdom. What are the 4 agreements:
1. Be impeccable with your word
2. Don’t take anything personally
3. Don’t make assumptions
4. Always do your best.

Great life lessons to live your life more centered and without less troubles.

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle 

A great book that summarizes the notion of living in the present and being ok with where you are. It was transformational for me, and I think a lot of people. Oprah called it “the most important she’s ever chosen for her book club”. It expresses that living fully in the present (in the now) is the key to happiness and enlightenment. The key to the book is not only the idea, which is repeated in many ideologies, but the great ways of implementing practices into your everyday life.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I read this over 15 years ago, and I still remember how much I liked it and the effect it had on me. Some great quotes:

• “One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”
• “The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
• “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
• “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
• “I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.”

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Like the Alchemist, I read this in high school and it still holds a strong place in my heart. I once posted in a daily roundup, the celebration of Gibran by another great author, Paulo Coelho in his blog, and I’m linking it here as well.

Some great quotes:

• “An eye for an eye, and the whole world would be blind.If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you  injure him you will always remember.”
• “Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are the eternity and you are the mirror.”
• “I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers”

The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz

 

Another book by Miguel Ruiz, a true exploration on relationships, the differences between them, how not all things need to be the same and how societies stereotypes and expectations on them should be put to the side.

 By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: A Novel of Forgiveness By Paulo Coelho

 

I dont fully remember the intricate details of story, but I remember how much I loved it! (another one read many years ago). This is one I will pick up again soon for a re-read!

A nice quote:

“You have to take risks, he said. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us the sun–and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven’t perceived that moment, that it doesn’t exist–that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. But that moment exists–a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.”

Any books that marked you that I should be reading? Have you read any of these? What do you think?