My Top 10 Inspirational Reads part 1

In response to a comment left by one of our readers, Mark, I decided to put together yet another “Top 10″ list. Now, as cheesy as I find MOST top 10 lists, especially if they have to do with health and come from sources like Yahoo! News, MSN, or my all-time favorite, Good Morning America that insist that the “Top 10 Healthiest Breakfast Choices” are whole-grain, sugar filled cereals, I’ve become a bit weary of posting mine…

However, like a good blogger, I not only listen to your feedback and take your comments to heart (I really do appreciate your comments, and respond to every single one of them personally), but I also want to share a little bit of myself with the world. Which, is a new layer of my persona I am just beginning to explore and not quite use to as I’m the epitome of the Meyer’s-Briggs “INFJ” personality type. You make it to the front of the line if you leave a comment telling me your type.

Nonetheless, here is a list of my “Top 10 Inspirational Reads”.

The Holy Bible just barely made the cut, coming in at #11. Sorry Jesus. So close.

1. Being Peace

What I love about this book is that it’s short, quick and quite the easy read. You can literally open it up to any page, read a bit, put it back down and feel instant “Zen”.

And just for that very reason, it is one of the only books that actually has permanent residency on my night stand.

Thich Nhat Hahn is a cool-ass dude. The guy is like 80 years old but doesn’t look a day over 40. He’s bald, and buddhist, which aside from living a life of celibacy, I find very intriguing.

He can talk about the wind, the air, and the clouds in way that actually makes you want to go out to the woods and sing with the birds, and he makes practicing mindful meditation hip.

Here’s a little taste about interdependence:

Suppose you and I are friends. (In fact, I hope we are friends.) My well-being, my happiness depends very much on you, and your well-being, your happiness, depends upon me. I am responsible for you, and you are responsible for me. Anything I do wrong, you will suffer, and anything you do wrong, I have to suffer. Therefore, in order to take care of you, I have to take care of myself. –pg. 42

2. The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho. What an awesome name. Paulo. And I have to confess, that I actually didn’t READ the book. I listened to the audio. Which by the way, is a great way to “read” and I find that I actually get more from listening than I do reading.

The book reads like a fable – a story about a young shephard on his personal journey, out to follow his destiny. Filled with tales of adventure, mysticism, and omens.

Lot’s of symbolism and hidden meanings throughout the book which means that you’ll get something new from it every time you read/listen to it. Plus, the guy narrating the audio track has the coolest voice EVER.

Sample:

Everyone, when they are young, knows what their destiny is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their destiny… It’s a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your destiny. It prepares your spirit and you will, because there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It’s your mission on earth. — pg. 22

3. Letters To A Young Poet

That’s basically what the book is — a bunch of letters…written to…a young poet. At the start of the 1900′s when the internet and texting did not exist, people actually wrote letters to each other. Can you believe that? Pssssh.

We actually sat down, with a pad of paper and pencil, and hand-wrote letters? Stuffed them in an envelope, sent them in the mail, and waited.

And we waited blindly.

We couldn’t track our letters. We had no idea when our correspondent would receive them. And we had no idea, when, or IF they would even reply back.

But that’s exactly what our “young poet” named Franz Kappus did. As a 19-year old aspiring writer, he began a 6 year pen-pal relationship with the older and more established Rainer Maria Rilke.

The letters bounce back and forth, sometimes waiting months in between correspondence, and range from issues such as human nature, literature, war, sexuality and atheism.

One of my all-time favorite quotes:

It is not inertia alone that is responsible for human relationships repeating themselves from case to case indescribably monotonous and un-renewed. It is shyness, before any sort of new unforeseeable experience which one does not think oneself able to cope but only someone who is ready for everything, who excludes nothing, not even the most enigmatical will live the relation to another as something alive.

4. The Magic Hundred

Inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes. And in this particular case, inspiration comes from a personal trainer in the U.K. named Dax Moy.

Not your typical inspirational read, but this book, er, I should say “e-book” holds near and dear to my heart, which is why it makes it on my list.

I stumbled upon “The Magic Hundred” earlier this year while I was living in Japan, and upon reading it, some pretty awesome things started to happen to me. I will restrain from getting hippie-dippie and hokie pokie on you, but it DOES make a difference when you actually write out your goals, and look at them constantly throughout the day.

Here’s the jist: You make a list of 100 things to do, in yep, you guessed it, 100 days.

I actually still have my very first 100 list, and although I only crossed off about 60 of my 100 goals, the chase that it sent me on was quite the thrill. What I appreciate about Dax’s approach to goal achievement, is that he actually focuses on taking ACTION.

Like most positive thinking, “your thoughts are things” mantras, what is typically lacking are tangible, concrete, I can actually feel it with my hands, results. Think, think, and think all you want, but if you don’t actually DO something, then, NOTHING happens. But not with “The Magic Hundred” I got a whole lot of stuff done.

Positive thinking is valuable to the degree that it encourages you to take positive action.

5. The Power Of Now

When I first “read” The Power of Now (again, I cheated and actually listened to the audio), I couldn’t get the book off repeat. No joke, The Power of Now was the soundtrack to my life during the summer of 2009.

I listened to it before I went to bed, while I was mowing the lawn, while I was cooking, cleaning, walking, and even working out.

I’m not quite sure I even know how to sum up the basis of the book better than the title itself — Happiness and enlightenment is found right here, in the “now”. Learn to let go of the analytical, self-absorbed ego portion of your mind, and you’ll find peace and joy. “You are not your mind”. Pretty heavy stuff.

Eckhart Tolle approaches a very deep and complex level of thinking and introduces it to you in a very simple and easy to understand format. He takes an otherwise abstract notion (enlightenment) and actually turns it concrete for his readers, or listeners, to understand.

I could feel that a deep longing for annihilation, for non-existence was now becoming much stronger than the instinctive desire to live. “I cannot live with myself any longer.” This was a thought that kept repeating itself in my mind. Then suddenly I became aware of what a peculiar thought it was. “Am I one, or two?”. If “I” cannot live with myself, there must be two of me. The “I” and “self”, that “I” cannot live with. Maybe, I thought, only one of them is real.

Like WHOA.

To be continued…