I thought it would be fun this Christmas season to share, not a partridge in a pear tree, but 12 days of book recommendations that I’ve loved and can help you on your journey to recovery. I’ve included some wonderful books on mind/body therapy and some fun Summer reads, just to enjoy over the Christmas/New year break.
# 1 'The Journey' by Brandon Bays. Brandon resolved her own basketball sized tumour in her uterus in two months. Her story and her techniques helped me to fix my goitre without surgery 23 years ago!
#2 'Anne of Green of Green Gables' by LM Montgomery. This is my fave children's book and still a top fave on mine. I love the passionate intensity of Anne's emotions and still enjoy reading this book as an adult.
#3 'A Hope More Powerful than the Sea' by Melissa Fleming. A phenomenal story of a refugee whose mindset helped her overcome major adversity.
#4 'Remedy' by John Roedel. This is a book of lovely poems about healing emotions.
#5 'The Martian' by Andy Weir. This is a really thought provoking SciFi (not normally my genre), that delves into the head space of how we cope when we are all alone and need to survive without things we take for granted, such as oxygen and water. It makes you feel quite grateful to be on Earth!
#6 'Anxious Kids' - How children can turn their anxiety into resilience' by Michael Grose and Dr Jodi Richardson. This is a fantastic book recommended by my admin Sonya for any parent whose children experience anxiety.
#7 'Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself' by Dr. Joe Dispenza. This is a fantastic book of research into consciousness and how you can programme your brain to achieve what you want to achieve in life.
#8 'You Can Heal Your Life' by Louise Hay. This is a book of great wisdom about the link between emotions and underlying health problems.
#9 'Daring to Drive' by Manal Al-Sharif. A Saudi Arabian woman shares how she was radicalised, then reformed, then became an activist and was jailed for driving a car. It's wonderful to feel blessed for living in a country where women are respected and have freedom, plus fascinating to hear how beliefs form and are broken down.
#10 'Lucky Legs' by Steve Gurney. This is about Steve Gurney's adventure racing and recovery from life threatening illness. It is so interesting to hear the mindset of an adventure racer and also his motivation, coming from a place of trying to fill a void of not feeling like he is enough. You can also watch an interview with Steve Gurney during my Recovery Project Series where Steve talks about his more recent recovery from fibromyalgia and IBS using The Switch.
#11 "The Uncle's Story" By Witi Ihimaera, a New Zealand author. It is so beautifully worded that every sentence is like reading poetry. It is a fictional account of a Maori homosexual relationship, drawing on Witi's own experiences of tragically being chastised and cast out for simply being who he was.
#12 "Getting the Love you Want" By Harville Hendrix. This is a fantastic guide to couples to explore why they were drawn to each other, how to communicate effectively with each other, and how to understand how your past traumas are playing out in your current relationship. Did you know that we are subconsciously drawn to a partner because they will mirror back behaviours and patterns to us that we want to resolve from our own upbringing?
