4 Books to Change Your Life
Updated: Feb 22, 2021
“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”
― Jim Rohn
The reality of personal change is simple, but brutal. When the pain of the status quo is greater than the pain associated with actually changing your life, then you will make real change. Eckhart Tolle points out that you’re more likely to wake up from a nightmare, than you are from just normal dreaming. Almost everybody I’ve met is dealing with some kind of pain. When that pain becomes intolerable – that’s when people wake up, and start making real changes. Here are 4 books that help along that path.
1. The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle
The second best book I've ever read. Anybody who’s had enough suffering in their life should read this book. Reading this book, you realize that you can’t think your way out of pain; you have to transcend it entirely by realizing that you are not the pain. You are the consciousness behind that pain, behind all thoughts and perceptions. I can’t imagine a deeper book with more potential to actually change a person’s life for the better. We should be teaching the techniques in this book in schools, and in corporate training programs for adults.
2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey
Whereas Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now is focused mostly on the inward journey (being, presence, and stillness), Stephen Covey’s book is more focused on the outward journey (doing and achieving), and so they compliment each other very nicely. I love what Covey talks about with Quadrant II Planning: focusing on things that are important, but not necessarily urgent. I also love what he says about being proactive and working within your "circle of influence." Amazing book.
3. The Primal Blueprint, Mark Sisson
Best book about food and nutrition that I’ve ever read. Totally changed my life, and helped me overcome awful Sciatica pains. I had no idea that wheat and dairy were so inflammatory, and that they could be causing my back problems. I thought it was posture or muscle tension, but actually, it was the bread, cookies, and ice cream I was eating. It seems like the medical establishment is only now beginning to wake up to the importance of nutrition in terms of preventing disease and injury. Just exercise and stop eating crap, and you won’t get sick or have joint pain. Thousands of success stories on Sisson's blog, Mark's Daily Apple, speak for themselves.
4. The Power of Awareness, Neville Goddard
Quite simply, the best book I've ever read. From the first page, I felt the truth and profound wisdom of these powerful and incredibly lucid words. Neville is the best spiritual teacher I've ever come across. Whereas Eckhart Tolle focuses mostly on "being" - the "I am" within all of us, Neville addresses our humanity - the 'human' aspect of 'human being' - the reason we came into these bodily forms - to create worlds and to have experiences - our desire for expansion and goals and achievement, which matters, of course. Coming from a traditional Christian background, this book shocked me, and woke me up, and it took me two years of listening to his lectures to fully absorb the gravity of what he was saying. It's like finding out that the earth isn't the center of the universe - rather, it's the sun. It's that big - when you really grasp what he's actually saying, with such poise and intelligence. You create your own reality. You are God. We are all God. The Law of Attraction and the Bible come together in this incredibly cogent, mystical book. It will change your life if you read it and apply its profound and urgent lessons.