Are you longing to be the creator of your own reality?
Would you like to become all you can be in your lifetime?
Check out these essential reads and learn how to increase your self-awareness, develop a deeper connection to your higher self, and thus become a deliberate creator of your own reality.
To get you started, or to help propel you on your continuing journey of your connection to your higher self, I handpicked ten fantastic books from the ever-increasing sea of self-awareness guides.
Read on and choose the best books for you.
1. Three foundational practices: The Way of Liberation by Adyashanti
For those of us trying to harness our egos, this book will offer guidance for clearing your mind and realizing the simplicity of understanding the inner depths of stillness.
Adyashanti has a wonderful gift of expressing and transforming the most profound truths into simple easy-to-understand language.
Not only does Adyashanti outline the essential principles for the process of waking up to the absolute nature of reality, but he also describes how to live this process to the fullest extent possible.
The Way of Liberation will serve as a roadmap on your journey to a place of sacredness, beyond all notions of self. You’ll delve deeper into the understanding of spiritual awakening –– going from the dream state of ego to the awakened state beyond ego.
2. Simple short daily practices: A Course in Miracles by the Foundation of Inner Peace
If you’re looking for a daily practice that could help you form the habits needed to reach a place of peace of mind, joy and bliss, this is the book for you.
A Course in Miracles is a unique spiritual self-study program designed to undo the illusion that we are separate from the divine energy in the universe, or our fellow human beings in the rest of the world.
Its philosophy is based on the belief that at the level of spirit, we're all united as one.
When we learn to live from this truth; fear, anger, jealousy and guilt give way to a profound sense of inner peace.
The Course systematically leads you to experience this oneness in all your relationships, through the practice of forgiveness, the willingness to receive and follow higher guidance, and the cultivation of miracle-mindedness.
The book contains a “Workbook for Students,” with powerful daily lessons designed to change both the student’s mind and perception about life and the way we experience it. People find the outcomes to be feelings of happiness, peace, joy and love.
3. A great starting point: Be Here Now by Ram Dass
In March 1961, Professor Richard Alpert, later renamed Ram Dass, held appointments in four departments at Harvard University.
He published books, research papers and was held in high esteem in his social circles.
By most standards, he had achieved great success.
And yet he couldn’t escape the feeling that something was missing.
To get to the bottom of his feeling of lack, Alpert experimented with Psilocybin and LSD.
Through his experimentation, he first experienced various identities of both esteemed college professor and socialite, and then started to focus on and inquire about his inner-self.
He realized that he was a luminous being filled with love.
Alpert’s spiritual journey had commenced, and with that, he headed to India and found himself seated at the feet of his guru, Neem Karoli Baba.
Years later, Ram Dass wrote his groundbreaking book Be Here Now, a spiritual cookbook for generations to come and whose title lent itself to a catchphrase that lives on with great zeal.
Grab yourself a copy and see for yourself.
4. An easy to do, day-to-day self-connection journey: The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo
This is a "daybook" –– read one page a day–– which I love, because it doesn't become a 365-page task you feel compelled to complete, but rather a simple daily reminder to stay consciously awake in your everyday life.
As you’ll see in this book, Mark Nepo is not only a spiritual guide, but also a poet and an amazing storyteller.
The Book of Awakening is the result of Nepo’s own journey into his inner being, and through his book, he inspires us to embark on a journey of our own.
Nepo invites us to wake up to our daily gift of aliveness, take each day as it arrives, and savor the hidden treasures in our constantly unfolding life.
We’re reminded to stay in love with our life, regardless of its circumstances.
Each day includes a short straight-forward exercise to wake up our minds and return us to the present moment in our lives.
5. Understanding our evolution into conscious beings: The Seat of Your Soul by Gary Zukav
The Seat of Your Soul encourages you to become the authority in your own life, and not be buffeted by outside influences.
Gary Zukav explains that humanity is evolving from a focus on external power, a manipulative and controlling power, to a focus on authentic power, or an ability to align the personality with the soul
According to Zukav, the values of our soul are harmony, cooperation, sharing and reverence for life.
The Seat of Your Soul will guide you in ways of being in your own soul, filling your everyday activities and all of your relationships with meaning and purpose.
6. An easy-to-understand self-awareness guide: Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle
In Stillness Speaks, Eckhart Tolle has drawn on wisdom and knowledge from many ancient spiritual texts, and has combined it for the reader in a powerful, easy-to-understand, and yet, transformative way.
If we connect to the stillness within, we're able to move beyond our constantly chattering minds and connect to the inner already- and always-existing peace, fulfillment and joy.
Tolle has written this book in short, simple chapters, each making its own point, with titles such as “Beyond the Thinking Mind” and “Suffering and the End of Suffering.”
As you peruse the entirety of the book, you may find that you’ve begun your own transformative journey.
7. A rare Q&A with a true master: The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi by Ramana Maharshi
For those of you who don’t know him, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was an Indian Hindu sage and jivanmukta, or enlightened being.
Known more commonly as Ramana Maharshi, he was visited by a constant stream of people from all parts of the world, people mostly in search of spiritual guidance, grief consolation, or simply an opportunity to sit in his presence.
As a companion to Ramana Maharshi and the Path to Self Knowledge, this book contains many of his actual conversations with those who sought his guidance.
The Teachings covers a wide swath of religious and spiritual dogma, from basic theories about God and the nature of human beings, to advice about how to conduct our daily lives.
The questions, and Ramana Maharshi’s replies, are expressed in plain, conversational language.
If you would like some perhaps unfamiliar insights from a true sage, this priceless collection of spiritual knowledge is the book for you.
8. A solid foundational book, even for the gurus: The Power of Awareness by Neville Goddard
In this groundbreaking book, one of the pioneers of the self-awareness movement, Neville Goddard, known simply as Neville, explains his core philosophy: The world around us is simply a picture in our mind’s eye, a picture created by our thinking, and thus can be totally altered by changing our thoughts and feelings.
Before the movie industry popularized quantum physics and theory experiments, revealing that the mind and body are intimately connected and affect one other, Neville had already postulated that reality is directly impacted by the perspective and consciousness of the observer himself.
Furthermore, Neville says, the observer is subject to change through the same mechanisms.
Each of us is 100% responsible for our lives, Neville explains, and we can absolutely reshape our own experiences regardless of circumstances.
The possibilities are endless.
9. The power of the human mind explained: The Adventure of I by Tania Kotsos
I love the subtitle of this book: "A Journey to the Center of Your Reality." There's no better way to say it.
The author, Tania Kotsos, writes about the power of the human mind, universal consciousness, the laws and principles of the universe, and your ability to direct your mind and create the life you desire with the power of your will (not willpower as we commonly mistake it).
Kotsos’ explanation is so complete, logical and practical that it's easy to implement in creating a life of your own choosing.
In this book, you can learn how to gain an understanding of the underlying mental nature of the universe and how your mind creates your reality through it.
10. Gurus’ guide to consciousness: The Handbook to Higher Consciousness by Ken Keyes, Jr.
Ken Keyes, Jr., was way ahead of his time in writing about these insights into personal transformation, the ways to unlock our consciousness and the practices to experience our best life possible.
Many giants in the field of self-awareness and personal transformation got there based on Keyes’ early work.
This book provides insightful ways to both get in tune with and be able to identify why we react how we do, and the subsequent thought process we associate with it.
In learning this, we can use the practices Keyes provides to eliminate a thought that is no longer serving us, to thereby live a more peaceful, loving, fulfilling and stress-free life.
It is the autopilot, unconscious, knee-jerk reactions to things that leave us with a life that is not of our own choosing, and that, in many cases, causes our suffering.
In this book, Keyes gives us astonishingly simple, and most of all, functional ways to identify and transform these ways of being, so we can create a life of our own choosing filled with freedom, power, love, joy and full self expression.
What’s your must-read when it comes to spirituality and awareness? Comment below.
To learn more, download my Free Ebook “3 Steps to Feel Great Right Now Regardless of Your Circumstances.” Get started mastering your mind and transforming your thinking.
