Photo by Delphine via Flickr Creative Commons (devosdelphin)

As part of my birthday celebration, I’m delighted to share this list of my 10 favorite books that have supported me on the path of liberation. It’s been a joy to take a walk down my own literary memory lane and remember the books that have had a huge impact on my life.

The list is in alphabetical order because there is no way I could rank them in any other way… they are all quite different from one another, and all precious gems.

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Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing
By Carolyn Myss

Dr. Caroline Myss is a medical intuitive. In this book, she weaves together the Hindu chakra system with the seven Christian sacraments and the Kabbalah (Tree of Life) from Judaism. In the process, Myss maps out a pathway to reclaiming our personal power and finding a deep level of healing from our past traumas and stories. Reading this book and working with the wisdom offered here proved to be a turning point in my life many years ago.

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The Energy of Money: A Spiritual Guide to Financial and Personal Fulfillment
By Maria Nemeth

I discovered this book about 12 years ago when I was faced with more than $30,000 of credit card debt and realized that I needed to straighten out my relationship with money. The Energy of Money stood out from the crowd of books on this topic because it approaches money from a spiritual and energetic point of view, not simply from an accounting perspective. I’m sure that I could not have paid off that debt if I had not deeply studied the lessons in this book and allowed it to fundamentally change how I view this thing we call “money.”

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Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience
By Sharon Salzberg

This beautiful book is explores a quality that is too often associated with religious fanaticism – faith. This heartfelt book, in which Sharon shares openly about her own very challenging childhood, helps us to reclaim the original definition of faith and learn how to bring its healing power into our lives. She also makes an important distinction between fear-based hope and true faith. A wonderful book to read during dark times.

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Finding Freedom: Writings from Death Row
By Jarvis Jay Masters

Jarvis Masters, the author of this book, inspired the tagline of the LLP: Freedom is an Inside Job. If you’re feeling trapped by the conditions of your life, I’d encourage you to find out more about this remarkable man (and check out this LLP post). Jarvis has spent more than 30 years in San Quentin, one of California’s highest security prisons. Jarvis began studying Buddhism while incarcerated and took vows in 1989 from Tibetan teacher Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. He also began to write, and this book was published in 1997. Incredibly inspiring.

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The Fire Starter Sessions: A Soulful + Practical Guide to
Creating Success on Your Own Terms
By Danielle LaPorte

This book is organized into three parts: Mojo, Moxie, and Results. There are powerful questions and worksheets throughout this book – you can’t read the Fire Starter Sessions without having a lot of fun and getting fully engaged. This is a magic book, or at least it was for me. The first night I started to read it, I made it through the first 37 pages then put it down by my bedside and fell asleep. I had vivid dreams throughout the night, weaving in some of the most beloved people in my life. When I awoke, one phrase from my dream was crystal clear: The world needs you to radiate. Read this book and remember your own capacity to radiate.

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The Fruitful Darkness: A Journey Through Buddhist Practice and Tribal Wisdom
By Joan Halifax

A mysterious and beautiful book from the woman who was my first Buddhist teacher, and with whom I still collaborate. The Fruitful Darkness is Roshi Joan’s memoir, in a sense, one in which she takes us through the emotional, spiritual, and geographical landscapes of her heart. She shares stories of being with indigenous people in Chiapas, Tibet, and Mali (Africa), as well as stories from her lifelong practice of Buddhism and friendships with people such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Francisco Varela. I also love this book for all the amazing quotes it features, from sources as diverse as Edward Abbey to Rumi to Susan Griffin.

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Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
By Parker Palmer

I discovered this book years ago while staying at Seasons, the retreat center of the Fetzer Institute in Michigan. The book was left on our pillows, kind of a spiritual version of the bedtime mint. It has become one of my all-time favorite books, and one I turn to when I’m questioning the direction of my life, particularly around livelihood. This beautiful book is written from a Quaker perspective… that is, the author deeply values silence and the act of listening as a path of self-awareness.

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Mindfulness in Plain English: Revised and Expanded Edition
By Bhante Gunaratana

This is the first book I’d recommend to anyone who wants to start or deepen a meditation practice. It’s thorough, well written, touched with warmth and humor, and yet doesn’t over-simplify the subject. And it includes my favorite passages ever on the topic of meditation:

Somewhere in this process, you will come face to face with the sudden and shocking realization that you are completely crazy. Your mind is a shrieking, gibbering madhouse on wheels barreling pell-mell down the hill, utterly out of control and helpless. No problem.

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Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha
By Tara Brach

Tara Brach is a meditation teacher based in Washington, DC. Perhaps more than any other book, this one helped me to understand how to make friends with myself, just as I am. Tara describes the “trances” that we go under when old “not good enough” scripts are triggered, and how meditation and other practices can help us release these and come to complete self-acceptance. Full of very helpful guided meditations and exercises.

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Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
By Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

This is a Zen book, but it is not just a Zen book. It means a lot to me because Suzuki Roshi is the founder of the Buddhist lineage that I practice in. The quiet yet profound wisdom in this book will echo in your mind and heart long after you read it. Suzuki Roshi offers practical advice on posture and breathing for meditation, but also helps us to understand how the spirit of our meditation practice can be embodied throughout every act of our life.

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