RESOURCES
Recommended Reading..
Here's a list of some recommended readings (or audiobooks if you can find them) for those of you who want resources to assist in developing a greater understanding and meaning of what it is to be human and to work towards health, healing and wholeness; not as an alternative to therapy but to compliment or accentuate your therapeutic journey.
Bec and Mary xx
In no particular order :)
'Mindsight' by Dan Siegel.
A groundbreaking book on the healing power of "mindsight," the potent skill that is the basis for both emotional and social intelligence. Mindsight allows you to make positive changes in your brain-and in your life.
'Boundaries' by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
In the New York Times best seller, Boundaries, Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend help you learn when to say yes and know how to say no in order to take control of your life and set healthy, biblical boundaries with your spouse, children, friends, parents, co-workers, and even yourself.
'How People Grow' by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
Our desire to grow runs deep. Yet the issues in our lives and relationships that we wish would change often stay the same, even with our best efforts at spiritual growth. What does it take to experience increasing strength and depth in our spiritual walk, our marriages and family lives and friendships, our personal development--in everything life is about? And how can we help others move into growth that is profound and lasting?Unpacking the practical and passionate theology that forms the backbone of their counselling, Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend shatter popular misconceptions about how God operates to reveal how growth really happens.
'Our Mothers, Ourselves' by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
No one has influenced the person you are today like your mother. The way she handled your needs as a child has shaped your worldview, your relationships, your marriage, your career, your self-image - your life. Our Mothers, Ourselves can help you identify areas that need reshaping, to make positive choices for personal change, and to establish a mature relationship with Mum today.
'ACT With Love' by Russ Harris
Through a simple program based on the revolutionary new mindfulness-based acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), you can learn to handle painful thoughts and feelings more effectively and engage fully in the process of living and loving together.
'The Road Less Travelled' by M. Scott Peck
Confronting and solving problems is a painful process which most of us attempt to avoid. Avoiding resolution results in greater pain and an inability to grow both mentally and spiritually. Drawing heavily on his own professional experience, Dr M. Scott Peck, a psychiatrist, suggests ways in which facing our difficulties - and suffering through the changes - can enable us to reach a higher level of self-understanding. He discusses the nature of loving relationships: how to distinguish dependency from love; how to become one's own person and how to be a more sensitive parent. This is a book that can show you how to embrace reality and yet achieve serenity and a richer existence.
'How to do the work' by Dr Nicole LePera
As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Nicole LePera often found herself frustrated by the limitations of traditional psychotherapy. Wanting more for her patients-and for herself-she began a journey to develop a united philosophy of mental, physical and spiritual wellness that equips people with the interdisciplinary tools necessary to heal themselves.
How to Do the Work, she offers both a manifesto for SelfHealing as well as an essential guide to creating a more vibrant, authentic, and joyful life. Dr LePera helps us recognize how adverse experiences and trauma in childhood live with us, resulting in whole body dysfunction-activating harmful stress responses that keep us stuck and unless addressed can quickly become cyclical, leaving people feeling unhappy, unfulfilled, and unwell.
In How to Do the Work, Dr. LePera offers readers the support and tools that will allow them to break free from destructive behaviors to reclaim and recreate their lives.
'Soulcraft' by Bill Plotkin
Written for people in search of their true selves, particularly those on the verge of adulthood and those at a major crossroads such as divorce or carrier change; "Soulcraft restores the ritual to its rightful place as a crucial part of personal growth and self-employment. Exercises and insightful stories explain how to discover one's unique gift, or "soul purpose," to be shared with others through a ceremonial event.
'The Five Stages of the Soul' by Harry Moody and David Carrol
At some point in our lives, most of us begin to question what life is all about, what the purpose of our existence is. The first of the passages in our spiritual lives often arises as the result of the death of a parent or other loved one, the birth of a child, or any number of life-changing events that force us to rethink who and what we are. In The Five Stages of the Soul, Dr. Moody goes on to identify the four additional spiritual stages most of us go through on the quest for inner fulfillment, bringing together the psychology of our spiritual development with insights from Western and Eastern spiritual masters to illuminate our passage through the labyrinth of life.
'Eastern bodies, Western Minds' by Anodea Judith
Eastern Bodies, Western Minds seamlessly merges the East and West, science and philosophy, and psychology and spirituality into a compelling interpretation of the chakra system and its relevance for Westerners today. A groundbreaking New Age book that seamlessly integrates Western psychology and the Eastern chakra system
'The Chakra System' by Anodea Judith
Through her pioneering work with the chakra system, Anodea Judith has mapped the striking connections between the yogic healing arts and modern psychology, as well as demonstrated how a combination of both can be dramatically more effective than using either one alone.
'Gifts of imperfection' by Brene Brown
New York Times best-selling author and professor Brené Brown offers a powerful and inspiring book that explores how to cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection to embrace your imperfections and to recognise that you are enough.
'Born for love' by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz
An inside look at the power of empathy: Born for Love is an unprecedented exploration of how and why the brain learns to bond with others-and a stirring call to protect our children from new threats to their capacity to love Bruce D. Perry and Maia Szalavitz interweave research and stories to explain how empathy develops, why it is essential for our development into healthy adults, and how it is threatened in the modern world.
'The Secret of Happy Children' by Steve Biddulph
In Steve's view, this is the best of the Biddulph books. Written by Shaaron Biddulph with Steve's help, it covers the years from birth to six intensively, with warm hearted stories and simple ways to help your baby toddler and preschooler love life and learn confidently.
'Getting the love you want' by Harville and Helen Hendrix
'The Four Essentials of a Dream Relationship' by Harville Hendrix (audiobook)
'The Enneagram of Belonging' by Christopher Heuertz
Many have discovered the Enneagram to be a powerful tool for self-understanding, yet knowing ourselves doesn't necessarily mean we accept ourselves. Most of us tend to curate the personality of our type: leading with the traits we perceive as positive, and sidelining the traits that cause us shame. But what if it all belonged? Rather than furthering our own fragmentation, what if we dared to make peace with the whole of who we are with bold compassion? The Enneagram of Belonging is your guide to this essential journey.
'You're not crazy, its your mother' by Danu Morrigan
Exposing the hidden but devastating condition of narcissistic mother's syndrome.
'It didn't start with you' by Mark Wolynn
It Didn't Start with You offers a pragmatic and prescriptive guide to the Core Language Approach. It Didn't Start With You is a transformative approach to resolving longstanding difficulties that, in many cases, traditional therapy, drugs, or other interventions have not had the capacity to touch.
'The Wild Woman's Way' by Mikaela Boehm
In The Wild Woman's Way, Michaela Boehm shares practical rituals and exercises drawn from years of experience as a celebrity relationship and life counsellor and an expert in tantric yoga. She reveals the power of different types of touch while also training you in forms of meditation and stretching that increase activity and sensual pleasure.
Soon, you will learn to switch effortlessly between the aggressive "go mode" required to compete successfully at work and the feminine "flow mode" of softness and receptivity. By harnessing the duality of the Wild Woman, you will attract and inspire meaningful relationships with romantic partners, your own body, and life itself.
'The Completion Process' by Teal Swan
Teal Swan's previous book, Shadows Before Dawn, told the incredible story of how she survived 13 years of horrific physical, mental, and sexual abuse at the hands of a cult member in her community. After her escape at age 19, she forged a path back from the edge of despair and began the long process of making herself whole. Now, The Completion Process takes readers along on her restorative journey of healing and liberation. For anyone who has been fractured by trauma—and according to Teal, in one way or another, we all have—here is a way to put ourselves back together again, no longer inhibited by the past or terrified of the future.
'The Anatomy of Loneliness' by Teal Swan
Loneliness is reaching endemic proportions in our society, reflected by rising suicide rates and increased mental illness.
Now, more than ever we need to find a way to connect. Loneliness, is a feeling of separation or isolation, it is not necessarily the same as the physical state of being alone.
This book is for people who suffer from loneliness, the kind that cannot be solved by simply being around other people. Their aloneness is a deeply embedded pattern that is both negative and painful; it is often fueled by trauma, loss, addiction, grief and a lack of self-esteem and insecurity.
'Creative Visualisation' by Shakti Gawain
Creative Visualization is the art of using mental imagery and affirmation to produce positive changes in your life. It is being successfully used in the fields of health, business, the creative arts, and sports, and in fact can have an impact in every area of your life. With more than seven million copies sold worldwide, this pioneering bestseller and perennial favorite helped launch a new movement in personal growth when it was first published.This classic guide is filled with meditations, exercises, and techniques that can help you to use the power of your imagination to create what you want in your life, change negative habit patterns, improve self-esteem, reach career goals, increase prosperity, develop creativity, increase vitality, improve your health, experience deep relaxation, and much more. This book can help you to increase your personal mastery of life.
'This One Wild and Precious Life' by Sarah Wilson
Many of us are living with the sense that things are not right with the world and are in a state of spiritual PTSD. We have retreated, morally and psychologically; we are experiencing a crisis of disconnection—from one another, from our true values, from joy, and from life as we feel we are meant to be living it. Sarah Wilson argues that this sense of despair and disconnection is ironically what unites us—that deep down, we are all feeling that same itch for a new way of living. Drawing on science, literature, philosophy and the wisdom of some of the world's leading experts, and her personal journey, Wilson offers a hopeful path forward to the life we love. En route, she shows us how to wake up and reconnect with life using "wild practices".
'First, we make the beast beautiful' by Sarah Wilson
The Chinese believe that before you can conquer a beast, you must first make it beautiful.
Sarah directs her intense focus and fierce investigatory skills onto this lifetime companion of hers, looking at the triggers and treatments, the fashions and fads. She reads widely and interviews fellow sufferers, mental health experts, philosophers, and the Dalai Lama, processing all she learns through the prism of her own experiences.
Sarah pulls at the thread of accepted definitions of anxiety, and unravels the notion that it is a difficult, dangerous disease that must be medicated into submission. Ultimately, she re-frames anxiety as a spiritual quest rather than a burdensome affliction, a state of yearning that will lead us closer to what really matters.
'The Myth of Normal' by Gabor Mate
Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of "normal" as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how the toxicity of today's culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance.
Now Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing.
'When the Body Says No' by Gabor Mate
Drawing on deep scientific research and Dr Gabor Mate's acclaimed clinical work, When the Body Says No provides the answers to critical questions about the mind-body link - and the role that stress and our emotional makeup play in an array of common diseases such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome and multiple sclerosis.
'Scattered Minds' by Gabor Mate
- Demonstrates that ADD is not an inherited illness, but a reversible impairment, a developmental delay
- Explains that in ADD, circuits in the brain whose job is emotional self-regulation and attention control fail to develop in infancy—and why
- Shows how "tuning out" and distractibility are the psychological products of life experience, from in utero onwards
- Allows parents to understand what makes their ADD children tick, and adults with ADD to gain insights into their emotions and behaviors
- Expresses optimism about neurological development even in adulthood
- Presents a program of how to promote this development in children and adults alike
'Untamed' by Glennon Doyle
Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanizing wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is the story of navigating divorce, forming a new blended family, and discovering that the brokenness or wholeness of a family depends not on its structure but on each member's ability to bring her full self to the table. And it is the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honour our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts