{"id":44122,"date":"2016-10-05T20:31:38","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T04:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=44122"},"modified":"2017-05-27T08:47:59","modified_gmt":"2017-05-27T16:47:59","slug":"eight-amazing-books-to-help-write-your-best-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/eight-amazing-books-to-help-write-your-best-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight Amazing Books to Help Write Your Best Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Looking for a Wastebasket to Empty Out Your Head?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Tired of those same thoughts over and over again? Tired of how FULL your head feels?<\/p>\n<p>Sure, it would be great if you could take off your head, scrape it like the inside of a pumpkin, and start fresh, carving out a new face in the process.<\/p>\n<p>But you can\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Yep, those thoughts don\u2019t seem fertile, they seem like weeds in your head\u2019s struggling garden.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Good News: Weeds Can Be Great Fertilizer!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the trick. If you let those weeds overgrow your garden, that garden won\u2019t nourish you.<\/p>\n<p>If you pay attention to those weeds, you can not only fertilize your garden, you can actually harvest those repetitive, initially troublesome thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>How? Keep a diary, write those thoughts down.<\/p>\n<p>And nothing helps you keep an effective diary than great books that help you change negative thoughts to positive ones.<\/p>\n<p>Here are eight of the best ones that have saved my mental and emotional life again and again. They\u2019re like guides who carry torches in the scary darkness of your head so you can turn on the lights, keep them on, and transform your inner house.<\/p>\n<p>Joan Borysenko, <strong>Minding the Body, Mending the Mind<\/strong>. This book combines physiological insights concerning the \u201crelaxation response\u201d with perspective on the components of your personality, especially the ego and its role.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Epstein, <strong>Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart: A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness<\/strong>. This book is an outstanding bridge to the healing insights of Buddhism, brought home to the reader through terrific composites.<\/p>\n<p>John Kabat-Zinn, <strong>Wherever You Go<\/strong>, There You Are. In a series of short pieces, the author provides the healthiest way to position your mind to avoid, withstand, and manage the stress of everyday life.<\/p>\n<p>Viktor E. Frankl, <strong>Man\u2019s Search for Meaning<\/strong>. This inspiring testament by a survivor of a death camp is a shows the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unspeakable horror.<\/p>\n<p>Alice Miller, <strong>The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self<\/strong>. Miller\u2019s account of the effects of poor parenting and the insights around the child\u2019s coping mechanisms, sadness, and healing is a terrific addition to any self-help library.<\/p>\n<p>David E. Burns, <strong>Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy<\/strong>: This book brings the art of the internal \u201cTalk Back\u201d to new heights.<\/p>\n<p>Tara Bennett-Goldman, <strong>Emotional Alchemy<\/strong>: How the Mind Can Heal the Heart. Goleman\u2019s work on the unhealthy \u201cschema\u201d that emotionally damaged individuals put together is a valuable contribution to the field.<\/p>\n<p>Eckart Tolle: <strong>The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment<\/strong>. Toll\u2019s work\u2019s insistence on acceptance of the immediate present provides a useful perspective.<\/p>\n<p>These Books Provide Medicine, but You\u2019re Still the Doctor.<\/p>\n<p>If you read these books, and while these are the most meaningful to me, certainly you can find other outstanding ones, that\u2019s just the start. Read books like this, then do the following:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Accept the Fact that You CAN Take Charge of Your Thoughts<br \/>\n\u2022 Become an Observer Rather than a Critic of Your Thoughts<br \/>\n\u2022 NOTE the Thoughts That Recur the Most<br \/>\n\u2022 Open a Dialogue with YOURSELF<\/p>\n<p>A diary is a tool that helps you do all these things. Each of these books provides a multitude of insights that you can put to use right away as you write down what you see, what you feel, what thoughts you have, and what connections your heart, your mind, your spirit, and the various voices inside you can make.<\/p>\n<p>Each of your internal voices represents a narrative, a story inside you about yourself and your place as human being as well as human doing.<\/p>\n<p>If you observe rather than criticize your thoughts, no matter what they are, you transform useless weeds into something of information, self-awareness, nourishment, and future fertilization.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>The Mind Is Your Garden-Tend It Well!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>So, next time you want to simply throw your head away, because it\u2019s negative, so negative that you feel you just can\u2019t find something good to hold on to, STOP.<\/p>\n<p>Sit down, take a deep breath, and simply WATCH YOUR MIND and what\u2019s in it.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>The, get some of these books, note what you\u2019re thinking, and write the story of your life, every day.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t rip up the weeds, use them to make the garden of your inner world something that will feed you all the days of your life.<\/p>\n<p>Lars Nielsen is a free-lance copywriter whose unique and image-rich selling voice combines the narrative power of his poetry, playwriting, fiction, radio, liturgy, and comedy. Go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.larsnielsencopywriting.com\">www.larsnielsencopywriting.com<\/a> and see how Ultimate Influence Copywriting can reframe the narrative of your business, speeches, ideas, and your life for success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are eight of the best books that have saved my mental and emotional life again and again. They\u2019re like guides who carry torches in the scary darkness of your head! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/eight-amazing-books-to-help-write-your-best-life\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11620,"featured_media":44564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[12,205,32,6],"tags":[5393,5031,66,5520],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Eight Amazing Books to Help Write Your Best Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here are eight of the best books that have saved my mental and emotional life again and again. 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They\u2019re like guides who carry torches in the scary darkness of your head!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/eight-amazing-books-to-help-write-your-best-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-06T04:31:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-27T16:47:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-05-at-3.23.36-PM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"884\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"697\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"lnielsen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/eight-amazing-books-to-help-write-your-best-life\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-05-at-3.23.36-PM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Screen-Shot-2016-10-05-at-3.23.36-PM.png\",\"width\":884,\"height\":697,\"caption\":\"8 Amazing Books To Help You Write Your Best Life\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/eight-amazing-books-to-help-write-your-best-life\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/eight-amazing-books-to-help-write-your-best-life\/\",\"name\":\"Eight Amazing Books to Help Write Your Best Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/eight-amazing-books-to-help-write-your-best-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-06T04:31:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-27T16:47:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e02d258087903e809e0004477673a249\"},\"description\":\"Here are eight of the best books that have saved my mental and emotional life again and again. 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