There's nothing like a good book. In fact, the right read can spark motivation, encourage you to take risks and generally shine a new light on your ongoing journey to self-discovery. Is there anything better?
So, if you’re on the lookout for books that can support this, consider these recommendations, which were provided to Lively by therapists. Beef up your reading list and feel ready to kick off 2020 feeling empowered and prepared to tackle new challenges with a fresh perspective.
7 Book Recommendations by Therapists To Motivate Your Year
1. Solving Life's Problems: A 5-step Guide to Enhanced Well-Being By: Dr. Arthur M. Nezu, Dr. Christine Maguth Nezu & Dr. Thomas J. D'Zurilla
Regardless of your struggles, this book helps you methodologically identify how to overcome these and create the life you want. The advice is applicable to everything and provides the recipe to enhance your well-being.
Recommended by Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., Psychologist and Best-Selling Author
2. A Happy You: Your Ultimate Prescription for Happiness By Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo
This book is an A-Z on how to have less stress and more happiness in your life. It shares cutting edge research with compelling stories to make for an easy read. Each chapter provides specific, actionable steps with a checklist at the end to help keep you focused and progress towards greater happiness.
Recommended by Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., Psychologist and Best-Selling Author
3. The Alter Ego Effect By Todd Herman
The Alter Ego Effect outlines how to make positive changes in a short amount of time. It’s based on the premise that what you tell yourself impacts your actions and feelings. By developing an alter ego (one who already lives the life you want to live), you can start to enjoy your psychological well-being, healthy habits, relationships and work.
Recommended by Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., Psychologist and Best-Selling Author
4. Lightly By Francine Jay
Francine Jay’s book, Lightly, delves into a variety of life areas including how to shed stress by paring down and sloughing off baggage. This much-needed book is easy to digest and, for beginners, a down-to-earth guide for living simply and free of worry.
Recommended by Dr. Carla Marie Manly, Clinical Psychologist, Author, and Speaker
5. Care of the Soul By Thomas Moore
An old-time favorite for beginners who have a thirst for soul work is Thomas Moore’s Care of the Soul. Thomas Moore’s timeless workbrings richness to the world of self-development. Every chapter takes the reader into a world of insightful, practical guidance.
Recommended by Dr. Carla Marie Manly, Clinical Psychologist, Author, and Speaker
6. Joy from Fear: Creating the Life of Your Dreams by Making Fear Your Friend By Dr. Carla Marie Manly
Joy from Fear takes the reader on a soulful adventure into self-awareness. With an honest, gentle approach, subjects such as anxiety, depression, chronic stress and PTSD are explored to help the reader detangle mental health issues. An abundance of insightful tips and case examples make for a fascinating journey!
Recommended by Dr. Carla Marie Manly, Clinical Psychologist, Author, and Speaker
7. The Happiness Trap By Dr. Russ Harris
I love this book—it is jam-packed with concrete tools to help us stand back and observe our thoughts and emotions, instead of being controlled by them. I admire Dr. Harris's down to earth, easy to implement and humorous take on how to coexist with the mind instead of struggling against it. I joke that it's the handbook for the human brain we should have been born with.
Recommended by Dr. Julie Pike, a Licensed Psychologist and Anxiety Disorder Specialist, who regularly appears on Sirius Radio’s Doctor Radioand was on TLC’sHoarding: Buried Alive for four years.
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Finally, as Paula Jones, Licensed Clinical Social Worker with My LA Therapy notes, books can be a hugely beneficial adjunct to therapy whether you’re seeking information regarding your particular needs or perhaps inspiration from others who have survived and/or thrived under similar challenges. That being said, we hope one (or more) of the above titles provides you some wonderful, thought-provoking insights.
Happy reading!