These are some of the fantastic books that I've read this year... all have helped me and my work in some way or another and I recommend them regularly to my clients.
You can purchase at a local bookstore in Western Australia like:
in Mount Hawthorn
located within Karrinyup and Carousel Shopping Centres
located within most major shoppings centres
Or online at retailers like:
All of the above other than Book Depository are Australian owned businesses, so try and support local if you can!
Business
1. The E-Myth Revisited - by Michael E. Gerber
An insightful book about how important it is to create systems in a small business. It explains the growth of a business from the initial idea right through to start up, growth, expansion and maturity stages and teaches steps to take in order to avoid falling over at one of these stages.
The "E" in "E-Myth" stands for "Entrepreneurial Myth", meaning that so many people quit their jobs seeking freedom by working for themselves, but then find themselves enslaved to another kind of job, with even more financial stress and instability!
A must read for anyone in business; including Sole Traders, as it will help you differentiate between 'you' and 'the business'. This is an important mental shift that will help you to be more objective about what 'you need' and what 'the business needs' in order to continue to be happy and successful!
2. Cash Flow Quadrant - Robert T. Kiyosaki ("Rich Dad")
A fascinating look at how most of us spend our lives as 'Employees', working hard to make another business successful. Sometimes we make the move into 'Small Business', but we are still tied to a job, as in, if we stop working or have a holiday, we don't get paid!
If we would like to have financial freedom, we need to consider moving into either 'Big Business', where other people work for us and we get paid even when we are not there. Or moving into 'Investor', where we invest in shares or property, and have those assets work for us.
These are the four sections of the quadrant that Robert analyses, including Employees (E), Small Business (S), Big Business (B) and Investor (I).
Very interesting look at the flow of cash between all of these quadrants and guidance on how to make the switch if you are ready.
Fascinating concept.
3. Think and Grow Rich, The Original Classic - Napoleon Hill
A gorgeous hard cover book, first released in 1937. Despite the title it is not focused on greed, but provides a formula for successful wealth creation.
The author spent twenty years interviewing hundreds of successful businessmen such as Henry Ford, Graham Bell, John D. Rockefeller, Thomas A. Edison, F.W. Woolworth, King Gillette and Andrew Carnegie.
He found that many of them had the same formula for success and so he has composed and summarized these into 'Thirteen Steps to Riches'.
It's actually quite a spiritual book and the principals are very closely aligned to the universal laws of attraction and manifestation.
Lovely to hold and enjoy.
Spirituality and Health
4. Medical Medium - Anthony William
I first came across this book last year and wasn't yet ready to receive this information. It is popular in my Kinesiology circles and alot of people have been talking about it! I've found that now is the time for me to really digest this and I'm finding the information is not only personally relevant for me and my health, but for many of my clients also.
The author channels information directly from Spirit which he claims is many years ahead of current medical research. He states that underpinning many mystery illnesses (where the doctors don't know what is wrong with you) and also diagnosed illnesses (where the doctors don't know what is actually causing the issue, is the Epstein-Barr Virus and it's common cofactor, Streptococcus bacteria.
I've been getting a big 'yes' from my guides that this information is accurate and therefore I am a big supporter in promoting this book.
If you have generic, vague symptoms which you have not gotten to the bottom of, or have been diagnosed with any of the below illnesses then I encourage you to read this book;
Fibromyalgia, adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, hormonal imbalances, Hashimoto's disease, Lyme disease, multiple sclerosis, depression, neurological conditions, chronic inflammation, autoimmune disease, blood sugar imbalances, colitis and other digestive disorders.
To heal from these illnesses you need to implement dietary changes to starve the virus and bacteria of it's food and give your immune system a chance to recover. One of the first changes you can make is to drink 500 ml's of freshly juiced organic celery juice every morning on an empty stomach.
My friend and colleague Sandy Fontannaz from Kuantika Healing is well versed in the principals of the Medical Medium and has been living and breathing his work for some time. She is in the process of updating her website to reflect that she offers sessions to guide you in implementing these dietary changes, so feel free to contact her for more info!
Groundbreaking.
5. The Sophia Code - Kaia Ra
In this fascinating book the author channels various Ascended Masters representing the Divine Feminine, including; Isis, Hathor, Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, Green Tara, Quan Yin and White Buffalo Woman.
It is a super powerful book which not only gives you an insight into the lives of these fascinating women, but contains energy activations at the end of each chapter. You read these activations or 'key codes' aloud to call in these divine feminine aspects to your soul.
I was guided to read this book as fast as possible, even to the point where I was falling asleep at midnight and I was being kept awake by the guides and encouraged to keep reading!
Two other healer friends were also guided to read this book at the same time, independent to me sharing the recommendation with them.
'Sophia' is the authors term for 'Source', 'The Divine', 'The Universe' or 'God' energy.
A must read for both men and women alike.
6. The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
A beautifully written book where you can feel the energy from the author coming through to your hands.
Eckhart is well known in spiritual circles and is a master teacher of our generation.
His book explains how we are all so busy worrying about the past (living in regret) or the future (living in fear) that we have trapped ourselves in our own mind.
Take your time reading this book and discover how to become more present and live in the now moment.
And also learn how to accept everything as it is.
We are all so caught up in drama and trying to change things, that truly stepping into these teachings (and not just reading the book) is wonderfully liberating.
A life changer for me!
7. The Presence Process - Michael Brown
A powerful book for self-healing.
It follows on from the principals set out by Eckart Tolle's 'The Power of Now'.
The first half of the book describes how we as humans love to avoid our own problems, by throwing ourselves into work, relationships, travel or addictive behaviour.
We are unhappy and try to change our external life, such as by leaving our partner, quitting our job or going out drinking to self-medicate the pain.
The second half of the book provides a process for freeing yourself from this pattern, and how to delve into the root of what is making you unhappy.
Essentially it is a ten week meditation process where you stop avoiding your pain and finally release it!
Unintegrated emotional trauma is the root cause of many of our problems.
Be brave and dive on in, you won't regret it!
8. Men Who Hate Women & The Women Who Love Them - Dr. Susan Forward, Ph. D and Joan Torres
Don't be put off by the title, this is a fascinating look into human relationships and how childhood patterns affect our behaviour and choices later in life.
The focus is on toxic relationships, mainly controlling, dominating men with submissive women. It explains how these patterns are formed and why these two types of people are attracted to one another.
It provides information on the characteristics of a misogynistic man (someone who either consciously or subconsciously hates women) and what his motives are. It is mainly his insecurities that have led him to be this way. And it is the woman's insecurities which have attracted him in!
Contains lots of great guidance on how to help yourself if you are in a controlling relationship.
Helpful and enlightening!
9. The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck - Mark Manson
One of my favourite books of the year!
This book taught me so much about Values and how to apply them in every day life.
It's not that we have to 'not give a f*ck' about anything, but as the author says, "In life, we have a limited amount of f*cks to give. So you must choose your f*cks' wisely!" So it's important to be clear on our priorities.
What is more important to you? Partying hard and meeting new people? Or saving money and studying something for a rewarding long term career? These are the sorts of questions we are faced with in every day life, and the author explains with great wit how to sort through them.
Our priorities change throughout our life and we need to regularly assess them to ensure we do not waste time doing what other people want us to do.
We then start to become clearer about setting boundaries and knowing when to say 'no' to people and activities that do not fulfill something that we truly care about.
Very entertaining and a quick read.
10. Nonviolent Communication - Marshall B. Rosenberg, PhD
This is the book I am currently reading.
A life changing way of communicating that can help us all have better relationships. With our partners, family, friends, colleagues, clients and strangers!
The Nonviolent Communication process is a way of communicating with people in the best possible way, in order to set a boundary or express a need.
Most of us jump straight into accusatory or judgemental dialogue "you always do that to me!" or react to others judgement on us.
The process has four steps, where we describe the action in a non-judgemental way, express how we feel, express our needs, then finalise with a request.
This is easy to learn, but can be difficult to apply in reality as we are all so conditioned to be reactive and defensive.
If we all stepped into more heart centred communication then we can indeed create a more peaceful world!
This book also assists with gaining more emotional vocabularly. How many of us just say "I'm p*ssed off", or "I'm ok" when what we are truly trying to say is "I am feeling angry" or "I am feeling frustrated".
Baby steps for us all, join me in trying to communicate better with others!
And that's a wrap!
Thank you for reading my '10 Most Helpful Books of 2018' article. I hope you enjoy reading one or more of these books as much as I did!
With love and hugs,
Did you enjoy this article? If so please Like and Share on Social Media and Subscribe / Comment below!
Renee Cusworth is a Holistic Coach & Consultant specialising in helping single people attract (and keep!) a loving partner. Based in Perth, Western Australia, she offers In Person sessions at her Mount Hawthorn clinic aswell as Online to clients around the world.
Click here to read more about her services and to book a session online.