Some Of My Favorite Things
Here are some favorite recommendations for books, podcasts, journals, and other resources. May some of these support you on your path forward through this life.
My Favorite Journal:
The Onion Skin Journal was created by a very good friend and client of mine. I love how fancy yet usable it is and makes me enjoy my journaling practice even more. I love sharing this journal with all of my clients and with you! She offers a variety of different paper & journal options on her website.
Website journal description:
Iconic. One-of-a-kind. The Onion Skin Journal is the only journal filled with the elusive onion skin paper. Also known as airmail paper, this 100% wood pulp paper has been used for centuries. Slightly translucent, thin, and durable, onion skin has unique characteristics that make it a coveted paper around the world. After use it develops a slightly cockled finish that evokes an old world feel. Fabricated by a 3rd generation bookmaker.
Use discount code ‘INNERDEPTHS15’ to save 15% at checkout at www.theonionskinjournal.com
Book Recommendations:
“Discontent is evidence that your imagination has not given up on you.”
— Untamed by Glennon Doyle
Out of all the books I have read and recommended to others, this one has got to be my #1 recommendation. While it is an easy read, with short well-written chapters, it speaks to the soul in a deep and significant way. To anyone feeling the least bit unfulfilled in their current life situation or on the precipice of a major life transition, Glennon’s prose and observations puts words to the feelings that one feels during such an experience. This book was deeply influential to my own self-discovery journey and life in general. I continue to refer back to this book on a regular basis. This book is one to read actively (with a pen and/or highlighter), as I have stars and underlined paragraphs, added exclamation points and a ton of dog-eared corners! With every new read through, I find more quotes or concepts that I’m drawn to highlight. I have recommended this book to several clients, all of which were also deeply impacted by a variety of different sections of this book. I can’t rave enough about Untamed.
“It’s okay to feel all of the stuff you’re feeling. You’re just becoming human again. You’re not doing life wrong; you’re doing it right. If there’s any secret you’re missing, it’s that doing it right is just really hard. Feeling all your feelings is hard, but that’s what they’re for. Feelings are for feeling. All of them. Even the hard ones. The secret is that you’re doing it right, and that doing it right hurts sometimes.”
— Untamed by Glennon Doyle
“There are too many people in the world today who decided to live disappointed rather than risk feeling disappointment”
— Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
As a very close second as one of my favorite books, I firmly believe everyone needs this book in their collection. I am so obsessed with this book that not only do I have the audiobook (narrated by Brene Brown herself, and it's awesome) but I also have the hard copy with notes filling almost every page. Brene’s book is a great resource to improve our emotional vocabulary. So many of us, myself included, don’t realize how limited or underdeveloped our emotional vocabulary truly is. Additionally, many of us don’t use certain emotional labels accurately. This Atlas of the Heart should be a staple in every household! Brene crack opens a deeper way to connect with your own human experience and offers a way to build compassion and help us all reconnect with our humanity.
“We need to dispel the myth that empathy is ‘walking in someone else’s shoes.’ Rather than walking in your shoes, I need to learn how to listen to the story you tell about what it’s like in your shoes and believe you even when it doesn’t match my experiences.”
— Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
“Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going on inside ourselves”
— The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
For anyone who needs scientific research and studies to trust various mental health approaches, this book is for you. To be completely transparent, this is a hard read, BUT it's completely worth the effort. The first half of the book does slightly remind me of biology class, as you learn about the brain, the history of what we know about trauma and the brain, and other very helpful scientific explanations. It is mixed with great personal stories from the author, which helps keep it engaging! The second half of the book is full of various treatment approaches to trauma, some that are now more mainstream and others that are up-and-coming approaches. The author goes into great detail, and shares results (both good and not as good), and his personal experience with each of these treatments. If you or a loved one has experienced trauma, or you have an interest in the mental health field, this is a must-read! While it took me a while to get through it, I am so glad I read it. I have referred to the book multiple times since!
“As a psychological and spiritual model that lays out specific paths of self-development, it helps us ‘wake up’ to ourselves by revealing the habitual patterns and blind spots that limit our growth and transformation.”
— The Enneagram Guide to Waking Up by Beatrice Chestnut, PhD & Uranio Paes, MM
This was my 3rd or 4th Enneagram book purchased, but one of my favorite to recommend to others as a great introduction to the Enneagram. Each chapter starts with a cute story of how each “type” came to be and how each type may look in their “zombie” (or autopilot) state. The authors provide some direct development suggestions on how each type can “wake up.” They review the basics of the Enneagram (core type, subtype, wings, lines, shadow work, etc.) in manageable chapters that help the reader grasp their type a little easier than in some other books. I use this book with my clients, when I need a refresher on a specific area with a specific type. You can even read this book from cover to cover if you want, as its very informative and not overwhelming.
“In order to change behavior to achieve personal growth, we must develop one capacity: We must develop the ability to create the mental and emotional space inside ourselves to observe and understand what we are doing and think about why we do it.”
— The Complete Enneagram by Beatrice Chestnut, PhD
No matter how many Enneagram books I buy and read, this one is still my main go-to. It is not a book to sit down and read cover to cover, but there are so many gems in the introduction, within each type’s chapter, and at the end, that I am still tempted to read it cover to cover. Beatrice goes into a lot of detail with each type, subtype, lines, etc. In the appendix, she spends time comparing types that are commonly mistyped as each other. I use this book as a resource and guide when working with my clients, having deep discussions with other Enneagram practitioners, or when I am doing some of my own work on my development. My book is full of notes, post-its, dog-eared corners, and more. I highly recommend this book as a bookshelf staple for even the most casual Enneagram explorer.