There’s something so healing about the right book finding you at the exact moment you need it, a helping hand from the universe when you require it most. And let’s be honest, is there any better feeling than getting a brand new book?

The books I am sharing today have grounded me during uncertainty, validated emotions I didn’t know how to put into words, and have supported me on my journey of life long healing!

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📚 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (one of my favourite books of all time)!

If you’ve ever felt unsure of your path, or have a lifelong dream that you have always wanted to embark on, The Alchemist reminds us that the search for purpose is never really about a destination, it’s about the becoming… the person you are constantly evolving into on your journey and the invaluable people and lessons you learn along the journey. Rather than it being a non-fiction self help book, this book follows a young shepherd on his journey to his treasure who has to continually overcome barriers, reframe his mindset, and come to know his own voice, personal goals, and the mindset required to chase your dreams.

I absolutely love this book – to the point I have bought it for multiple people in my life because the message was so powerful!

I do know other people that have struggled with this book, as I feel that sometimes people want clear cut answers. I do feel this book speaks directly to the soul rather than logic, but I would 10/10 recommend to anyone (along with Paulo Coelho’s other books, which I also adore)!

I would include just a favourite quote for this part, but I HAD to include this whole paragraph:

✨ Favourite quotes:

“Oscar Wilde said: ‘Each man kills the thing he loves.’ And it’s true. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far. I have known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reached their goal – when it was only a step away. This is the most dangerous of the obstacles because it has a kind of saintly aura about it. Renouncing joy and conquest. But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here.”

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

“To realise one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation.”

📖 The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest

This one… it may attack you from the first page, so if you’re not ready to be called to your higher self then keep that in mind. If fear, self-sabotage, or perfectionism have ever kept you stuck, this book is the companion you didn’t know you needed. Brianna explains that self-sabotage is just unhealed fear, from all of the trauma, negative narratives, and self-doubt we carry, and that transformation happens when you stop avoiding the discomfort of becoming and start holding space for your own growth and expansion.

✨ Favourite quotes:

“You are not lazy, unmotivated, or stuck. After years of living in survival mode, you are exhausted. There’s a difference.”

“Your new life is going to cost you your old one. It’s going to cost you your comfort zone and your sense of direction. It’s going to cost you relationships and friends. It’s going to cost you being liked and understood. It doesn’t matter. The people who are meant for you are going to meet you on the other side. You’re going to build a new comfort zone around the things that actually move you forward. Instead of being liked, you’re going to be loved. Instead of
being understood, you’re going to be seen. All you’re going to lose is what was built for a person you no longer are.”

“The way you are self-sabotaging: Mindlessly scrolling through social media as a way to pass the time. What your subconscious mind might want you to know: This is one of the easiest ways to numb yourself, because it is so accessible and addictive. There is a world-altering difference between using social media in a healthy way versus as a coping mechanism. Mostly, it has to do with how you feel after you’re finished. If you don’t put the phone down feeling inspired or relaxed, you’re probably trying to avoid some kind of discomfort within yourself—the very discomfort that just might be telling you that you need to change.”

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🪐 A Court of Mist and Fury (Book 2 of ACOTAR series) by Sarah J. Maas

So 6 months ago, you would never have caught me reading a fantasy series. I had never delved into that world, but omg now I have I don’t think I can ever go back! I know this is definitely more of a fiction book but the realisations and lessons this book has given me have been so unexpected. If you’ve ever in a version of yourself that didn’t reflect who you truly are, this book will hit hard. Feyre’s (the main character’s) journey in Book 2 is about reclaiming her power, learning to trust herself, and discovering what it means to live freely, not just survive and to leave a situation of “safety” into true freedom.

✨ Favourite Quotes:

“I wanted to see what was out there, I wanted to see who I was when I wasn’t melting inside a cage.”

“And I realised, I realised how badly I’d been treated before, if my standards had become so low. If the freedom I’d been granted felt like a privilege and not an inherent right.”

“You’re free. Not safe. Not protected. Free.”

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🌍 A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

This is a book one of my friends gave me whilst I was in uni. It was one of the first books that let me go deep, beyond the conscious mind to understand myself and the world in a different perspective. It’s about ego, identity, being present, and the role of spirituality and consciousness in transforming yourself and the world around you. I love how this book challenges the perception of who you think you are and leads you down a more conscious path leading to better self-awareness and compassion for everything.

✨ Favourite Quotes:

“Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you.”

“What a liberation to realize that the “voice in my head” is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that.”

“Whenever you become anxious or stressed, outer purpose has taken over, and you lost sight of your inner purpose. You have forgotten that your state of consciousness is primary, all else secondary.”

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📝 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think by Brianna Wiest

If you’re new to reading self-help content, this is a great place to start. Each short essay feels like a soft and thoughtful friend gently holding up a mirror to the parts of you that you can’t always see or understand. It covers everything from building emotional intelligence, creativity, boundaries, and purpose. It’s one of those books I always go back to when I need clarity as there is 101 different topics you can choose from!

✨ Favourite quotes:

“The things you love about others are the things you love about yourself. The things you hate about others are the things you cannot see in yourself.”

“Everything is hard in some way. It’s hard to be in the wrong relationship. It’s hard to be in the right one. It’s hard to be broke and miserable, it’s hard to achieve your dreams. It’s hard to be stuck in the middle, not really feeling anything at all. Everything is hard, but you choose your hard. You choose what’s worth it. You don’t choose whether or not you’ll suffer, but you do choose what you want to suffer for.”

“The universe whispers until it screams, and happy people listen while the call is still quiet”

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🧠 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

This one is more structured and long but so valuable. What stuck with me most was the idea of “response-ability” –  the space between stimulus and response, where we get to choose how we react. Mind = blown lol.

This book reminded me that I have more power than I think, especially when it comes to how I meet challenges and that when you bring things into your awareness and perceive them differently, nothing can stop you from achieving a goal. It teaches you to be a better listener, collaborator, and leader. This is definitely more of a strategic book that requires you to think logically.

✨ Favourite Quotes:

“But until a person can say deeply and honestly, “I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,” that person cannot say, “I choose otherwise.”

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”

“We see the world, not as it is, but as we are──or, as we are conditioned to see it.”

“Look at the word responsibility—“response-ability”—the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behaviour.”

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🧬 Becoming Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza

This might be one of my favourite books of all time. This one feels like science meeting spirituality. Joe Dispenza explores how our thoughts, emotions, and energy literally shape our reality and how meditation has the potential to change us on a genetic level. Read that again.

Whilst some parts are dense and look quite scary to interpret (yes, I’m talking about the brain scan images he includes lol) it is a different way to look at manifestation – one that is backed by scientific evidence and research. It made me rethink how my body holds onto the past, and how intentional self-regulation (breathwork, meditation, emotional awareness) can actually rewire us. If this doesn’t make you wanna meditate I don’t know what will!

✨ Favourite Quotes:

“The brain thinks, but the heart knows.”

“People used to think that genes created disease and that we were at the mercy of our DNA. So, if many people in someone’s family died of heart disease, we assumed that their chances of also developing heart disease would be pretty high. But we now know through the science of epigenetics that it’s not the gene that creates disease but the environment that programs our genes to create disease- the expression is what matters most because that is what affects our health and our lives.”

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💌 When You’re Ready, This Is How You Heal by Brianna Wiest

Yes, another Brianna Wiest book (if you can’t tell, I love her work). Again, this book is filled with short essays/chapters that ask you to think differently. This book is about the disruption that healing causes (in the BEST way) – allowing this disruption to wake us up and become more conscious of the pain and stories that hold us back. This one is probably the most personal and powerful. It’s about letting go of the timelines, putting pressure on yourself, and the belief that healing has to look a certain way. It really made me feel seen, and I’m sure it will for you too.

✨ Favourite Quotes:

“Everything that is meant for you will feel like a deep exhale, as though you are returning home to a place you forgot existed”

“You will have to build a home no matter where you are. You will have to decorate and settle and reach out. You will have to find rhythms and routines. You will have to be vulnerable, and you will have to be seen. There is nowhere we can turn to that is an escape from ourselves.”

“When we feel most stuck, it is often because we are trying to decipher who we really are by piecing together images we assume others have of us. What we don’t realize is that there is not just one, singular version of us that exists. There’s our experience of ourselves, and then the kaleidoscope of ways we are perceived by others. When we spend all of our lives trying to manage those perceptions, we become completely lost within them.”

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Final Thoughts

Books won’t fix your problems,  but they meet you where you are and can change your whole perspective. They’ll sit with you in the quiet moments and offer guidance, laughter, and joy when you need it most.

I hope one of these finds you at the right time, and if you’ve read any of these, I’d love to hear how they impacted you or if there are others you would recommend!

Let me know if you’d be interested in a little Kindred Reads book club too. I feel like we all deserve to read in soft, safe spaces and it’s good to have accountability to continue our reading. It is so important, yet I feel we don’t make enough time for it these days!

Lots of love,

Megs xxx