Welcome to this month’s Aspire Magazine Top 10 Inspirational Books list! You’ll discover inspirational and empowering books, written by women and for women, each dedicated to sharing a universal message of love, hope and self-empowerment. Through their wisdom-filled books, these visionary female authors are illuminating the path for women on the journey of healing and self-discovery. Add these transformational books to your inspired living resource library.
Waking Up in Winter: In Search of What Really Matters at Midlife by Cheryl Richardson
Internationally recognized coach and New York Times bestselling author Cheryl Richardson has toured the world empowering others to make lasting change. But when Richardson’s own life no longer worked as it once had, a persistent, inner voice offered unmistakable guidance: it was time to reevaluate her life to uncover what really mattered.
Waking Up in Winter is the candid and revelatory account of how at midlife, Richardson found renewed contentment and purpose through a heroic, inward journey. The unfolding story, told through intimate journal entries, follows Richardson from the first, gentle nudges of change to a thoughtfully reimagined life – a soulful, spring awakening.
With an experienced coach’s intuition and an artist’s eye, Richardson reexamines everything – her marriage, her work, her friendships, and her priorities – gracefully shedding parts of the self that no longer serve along the way.
A Year of Inspired Living: Essays and Guided Journaling for Self-Reflection by Kelly Martinsen
As publisher of Natural Awakenings Long Island magazine, each month Kelly Martinsen writes a
letter to readers that sets the tone of that issue’s unique editorial theme. Four years ago, within two days of publishing her first letter, ‘You Only Regret the Things You Don’t Do,’ a reader called to thank her for the thought-provoking piece that spoke deeply to her. Month after month, topic after topic, responses to Martinsen’s editorial letters grew and readers were connecting with her words in life-changing ways.
A Year of Inspired Living is a monthly chapter book with weekly sub-chapters, compiling and expanding on Martinsen’s letters leaving the last page of each week for the reader to write their own letter. Chapter topics include: love, commitment, faith, challenges, death, freedom, middle age, children, cancer, dog poop and more. Written in a familiar voice, A Year of Inspired Living speaks with wisdom, tongue-in-cheek self-effacing humor, and raw honesty to help readers reach into the hidden corners of their lives and develop a greater awareness of their own personal relationships and journeys. To help them reap the maximum benefit of their experiences, a reflection question and blank page follows each weekly entry, guiding and inspiring them to record their own life-story.
The Holistic Home: Feng Shui for Mind, Body, Spirit, Space by Laura Benko
The Holistic Home is based on an original lifestyle concept focused on creating a dynamic, healthy, and thoughtful space within yourself and your home by combining three planes of action—mind, body, and spirit—that result in profound change.
The condition of the mind affects the psychology of how you dwell: subconscious influences, decorating with intention, and allowing your emotional issues and challenges to manifest in your space. The physical aspects of your design space, such as furniture positioning, design elements, sustainability, wellness, and organization, are representative of your relationship with your body. And finally, the spirit refers to all the invisible energies within you and your home—feng shui, atmosphere, and the soul of your home.
Years ago, author and holistic feng shui expert Laura Benko was diagnosed with a rare cancer. Around that time, a book serendipitously fell on her head. She took this as a much-needed sign to devote the next decade of her life to research and hundreds of transformative holistic design consultations. Her clients’ real-life, inspiring stories, along with specific actions and tips, have become the foundation for The Holistic Home.
Life by Design: 52 Lists, Questions, and Inspirations for Finding Your Happiness by Miranda Hersey
A beautifully illustrated guided journal that helps readers find their purpose and create the life they truly want.
Applying design thinking to work and life is a burgeoning trend, and Life by Design is a journal that functions as a practical workbook to help readers apply the principles of life design to their own decision-making. From career to love to extracurricular pursuits, this book helps readers figure out how to innovate and iterate their way to a well-lived life. Each spread offers a list prompt that encourages readers to think about where they are and where they want to go, and offers life design advice related to the prompt. By completing one list per week, the readers will be able to map out a clear plan to achieve the happiness they deserve.
A Book That Takes Its Time: An Unhurried Adventure in Creative Mindfulness (Flow) by Irene Smit
Take time to breathe. Take time to create. Take time to reflect, take time to let go. A book that’s unique in the way it mixes reading and doing, A Book That Takes Its Time is like a mindfulness retreat between two covers.
Created in partnership with Flow, the groundbreaking international magazine that celebrates creativity, beautiful illustration, a love of paper, and life’s little pleasures, A Book That Takes Its Time mixes articles, inspiring quotes, and what the editors call “goodies”—bound-in cards, mini-journals, stickers, posters, blank papers for collaging, and more—giving it a distinctly handcrafted, collectible feeling.
Read about the benefits of not multitasking, then turn to “The Joy of One Thing at a Time Notebook” tucked into the pages. After a short piece on the power of slowing down, fill in the designed notecards for a Beautiful Moments jar. Make a personal timeline. Learn the art of hand-lettering. Dig into your Beginner’s Mind. Embrace the art of quitting. Take the writing cure. And always smile. Move slowly and with intention through A Book That Takes Its Time, and discover that sweet place where life can be both thoughtful and playful.
Believe and Receive: Use the 40 Laws of Nature to Attain Your Deepest Desires by Melissa Alvarez
The universe wants you to achieve everything you desire in life, and with this practical book’s guidance,
you can. Believe and Receive is a powerful reference book that examines forty natural laws of the universe through a realistic approach. These natural laws can be used to help you see the opportunities in any situation and work with intention toward your goals.
Melissa Alvarez dedicates a chapter to each natural law, providing description and history, an associated affirmation, useful application tips, and try-it-now exercises. Believe and Receive makes it easy to work with the laws and understand how they connect you to the universe. Once you learn how to properly combine your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and expectations with positive energy, you’ll grow spiritually and live a successful, abundant life.
Conquer Negative Thinking for Teens: A Workbook to Break the Nine Thought Habits That Are Holding You Back 1st Edition by Mary Karapetian Alvord PhD and Anne McGrath MA
This workbook offers a powerful technique called cognitive restructuring to help you reframe your thoughts, regulate your emotions, become a more flexible thinker, and stop letting your thoughts define who you are and how you feel. You’ll learn to target the nine specific kinds of negative thinking habits that can cause you to worry or feel bad, such as the I can’t habit, the doom and gloom habit, the all or nothing habit, the jumping to conclusions habit, and more!
Each chapter will walk you through simple explanations of each kind of negative thought, and offers real-life examples—as well as the sorts of behaviors, emotions, and bodily sensations that might be expected. You’ll also gain an understanding of unhelpful or unrealistic thoughts, how to challenge them, how to replace them with more realistic and helpful thoughts, and an action plan for moving forward.
By recognizing these negative thinking habits, you’ll feel more in control and less anxious and sad. Most importantly, you’ll be able to see yourself and the world more clearly. Your thoughts don’t have to define who you are and how you experience life. The transdiagnostic approach in this book will show you how to kick negative thinking habits to the curb for good!
The Gratitude Jar: A Simple Guide to Creating Miracles 2nd Edition by Josie Robinson
Discover the simple, yet profound, wisdom inside the little book being passed from hand to hand, fromfriend to friend, since it debuted in small local gift shops and bookstores across America…
The Gratitude Jar is a book that has come to light when the world deeply needs to read its message. The story itself is a heartwarming, inspirational tale of spiritual transformation and self-discovery, but it is also a guidebook with the power to instantly release the negative belief systems no longer serving you….and to direct your steps with new energy onto the path of joy and personal freedom.
Nourish your soul and restore your faith in the goodness of the world as you begin to use its simple truths within your daily life. The time is right to hear its message, and to accept the invitation that awaits inside its pages to a joyful and inspiring new life.
Finding the Gift: Daily Meditations for Mindfulness by Angela Howell
“In Finding the Gift: Daily Meditations for Mindfulness you’ll find refreshing insight and an abundance of wisdom. Angela Howell shows us how we already have everything we need for our happiness and well-being and how to harness that. I believe you will treasure this book, as I do!”
Marci Shimoff, #1 NY Times Bestselling author of for No Reason, Love for No Reason, Chicken Soup for the Woman’s SoulFinding the Gift: Daily Meditations for Mindfulness encourages readers to press pause for a few moments every day to gain life-changing insights from metaphors found in the most unlikely places. Whether it’s from watching a favorite pet, a calm moment with nature, or a trip through the car wash, lessons to challenge and improve our well-being are everywhere, when we’re mindfully watching for them.
Every Day Is Epic: A Guided Journal for Daydreams, Creative Rants, and Bright Ideas by Mary Kate McDevitt
It’s your life, in your own words.
In this one-year guided journal from artist Mary Kate McDevitt, every entry sparks creativity and self-reflection with inspiring prompts, upbeat affirmations, and interactive doodles. Chronicle big plans and budding ideas. Jot down daydreams or forecast your mood. Rate the day’s accomplishments: major, minor, or meh? With quirky humor and vibrant illustrations, every page is a celebration of the adventures, discoveries, and joys that make your life uniquely epic.
Thank you for this list. I would like to suggest “Left to Tell” by Immaculee.
Thrilled to see LIFE BY DESIGN on your list. Thank you so much! xo Miranda