books i love
Creation of The Book of Joy must've been an experience in and of itself. The Nobel Peace Prize laureates the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, both in their 80's, meet at the Dalai Lama's residence in Dharamsala, India for a week to talk about Joy. It is narrated by Douglas Abrams, who helped to conceive and write the book.
In the introduction, Abrams jokes about how their meeting sounds like the beginning of a bad joke....“A Buddhist, a Christian and a Jew walk into a bar"... but to me, it's exactly this varying perspective that makes the book/experience so important. Because I truly believe that the more we can focus on our similarities than our differences, the more we can come together and be more joyful.
I listened to the audiobook which has dialog by the authors that made it feel like I was there with them in India when they were having these discussions on joy. I found their insight very applicable to my life and walked away with some concrete ideas of how to bring more joy into my own life.
In 2013, my company selected me to participate in a pilot internal leadership program. As part of the program, we completed a StrengthsFinders assessment and read this book.
My results changed my life.
Yes, I know this sounds dramatic, but learned what I did best everyday changed me. It made me quit my job because I didn't have the opportunity to do what I do best everyday. And it's why I ultimately when to school to be a coach.
Many of my coaching sessions start off with one of these assessments. If you're curious what my results are, head over to my profile.
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls started out as a Kickstarter Campaign in 2016. I learned about it and preordered 2 books for the fiery girls in my life.
By Christmas, 2016, my ordered was filled for a children's book packed with 100 bedtime stories about the life of 100 extraordinary women from the past and the present, illustrated by 100 female artists from all over the world. My nieces were hooked.
Do you know why they created this book? Because girls never get to see someone like them in the books they read. The powerful message that got me was this YouTube video:
As you can imagine, the campaign was so successful and well received, they started a campaign for Volume 2, so I've linked both books on this page. It's safe to say I've bought both copies for just about ever girl I run into.
And so should you.
One of the most interesting things I learned in my early 20's was the different ways people showed each other how they love one another. In short the 5 Love Languages are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Gifts, Acts of Service and Physical Touch. Once I learned that people give and receive love differently, it really helped me understand my relationships differently.
I purchased the version for singles years ago, but this is the base book, The author also made ones for couples and of course there's a fun quiz so you can figure out which one you are. All versions teach you the same thing.