I love peaceful stillness, the vibration and magic of dawn, and the soft slow way about the world in the early morning. One of my very favorite ways to marinate in those things is to roll out of bed wildly early, pour a hot cup of coffee, and sit by a window with a book.
Not with just any book, though, but one that will fill my mind with the wonders of the world. Priming my brain with themes like creativity, self-love, nature, spirituality, lifestyles, and writing create a focus for my days and weeks that makes me feel like I'm truly living.
I think this is largely understood as personal development, but I prefer to call it morning study.
I've been working my way through these and wanted to share my stack in case you're looking for a little inspiration or enrichment for your days.
The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down by Haemin Sunim
- This great little book is a perfect place to start - full of quick reminders about all aspects of life from a meditation guru, it gave me little bursts of inspiration to focus my days and my creativity.
Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine
- This is the second book by this author that I'm working through, and I love her perspective on creativity and weaving stories specifically for magic-infused children's literature. There are great writing exercises and suggestions in here if writing is something you'd like more practice with.
Finding Your Element by Ken Robinson
- For a long time, I was really hung up on the concept of finding my purpose in this lifetime, and while I think I've finally gotten to a comfortable place with that, I love reading things that solidify those ideas. This book highlights our skills and talents and helps the reader find the best use of those things.
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- You know when you really find your groove with something and some might call it "getting into the flow"? This book is all about that concept, and how to work your way into flow regularly to do your best work and be your best self.
The Cosmic Power Within You by Joseph Murphy
- A bit more on the woo-woo side, this book encourages you to find your essential power to improve all aspects of your life. I love a good energy-centering book for re-focusing my days, so I'm excited to get to this one.
Millenneagram by Hannah Paasch
- I'm a nut about the the Enneagram, and I think a lot of people in my generation find themselves easily defined by this framework. This book was written for my generation, in a modern, real-life way, and I'm excited to learn even more about it.
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
- This is a widely regarded book by writers of all types, and I even attempted to get through it years and years ago as a library rental. I wasn't ready for it. I really want to dig deep into it, though, because she mixes and likens writing with meditation and that sounds so very perfect for me. Matt bought me this copy for my birthday last year and I'm just sorry that it's taken me so long to get started with it!
A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech
- This is a silly looking book - from cover to illustrations - but it was so, so good. I loved learning about creativity and the way that school and society creates mental blocks in our pursuit of sameness and how to break free of that. I loved the little mental block tests and suggestions for creative growth. This is a great book for getting the gears turning!
Turning Life Into Fiction by Robin Hemley
- Write what you know is the most essential writing advice out there. This book takes that even further - showing how a writer can shape personal experience and little life moments into pieces of a fictional story. I've had this book for a long time and only gotten through bits of it, so I'm excited to learn more from it.
How I Resist by Maureen Johnson
- This is an anthology of all types of creative works that explore and discuss change and growth in our modern world. This is one of the books I chose for my social education and I'm really looking forward to experiencing these perspectives.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Gretchen Rubin is to blame for my fascination with habits, and while I think this book will cover a lot of the things she's already taught me through her works, I'm looking forward to reading this take on them. Matt read this one before and not only liked it but continuously told me I'd like it, so I'm expecting this one to be helpful.
We Are Not Yet Equal by Carol Anderson and Tonya Bolden
- I chose this book for my stack because I believe it was written with a young adult audience in mind and I wanted that perspective for teaching my children about acceptance, systemic racism and obviously, equality.
All of the above are either recent reads or books that I'm working towards, but I also have some recommendations for things I've read in the past that were incredible resources. I'm working on a roundup post of all of my favorite self-help reads and I'll be sure to share that with you soon, too.
Enjoy, and let me know if you've read anything along these lines that I should check out!
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