Book Review: Venus and Aphrodite: History of a Goddess by Bettany Hughes (Affiliate link)
This is a fascinating history and biography of Aphrodite that traces her roots back to prehistoric times and shows how the goddess morphed from Inanna/Ishtar in the East to Aphrodite/Venus. I’d consider this book an essential read if you want to learn more about the mysteries of Aphrodite and develop a closer relationship with the goddess.
Book Review: The Way of Men by Jack Donovan (affiliate link)
This is an interesting book that argues for an approach to masculinity that is focused around the concept of men being in a gang. I didn’t agree with all of the author’s perspectives, but my main take away was the recognition that men do need to bond with each other and men have been taught not to do that as much in the modern era. It’s a thought provoking read about what masculinity is and what it could be.
Book Review: No More Mr. Nice Guy by Robert Glover (Affiliate link)
This is a must read book for both men and women. While the book addresses behaviors of so-called nice guys, a lot of the behaviors cross over and show up with anyone who has co-dependency issues. What this book helps a recovering nice guy do is recognize their own value and needs and actually learn how to advocate for them, instead of continuing to give away their sense of power and identity. This is an excellent, must read book that can help anyone who needs to learn how to stop being a nice guy, so they can actually become a person who loves themselves and others in the best possible way.
Book Review: Hearticulations by Jeff Brown (affiliate link)
This is a must read book that provides some deep insights into the nature of the heart, relationships, healing from trauma and so much more. Reading this book helped me on my path to self love and provided me with insights to help me heal and work through some of my deeper baggage. This is a book that anyone would benefit from.
Book Review: Awareness by Anthony De Mello (affiliate link)
This is an eye-opening book that can help you understand how to cultivate genuine awareness in your life and show you how your attachments are getting in the way of that awareness. Reading this book and applying its practices along with my self-love practice has made a significant impact in my life and changed the way I approach and think about situations, love, people, and most importantly myself.
Book Review: Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on it by Kamal Ravikant (Affiliate link)
This book has been a life changer for me. It’s helped me find a way to self-validate through self-love and also release a lot attachments to outcomes and expectations. The practice is simple to apply, but sticking with it is key. It has changed my life in a month for the better and is something I’ll stick with for the rest of my life.
Book Review: A Lantern in the Dark by Danielle Blackwood (Affiliate link)
When you are going through life’s transitions it can be helpful to have a guide that provides illumination for the path forward, and to help you look back. This book is one such guide and it is an essential one. I wish I had read it in my early 40’s, but even reading it now, I find that it has given me some valuable insights and perspectives on the experiences in my life and it is helping me work with the necessary spiritual forces as I make plans for the rest of my life. I highly recommend this book to anyone as it will provide very helpful information on the crossroads of your life.
Book Review: The Way to Love by Anthony De Mello (Affiliate link)
Another fascinating book by De Mello which explores the nature of love and attachment and how each is different from the other. This was thought-provoking and challenging but gave me a lot to consider. I highly recommend it as a book to read that can change your relationship with love.
Book Review: King, Magician, Warrior, Lover By Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette (affiliate link)
This is a fascinating book that looks at the archetypes of masculinity, both in terms of the immature and mature masculine using the roles of the King, Warrior, Magician, and Lover as the archetypes. Reading this book helped me reflect on these roles in my own life and how I have sometimes embodied the immature masculine as well as the mature masculine. It’s given me ideas on how I can ground into the mature masculine more using the appropriate roles, while also being aware of the shadow aspects and how to work with them better.
Book Review: Wisdom of Love by Laurelei Black (Affiliate link)
The author presents a modern system of divination using Cowrie shells. She does an excellent job of explaining how the system works and how you can become proficient with it. She also provides a few sample readings. I’ve been using it each day and I’m getting accurate readings.
Book Review: The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other by James Hollis (Affiliate link)
This book explores the myth of the magical other, the person that will supposedly complete you and heal all your wounds. The author debunks this myth and shows how we project onto other people what we are looking for, when the healing work we need to be doing is the work within ourselves. By doing this work we can free ourselves of the need for the magical other and have healthier relationships with the people in our lives. This book took the scales off my eyes about my relationships and my role in them and showed me why its essential to let go of the attachment to the magical other.
Book Review: What women want in a man by Bruce Bryans (Affiliate link)
This is an interesting book. There’s some points I agree with and other points I disagree with, but reading it made me think about the relationships I had in the past and consider how I showed up in the relationships and how the women in my life responded to how I showed up. It’s worth reading if you want to take a different look at yourself and how you show up in relationships.
Book Review: What women want when they test men by Bruce Bryans (Affiliate link)
Reading this book was hard, because I initially had some knee jerk reactions but when I really began to consider what the author was sharing I was able to identify the behaviors he spoke of. It helped me understand my past relationships from a different angle and see some of the ways that a man can get tested and not even realize it. It gave me some deep food for thought on how I can be better grounded and aware of myself, and be less of a so-called nice guy.
Book Review: Live Your Truth by Kamal Ravikant (Affiliate link)
Another excellent book which explores why it’s important to live your truth, whatever that is, from a place of genuine honesty and connection. The various insights have helped me with my self-love journey and with bring my life to a different place where I am being honest with myself and what I really want, while also being less attached to all the things that otherwise get in the way.