Think and Grow Rich
by Napoleon Hill
This is the other contender for the “Best Wealth Consciousness Book Ever,” and another old-timey one. I forgot to mention that Wallace Wattle’s book is old-timey, too, but hello, look at the guy’s name. Anyway, Napoleon Hill interviewed the most successful businessmen at the time to gather the information for this incredible, how-to guide. I read this book over and over, too. It’s very to the point, a total ass-kicker, and breaks everything down into simple, easy-to-follow instructions. Do what he says (and really do all of it) and you will be large and in charge.
Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live
by Martha Beck
I’ve seen Martha speak and have read lots of her work and really love her voice—so refreshing and brilliant and hilarious. This book is awesome, really walks you through some good steps and asks some great questions to get you the clarity you seek. She’s big on looking past just what’s going on in your head and connecting with your body to get clarity and guidance from there as well. She’s had a super successful coaching institute for ages and is one of my favorites in the field.
Getting to I Do: The Secret to Doing Relationships Right
by Dr. Patricia Allen
I’m pretty sure I tore the cover off this one before carrying it around, but in spite of its totally unforgivable title, there are some real eye-openers in here about the nature of men and women and how differently we go about relationships. Written for women by someone who has coached thousands of happy couples into long-term relationships, it’s full of brilliant insights and tips on how to find and be in the relationship of your dreams. As with all this stuff, there will probably be parts you don’t agree with (she’s like a strict Christian mother on the sex issue), but it’s got lots of very valuable information and is definitely worth a read by both men and women.
Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life
by Byron Katie
Read this book! I demand it. It is the Holy Grail of being happy in your relationships. Based on what Katie calls “The Work”—which is essentially just asking yourself four simple, yet profound, questions— this book spends about ten pages walking you through the steps of The Work and a couple hundred on case studies. It’s basically like watching Katie perform her magic on all sorts of people, from those who’ve been brutally raped to people who’ve lost their children to those who want happier marriages. She walks them through her process and they suddenly find peace and freedom. It’s so cool AND The Work is a piece of cake. When you read it, I recommend reading the case studies first and then doing The Work on yourself instead of the other way around. Seeing her do it over and over will make it much easier for you to get better results when you try it on yourself.
The Way of the Superior Man: A Spiritual Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Women, Work and Sexual Desire
by David Deida
This book is made for a man, but the ladies must read it, too, if they really want to understand how men work. I thought it was brilliant and fascinating and explained SO much about the opposite sex that made me respect men even more. And the guys I’ve suggested it to said it was massively empowering. It speaks to, and explains, the highest version of masculinity, reminding us ladies why we love the fellas so much and reminding men how truly awesome they are/can be.
SEMINARS
PAX—Allison Armstrong
I took one of their brilliant seminars for women called “Understanding Men, Celebrating Women,” all about the difference between the sexes that had me on the floor—how did I make it this far and not know any of this? I thought it was so well done and not even that cheesy. I went to just that one seminar but I highly enjoyed their recordings as well and have heard great things about their other workshops.
The Hoffman Institute
Kay, so, this is the full-on,
are-you-fucking-kidding-me
one. This involves beating pillows with baseball bats while shrieking at the top of your lungs, marrying yourself, singing lullabies to your inner child—basically everything that would have most people running for their lives. It was so over the top that you couldn’t help but give into it because what the hell else could you do? Luckily, it’s run by incredibly sweet and skilled people who also have excellent senses of humor about what they’re asking you to do and you spend a solid week of nonstop seminar and digging deep into your past and your limiting beliefs and letting them go. It’s like a limiting-belief high-colonic. I loved it as much as I hated it and highly, highly recommend it. Brilliant and transformative (and the food was awesome).
Other good speakers to keep an eye out for: Martha Beck, Esther Hicks, Marianne Williamson, Byron Katie, Wayne Dyer, David Neagle, Deepak Chopra, Gabrielle Bernstien.
Thanks to everyone at the funny farm, especially Horseface McGee and Goatly Thing One and Goatly Thing Two for keeping me company, staring at me while I wrote, cracking me up, and showing me that I’m capable of unconditional love by chewing through the door and pooping all over the couch. I owe many thanks to my agent, Peter Steinberg, for all his hard work, support and camaraderie. Gigantic, tearful, are-you-kidding-me’s go to Gina DeVee for saving the day with her insight, humor and ruthlessly loving red pen, and to Alice Fiori and Bill Campbell for their friendship, endless generosity, support and high thread count sheets. Thanks to Jennifer Kasius, Monica Parcell and everyone at Running Press, Anders Pederson, Crystalyn Hoffman, Julie Faherty, my sweet mama, Michael Flowers, Katharine Dever, and The Universe, for all the endless awesomeness.