As a follow-on from yesterday’s Day 13 post about how and why audiobooks are great tools in CFS / ME / Spoonie management, I have made a list of 10 Audiobooks I got a lot of value out of via Audible.
I give you the names and authors of the books, and a short description of why I loved each one.
Interestingly, despite the name of the first book, none of them are really about illness. They are more about personal development, human psychology, business and spirituality.
My 10 Top Audiobook Recommendations (So Far!)
1. Dying To Be Me – My Journey From Cancer To Near Death To True Healing by Anita Moorjani
This book changed my life, and I still listen to it on a regular basis – particularly certain chapters.
It found it a rivetingly honest account of an experience that I would usually have some skepticism for. As Anita reads the book herself, I hear in the tone of her voice and everything in her being that she truly experienced what she said she did.
More importantly, regardless of whether you believe she had a near-death experience, the wisdom she gained from the experience profoundly affected me and the way I live my life. I listen to Chapter 16 , 17 and 18 (19, 20 & 21 in the audio) over and over – particularly if I’m having a tough day.
I highly recommend this audiobook.
2. Women, Food and God: An Unexpected Path To Almost Anything by Geneen Roth
I actually wrote a blog on this book because I loved it so much. It’s not a great description of the book, as I was extremely ill at the time and was just trying to write a short post.
I find this book is just a really interesting exploration of our attitudes to food and how they link back to our attitudes to everything.
When it says “God” it’s more about spirituality than the view of God that comes from organised religion.
It’s a really interesting book and very easy to listen to. It’s read by the author, who I find has a lovely way about her (sometimes these books are read by the author and sometimes they’re read by someone else. I love ones read by the author but if they’re a good enough book it doesn’t really matter).
3. Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living The Wisdom of The Tao by Wayne Dyer
In this wonderful book, Wayne Dyer explores each verse of the Tao te Ching, giving his 21st century spin on each of the verses that Lao Tzu wrote so long ago.
I find the whole book very contemplative and meditative. I can listen to one chapter and then stop it and just ponder those things over the day. Or I also sometimes choose a chapter/verse at random and listen to it a number of times while doing my housework.
This is especially the case when I am having an inward struggle over something. Whichever chapter I pick seems to be the exact message I need to hear, so that’s why I repeat it and just allow the wisdom to seep into me! I hope it does anyway 🙂
4. A New Earth: Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
This is another book that changed my life and I have listened to numerous times. The benefits I get out of it are similar to those I get from Anita Moorjani’s book and Wayne Dyer’s book on the Tao (see above).
I find it has so much wisdom in it, but also many things to ponder about the way I live my life and the way I want to live me life in order to be the best me I can be.
Years ago I tried to read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, but after a while I put it down because I just couldn’t process it.
I think it was so simple and I was looking for something else. I just think I wasn’t ready to hear the messages in it. I keep meaning to get the audiobook and listen to it, but haven’t done so yet. I think I’m finally ready for it!
5. Delivering Happiness: A Path To Passions, Profit And Purpose by Tony Hsieh
For people interested in business or internet business (or looking at the psychology of how culture works within business) this is a fantastic book.
Tony Hsieh and the brand he co-created – Zappos – is one based totally around the customer and employee experience. It’s about the people, rather than the money.
And what they found was when they stayed true to themselves and focussed on the people, then the money followed.
It’s a fascinating story of how a business grew from nothing to one that Amazon purchased for over US$1Billion.
I got a lot out of it for my life in general and not just business. And once again, because Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay) reads it, it makes it that little bit better!)
6. Crush It! Why Now Is The Time To Cash In On Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk
Even without the high quality content, this is just great to listen to because Gary Vaynerchuk actually reads it and he’s just magnetic and he’s great to listen to.
It’s well worth listening to just to boost your spirits if you like Gary Vee’s style.
Crush It! is about identifying your passion and then following it into business with gusto basically – and hustling, as he often says (that means working really hard and never giving up, if you’re not familiar with the word. Or that’s my definition anyway!) 🙂
7. The 5 Love Languages: The Secret To Love That Lasts by Gary Chapman
This best-selling book was one I’d always wanted to read, but never got round to it. That’s another one of the beauties of audiobooks – you can consume books faster, while also doing other tasks!
So what’s it about?
It’s a very practical book about the different ways that people have of giving and receiving love.
So, often when we’re attempting to give love to other people, we give it in our language and in the way we most like being given love.
But that may not be the way that the other person most likes being given love. So they can’t receive our love in the way that we expect them to.
When we learn our own love language, we can teach our partners to speak our love language, and, similarly, we can learn our partner’s love language, and speak to them in that language.
It might sound complicated, but it’s really quite simple, and very easy to understand. This book is well worth looking into for all types of relationships.
The author has also written books about the 5 Love Languages of Children and the 5 Love Languages in Business, and other similar books.
8. The 3 Laws of Performance: Rewriting The Future of Your Organization & Your Life by Steve Zaffron & Dave Logan
This book is written by people who work in the business arm of Landmark Education.
Landmark Education (now known as Landmark Worldwide) is an organization where I’ve done many training and development courses that have changed my life.
And the second half of this book really breaks down the basics of the Landmark Forum and gives you the distinctions and tools to use in your own life.
It gives you the tools to help you put your past in the past and live a life of possibility.
The first half is a number of examples where really big businesses have been turned around using these techniques and distinctions.
I can never do justice to explaining the amazing programs of Landmark Education, but this book, because it’s written by a couple of people who are very senior in the organization, really does do justice to it all.
So if you’re really interested in what I talk about when I talk about the Landmark Forum and Landmark Education, this is a great book to read (or listen to in this case).
And if you’re really interested and are well enough, just go and DO the Landmark Forum. You’ll never regret it!
9. The Four Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferris
I mentioned this book in Day 13. It was a groundbreaking book of the time and it was groundbreaking for me when I listened to it last year.
It just gives you a whole different perspective on how people are going about making money online and offline, and how they use outsourcing and other things to do this.
Look, I won’t even try to summarise it, but it’s a great book if you’re really interested in that sort of thing.
10. The Shadow Effect: Illuminating The Hidden Power of Your True Self – by Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson & Debbie Ford
This book is another fascinating book if you’re interested in the way your mind works, and more importantly, the way we try to hide the ‘other’ side of ourselves that we are not proud of (aka our Shadow self!).
It’s about learning to embrace both our so-called positive and negative sides, and see ourselves as a whole person, who has multiple dimensions.
And when we deny or resist the dimensions of ourselves that we see as negative, it can be extremely harmful to us in the long run.
I really related to this book on many levels, as I’m sure most people would. It’s sometimes confronting, but it’s also reassuring in a “oh, so other people think like me too” sort of way.
It’s also read by the authors – the legends that they are! – so that is a huge bonus in my book (my audio book – I crack myself up ;-)).
This is gone longer than I thought but I really hope that you see something in this list that you decide to get as an audio book.
I really hope that you start to discover Audiobooks if you haven’t done so already, and that you continue to do so if you have already discovered them.
Today’s Action Step
Pick one of these books that interests you, get it and listen to it – whether it be via Audible, a free site or your local library. Then let me know in the comments, Twitter or Facebook what you thought of it!
indtil i morgen mine venner (Until tomorrow my friends in Danish)
Keep Smiling 🙂
Louise
Related Posts
Day 1: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – 3 Myths of Acceptance That Hold Us Back
Day 2: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – It Is As It Is. Choose It!
Day 3: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – 5 Ways To Control Our Thoughts When In Overwhelm & Despair
Day 4: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – 6 Things You Can ALWAYS Do Despite CFS / ME
Day 5: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – 7 Ways To Focus Your Thoughts On Something Uplifting
Day 6: 31 Day To A Better CFS Life – Being Present – 7 Simple Mindfulness Techniques To Help Manage CFS
Day 7: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – Learning To Ask For Help – 5 Simple Tasks You Can ‘Outsource’ To Help Manage CFS
Day 8: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – Discover Podcasts – 5 Steps To Finding & Listening To Good Podcasts
Day 9: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – Listen To Your Body. I Am Today!
Day 10: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – 10 Ways To Nurture Yourself & Fill Your Bucket
Day 11: 31 Day To A Better CFS Life – 5 Ways To Combat Spoonie Mother Guilt on Mother’s Day!
Day 12: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – My 5 Fave Ways To Connect With The Online CFS / ME Community
Day 13: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – How & Why Audiobooks Are A Great Illness-Management Tool
Day 15: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life: 5 Tips For Getting Tasks Done When You Have CFS / ME
Day 16: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – What Are You Struggling With Most Right Now?
Day 17: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life: What Are You Doing WELL In Managing CFS / ME / Fibro? What Are You NOT Struggling With?
Day 18: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – 3 Things I Struggle With At The Moment & How I Manage Them
Day 19: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – 101 Ways I Manage CFS / ME & Electrosensitivity Pain
Day 20: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – 5 Benefits Of Writing To Help Manage CFS / ME
Day 21: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – Gratitude is Healing – 5 Ways To Practise Gratitude
Day 22: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – A Letter To Partners Of People With CFS / ME
Day 23: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – 7 Healthy, Safe Ways To Release Emotions
Day 24: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – Letter To The General Public From Those With CFS / ME / FM – Part 1
Day 25: 31 Days To A Better CFS Life – Letter To The General Public Pt 2 – How You Can Support Someone Who Has CFS / ME / FM