We’ve been busy launching holiday deals and working with our incredible clients, but we’ve also kept making time to read high on our priority list. Building time into our morning routine and taking advantage of some sunny beach days helps keep learning and growth at the forefront. Below, we share some highlights of our reading list over the past few months.
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The Alchemist
Paulo Coehlo
Taking a break from the writing style of recent reads, the storytelling format of Paulo Coehlo’s The Alchemist provides a quick yet inspiring read. Coehlo tells the story of a boy who chooses to follow his dream, with tales of travel, love, theft and soul searching. While this reads like a storybook, there are a number of lessons hidden within the text. We learn to listen to our hearts, to persevere through challenges, to continue our own journeys and discover our personal treasures. Reminiscent of The Noticer by Andy Andrews, The Alchemist brings wisdom to light through the magic and wonder of what surrounds us if we are willing to listen.
The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World
Melinda Gates
In The Moment of Lift, Gates shows us how empowering women can change the world. She shares stories of her travel experiences meeting and learning about underlying issues in different cultures and societies, and clearly describes the impactful change that comes when women feel empowered. With topics from child marriage to contraceptive access and gender inequality, she presents a clear understanding of how empowering women can lift society up, how a deeper understanding and cultural immersion allow us to affect change in a more powerful way, and how to tackle challenges in a way that will be embraced. Gates’ inspiring stories of those she has met through her work in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation spotlights the remarkable impact of female empowerment.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach To Living A Good Life
Mark Manson
After seeing others read The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck on flight after flight over the past few years, it was time to see what all the fuss was about. Mark Manson uses raw humor and harsh truths of real talk to help discover a happier life. Don’t be surprised to find some crude humor and entertaining stories as Manson pushes us to embrace our differences and be a pariah for the sake of our personal values. He states that happiness comes from our ability to find and solve problems we enjoy, and explains how goals of the next promotion, or raise, or house purchase fail to bring extended happiness. He discusses mediocrity, healthy values and responsibility. What most resonated with us was the idea that the “only way to achieve meaning and a sense of importance in one’s life is through a rejection of alternatives, a narrowing of freedom, a choice of commitment to one place, one belief, or (gulp) one person.” That rejection — the choices limiting freedom — is what ultimately allows us to truly live our values.
Action isn’t just the effect of motivation; it’s the cause of it.
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
Michael Singer
While this book was admittedly difficult to finish, it brought about great conversation on what our minds are capable of, how to let go and choose happiness and strategies for staying present. Singer offers some great analogies to help deepen the understanding of the concepts within The Untethered Soul, but left us wanting more practical guidance to implementation. Pieces of this book showed great potential, with examples of how we are stuck in our thought cycle, clarifying the self as the observer of all the comments, criticisms and conversations within one’s own mind, and explaining how we close off to protect from fear. However, don’t be surprised when practical application is seemingly missing.
What’s your choice when you make time to read?
What are you reading? Let us know of any recommendations to add to our list!
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