This week I celebrate a birthday, and since books are one of my favorite things I’m using it as an excuse to talk about books.
Because I write about intentional living, I am always on the lookout for books that might give me new ideas, advice, or insights to help both me and my readers in their journey.
Here are the best books for intentional living I’ve read recently:
Intentional Purpose
Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear. This book begins with the premise that the habit war is won by small incremental advances rather than sweeping changes. Does that sound like one of my mantras? I have read several books about habits over the years. This one is a no-fuss, simple-to-read compilation that explains how habits are formed along with various tried-and-true tricks to do what the title says — Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones. The book manages to remain readable to everyday humans without ignoring the underlying science. It is neither too complex and detailed nor too vague and simplistic.
Bottom line: We all struggle with habits. This book can help, whether we need a major breakthrough or some simple encouragement to keep plugging away.
Intentional Simplicity
The Minimalist Home: A Room-By-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life by Joshua Becker. This book does an excellent job of combining practical advice with powerful questions that help you understand why you are making changes and what you hope to gain from them. After a few chapters where he goes over the benefits of adopting a more minimalistic approach to life, the author provides a simple region-by-region guide to reevaluating both your stuff and the purpose of your living spaces. This is much more than a how-to-declutter book. His insights into our complicated relationship to our belongings and the ways we use—or misuse—our homes will help anyone who is interested in living more intentionally.
Bottom line: If you want to be more intentional about your lifestyle and want more freedom to pursue what really matters, this book is for you.
Intentional You
The Road back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron. This is not the first time I have looked into the Enneagram concept. My previous research had left me ambivalent to the Enneagram—It seemed like just another way of categorizing personality types and not one that particularly resonated with me. The online tests I tried gave inconclusive results and I could see facets of myself in several of the descriptions. Ho hum. Then a friend suggested this book. (For author research purposes only.) After reading it I understand what makes the Enneagram concept so powerful. It goes beyond behavioral traits and unearths the underlying issues and self-beliefs that shape how we develop our personalities. The more I read about my type (the book cleared away doubts about which one fit) the more I have come to admire the insights the book provides.
Bottom line: If you want insights into why you react to stress and threats the way you do and how to grow beyond the limits your ingrained responses create, this book is for you.
Intentional Mindset
Taming the To-Do List: How to Choose Your Best Work Every Day by Glynnis Whitwer. How often do we feel bad because we did not accomplish all we had hoped today? This book helps us figure out which underlying issues may be at the root of our I-never-manage-to-get-it-all-done problems. (Looking at everything from fear and perfectionism to what motivates us and how our view of time may be affecting things.) The author lumps all the topics under the heading of procrastination, but her definition—a voluntary delay of something we could do but choose not to—applies to all of us in some area or other. I found the application questions at the end of each chapter particularly helpful, even in the chapters that dealt with facets of the problem I thought I had under control.
Bottom line: We all struggle with getting things done. This book looks at the issue from a multitude of angles. At least one chapter should connect with whatever underlying issues are your biggest struggle.
