The Most Impactful Books I’ve Read in 2023 (so far…)
As we hit the halfway point of 2023 and I thought it was a good check point to reflect on and share the books I have found most beneficial to my growth journey thus far.
For context, I am an audiobook listener. I have completed 23 titles since the beginning of the year and my preferred category has been in personal development/non-fiction. As a coach and practicing container for the inquiry and inner-awakening of myself and others, my reading/listening practice is incredibly important to me.
I use the information I obtain from these authors and experts to deepen my own practices and help expand my perspectives during my own experiential evaluations.
As this is my first attempt at a book review post, bare with me. I will count down from the fifth most impactful book I’ve listened to to the most impactful. Remember, this is my interpretation and accounts for my own needs during my own development and learning process. That said, I welcome any thoughts, questions, or feedback. Enjoy!
5. A Life of Meaning: Exploring Our Deepest Questions and Motivations by James Hollis
“Physical death is only one form of dying. There are other forms of dying:
We die whenever fear governs our choices.
We die when we sacrifice growth for security.
We die whenever we choose a convenient certainty over an inconvenient mystery.”
― James Hollis
Publisher’s Summary
What is it that brings meaning to your life? Our culture tells us to seek wealth, power, prestige, or even enrollment in someone else’s idea of a worthy cause — yet where do we turn when these myths fail to fulfill our need for purpose? “When the old stories and beliefs that once defined us have played out and grown exhausted”, teaches Dr. James Hollis, “our task is to access our inner compass, the promptings of the psyche that help us find our way through the complex thickets of choice”.
My Summary & Key Takeaways
Brace yourself here… A Life of Meaning is for anyone who is searching for meaning in their life. I know… wow, right? In all seriousness though, this is a book for people who are open to exploring their shadow selves and finding their own path to meaning. Hollis explores the deep archetypal themes of our human lives and offers questions and insights to help us access the greater meaning of our journey.
Hollis’s philosophy is based on the belief that we are all on a journey of individuation, or becoming our own unique selves. This journey is not always easy, as it requires us to face our shadow selves, the parts of ourselves that we have disowned or repressed. However, it is a journey that is ultimately worth taking, as it leads to a more whole and complete life.
Hollis shares stories and principles that help simplify the otherwise lifelong and infinitely deep search for our meaning and purpose. Our sense of meaning evolves as we evolve, and we must be willing to let go of old ideas about meaning as we grow and change. He also believes that we must find our own path to meaning.
No one else can tell us what our life’s meaning is. We must find it for ourselves through our own experiences and insights.
The journey to meaning is not always easy. It can be full of challenges and obstacles. However, it is a journey that is ultimately worth taking.
The Impact on Me
I read this book at a time where I was seeking insight into my own shadow work. I reinforced my understanding that I must be willing to face my shadow self in order to find true meaning. Our shadow selves are the parts of ourselves that we have disowned or repressed. By facing my own shadow self, I can better integrate into my whole self and become more whole and complete.
4. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.”
— Bishop Desmond Tutu
Publisher’s Summary
Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.
For all its successes, mainstream medicine has failed to make much progress against the diseases of aging that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and type 2 diabetes. Too often, it intervenes with treatments too late to help, prolonging lifespan at the expense of healthspan, or quality of life. Dr. Attia believes we must replace this outdated framework with a personalized, proactive strategy for longevity, one where we take action now, rather than waiting.
My Summary & Key Takeaways
Outlive is a book about living a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life. It draws on cutting-edge science and practical advice to help readers optimize their exercise, nutrition, sleep, and emotional health for maximum longevity. Attia writes for anyone who is interested in living a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life. It is especially valuable for people who are concerned about their risk of chronic disease.
Attia identifies four major causes of chronic disease and premature death: cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. He argues that these diseases are largely preventable through lifestyle changes and a focus on four major components of living: Exercise, Nutrition, Sleep, and Emotional Health.
The most important of these lifestyle changes, according to the book, is exercise. Attia emphasizes the importance of exercise for longevity and recommends a combination of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise and high-intensity interval training to ensure that a person has muscular and cardiovascular strength to maintain a longer “health-span”. The health span is different from life span in that you live longer while also maintaining a high quality of living, later in life.
In addition to exercise, Attia argues that nutrition is one of the most important factors in living a longer, higher quality life. What I love about his approach to nutrition is that he recommends each person experiments with a mindful approach to their own diet lifestyle for one that works best for them.
He dives deep into different considerations pertaining to cholesterol, fat, protein, amino acids, and sugar, among many other components of nutrition.
Attia also dives into the importance of sleep for both physical and mental health. As a doctor, his stories of residency and the studies pertaining to sleep and performance is quite fascinating. His recommendation is to get 7–8 hours per sleep each night, but it’s the studies and stories he shares about his own lack of sleep experiences that really fascinated me.
Lastly, and I believe most beautifully, Attia stresses the fact that emotional health is just as important for longer high-quality of life as any component of physical health.
He recommends practices such as meditation, mindfulness, and gratitude, but again, does a wonderful job of sharing his own experiences to drive home the point. His stories about his anger and therapy retreats are vulnerable and valuable for those of us who struggle with our own emotional health issues. In my opinion, this was the most crucial point of the book and he does a great job finishing with it as his conclusion.
The Impact on Me
The thing I began to practice after reading this book was to eat my bodyweight in protein grams each day. While I loved the emotional health chapter, a lot of what Attia stresses are already things I practice. Not to say the reminder didn’t help, it definitely did, but I felt my own gap was more along the nutrition line.
For a while, I had been on an intermittent fasting schedule, yet after reading this book, I have been experimenting with focusing on my protein intake rather than my eating windows. So far, I am loving the results. My weight hasn’t changed, but I feel stronger and more energized during the day.
3. The Immortality Key by Brian C. Muraresku
“Once you’ve plunged into the ocean, does it really matter whether or not you believe in water?”
― Brian C. Muraresku
Publisher’s Summary
With an unquenchable thirst for evidence, Muraresku tours the ruins of Greece with its government archaeologists. He gains access to the hidden collections of the Louvre Museum to show the continuity between pagan and Christian wine. He unravels the Ancient Greek of the New Testament with the world’s most controversial priest. He spelunks into the catacombs under the streets of Rome to decipher the lost symbols of Christianity’s oldest monuments.
He breaches the secret archives of the Vatican to unearth documents never before translated into English. And with leads from the archaeological chemists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania, he unveils the first hard data for the ritualistic use of psychedelic drugs in antiquity.
The Immortality Key reconstructs a suppressed history of women consecrating the forbidden, drugged Eucharist that was later banned by the Church Fathers. Women who were later targeted as witches during the Inquisition, when Europe’s sacred pharmacology largely disappeared. If the scientists of today have resurrected this technology, then Christianity is dead. Unless it returns to its roots.
My Summary & Key Takeaways
The Immortality Key is a book about the history of psychedelics in Western civilization. It argues that the use of psychedelics was widespread in ancient Greece and Rome, and that these substances were used to achieve religious and spiritual enlightenment. The Immortality Key is for anyone who is interested in the history of psychedelics, the use of psychedelics for spiritual purposes, or the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelics.
The history and examples of psychedelics shared in this book were eye-opening. From examples in Greek mythology to some of the most famous texts and paintings in history, Muraresku brilliantly weaves together the theory that modern religion was founded through the mystical experiences of psychedelic use.
He goes deep into examples of mystical experiences that are eerily similar to those described in religious texts, which lead people to a sense of oneness with the divine, had a profound impact on the way those people viewed and wrote about the world.
The use of psychedelics in ancient Greece and Rome is well-documented, but Muraresku takes the theories put together in The Road to Eleusis and goes on his own journey to discover the truth.
While the use of psychedelics declined in the Middle Ages, and were eventually banned by the Catholic Church, Muraresku argues that the use of psychedelics continued in secret, and that they were used by some Christian mystics. The secret potion or “farmica” was a recipe passed down culturally through the ages and represented continued connection to the divine throughout history.
The Impact on Me
More than anything, this was just such a fun read. I love history and am very much interested in the way psychedelics can be used to help people grow in today’s world. The stories and information presented in Immortality Key gave me a light of knowledge I did not have prior. I finished and felt this profound gratitude for a belief system shift that is now one of asking “do you really know?” about the ways things come to be.
I hope more people read this and start asking some of the bigger questions about why we believe the things we do, rather than assign specific meaning to the outcomes of Muraresku’s research and learnings. I believe him but I think he would appreciate that I have more questions about all of it than I did before reading Immortality Key.
2. Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself — Joe Dispenza
“To be empowered — to be free, to be unlimited, to be creative, to be genius, to be divine — that is who you are…. Once you feel this way, memorize this feeling; remember this feeling. This is who you really are….”
― Joe Dispenza
Publisher’s Summary
You are not doomed by your genes and hardwired to be a certain way for the rest of your life. A new science is emerging that empowers all human beings to create the reality they choose. In Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, renowned author, speaker, researcher, and chiropractor Dr. Joe Dispenza combines the fields of quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry, biology, and genetics to show you what is truly possible.
My Summary & Key Takeaways
Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself is a self-help book that explores the power of the mind to change our reality. It argues that we are not our thoughts or our emotions, and that we can change our lives by changing our beliefs and our perceptions.
This book is for anyone who is interested in changing their life. It is a book for people who are ready to take responsibility for their own reality and create a life that they love. Undoubtedly, this is a challenging but rewarding book. It offers a new way of thinking about ourselves and our reality.
I will say that after reading this, I want a deeper dive into Dispenza’s work and will read Evolve Your Brain as well as Becoming Supernatural. My intention is to learn more about how our thoughts create our reality. I want to obtain more wisdom on the way we think about ourselves, the world, and the future determining how I experience life.
The book argues that we can change our thoughts and beliefs through a process of meditation, visualization, and practice. It dives into quantum energy and the way our state of being, the way we think, feel, and act, can be evolved and created by us. The book argues that our intentions are powerful and that when we set an intention, we are sending a signal to the universe that we are ready for change.
This work, in turn, allows us to create a new reality for ourselves by changing our thoughts and beliefs.
This process requires commitment, effort, and patience as we must be patient and persistent in our efforts to change our thoughts and beliefs as the brain is constantly changing and evolving.
Finally, the book offers meditation and visualization practices that help us change our brain waves and gives us the tools to practice creating new neural pathways that support our new thoughts and beliefs. These are also available as a separate listen/book on Audible.
The Impact on Me
Oh man. I had to try. I had to go through the work of meditating in the way Dispenza teaches. The induction process, the spatial visualization, the verbal claims and announcements. I have no doubt this stuff works. Even for those who may be skeptical, what do you have to lose in trying to create a more powerful state of being, directed at obtaining the things you want from this world?
As mentioned, I want to read everything Dispenza offers. This work is powerful and I recommend it to anyone who is open to experimenting with ways to create a life they want. It is not for the faint hearted. It is a dense book and there is a lot of information about the brain, the nervous system, and the energy that connects us to the universe. I am bought in and theres a reason this book is #2 on my list. Try it.
1. Way of the Superior Man — David Deida
“The most loving women are the women who will test you the most. She wants you to be your fullest, most magnificent self. She won’t settle for anything less. She knows it is true of you. She knows in your deepest heart you are free, you are Shiva. Anything less than that she will torment. And, as you know, she’s quite good at it.”
― David Deida“Everything in your life, from your diet to your career, must be aligned with your purpose if you are to act with coherence and integrity in the world. If you know your purpose, your deepest desire, then the secret of success is to discipline your life so that you support your deepest purpose and minimize distractions and detours.”
― David Deida
Publisher’s Summary
In the decades since the initial publication of The Way of the Superior Man, society has changed significantly. Issues of gender and sexuality long confined to secrecy have become part of everyday conversation, and rigid ideas about our societal roles have begun to dissolve.
And yet, perhaps now more than at any time, men of all ages still “tussle with the challenges of women, work, and sexual desire.” In this unabridged audiobook of the classic guide to masculine spirituality, David Deida encourages men and women to lean into the conversation and offer their most valuable assets to the world — their authentic heart and depth of presence.
More relevant than ever, The Way of the Superior Man offers a view of a more conscious and embodied masculinity. “It is time to evolve beyond the macho jerk ideal, all spine and no heart”, writes Deida. “It is also time to evolve beyond the sensitive and caring wimp ideal, all heart and no spine.”
My Summary & Key Takeaways
The Way of the Superior Man is a book about the masculine journey. It explores the challenges and opportunities of being a man in the modern world, and it offers guidance on how to live a life of integrity, passion, and purpose. The Way of the Superior Man is for anyone who is interested in exploring the masculine nature and energy. It is also for any one who is looking for guidance on how to live a life of integrity, passion, and purpose.
I want to stress that this is not a book about men and women. It is a book about energy. Women who read this book will have a better idea of how masculine and feminine energies work, just like men will. Naturally, it is more common for a man to lean more into his masculine energy and for women to lean more into their feminine. However, it is in the understanding and integration of these energies that both men and women can find wholeness in themselves and see wholeness more clearly in their partner.
This book offers a new way of thinking about the masculine energy and its journey. It provides guidance on how to live a life of integrity, passion, and purpose, honing the important components of building a strong masculine core. If you are someone who leans into your masculine energy and looking for a deeper understanding of your own nature, this book is for you.
The masculine is about finding purpose, living to that purpose, and creating a container for feminine energy that is fortified by that purpose. This purpose allows the masculine energy to live a life that is meaningful and significant, always holding that as the highest priority of living. The purpose is driven by the unique gifts being offered to the world and gives both physical and spiritual meaning to life.
With this purpose, the masculine energy is then responsible for the container that allows for the full force of feminine energy to be experienced. This can be scary. The feminine is about love and connection but in its natural chaos (feminine energy is chaos while masculine is order) it will push the masculine to evolve and grow.
The superior man is able to integrate both masculine and feminine, in himself and for his feminine counterpart. He is strong and powerful, but he is also loving and compassionate. He is able to integrate both sides of his nature, and he uses them to create a life that is both successful and meaningful.
The path of the superior man is a path of growth and transformation. It is a path of learning to live in balance, of integrating our masculine and feminine natures, and of finding our true purpose in life.
When this doesn’t happen, a relationship can become “depolarized.” In a depolarized relationship, the man is not secure enough in his masculine core and has not been able to create a strong enough container for the feminine energy to flourish. As a result, the feminine energy is forced to subdue itself, become more masculine, and help the “weak” masculine energy feel better about itself.
Deida does a brilliant job of giving examples of how this impacts relationships in a negative way and alludes to depolarized relationships being a far more common reason for relationship failure than we may realize.
The Impact on Me
After reading this book, and going deeper into the studies of masculine and feminine energies, I am convinced that there is no more important work for men and women to do.
Relationships fail because of depolarized states. Depolarized states happen because men and women don’t understand the nature of masculine and feminine energy. Men who do not prioritize the cultivation of their masculine core and their ability to create strong containers for feminine energy will end up forcing their partners into a state of being that is outside of their natural energetic desire. Women are then forced into a masculine role to soothe the feelings of men with weak masculine cores.
They never fully experience the depth of their own emotions, the beauty of their creative potential, and the full impact they can have on evolving their masculine counterpart.
I believe that this is the reason divorce rate is so high. I believe this is why men and women cheat on each other. I believe that this is a fundamental issue with the way men and women co-exist in relationships and in society today.
I know… I am being dramatic, right? There’s no way this polarization thing can be so impactful, right?. Come talk to me about it and ill be happy to discuss further.
On Deck
At this time, I am doing something I don’t normally do, which is listening to two books at once. It’s an interesting combination though as I am going through the 10 week application of “The Presence Process” by Michael Brown while also reading Tantra Illuminated on a daily basis, by Christopher D. Wallis.
The Presence Process is absolutely fantastic and once you hit the 10-week process, it is a new chapter each week to highlight the next phase of present moment awareness learning. Getting into Tantra philosophy has also been quite illuminating (duh, I know), as I had never studied Tantra before and knew nothing more than what Finch was talking about during American Pie.
Spoiler alert, American Pie had no idea what Tantra is really about. At all.
I am also excited to begin Three Marriages by David Whyte and The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Klemp, which are next up in my library.
Hopefully this has encouraged at least one person to incorporate reading a little more into their lives. I will keep the reading going over here and am open to any comments, suggestions, or questions.
