SoulSmith recommended reading list: June 2024 update

Please enjoy this list of personally curated reads, and tips on engaging the writing

These are some of my personal favorites and deeply impactful books. Along with my tips for getting the most out of them. My wish is that it helps you connect to your own path and get excited about diving deeper.

New additions to the list

• The Creative Act: A Way of Being - by Rick Rubin

• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals - by Oliver Burkeman

Why I added them?

The Creative Act: A Way of Being was hard to put down. It felt to me like a spiritual book, moonlighting as a practical guide to tapping into your creativity. It was inspirational in the way it encouraged living into your highest expression purely for the sake of doing so, as a gift for the world, and not for any outcomes. It felt very apt for these modern times.

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals is a book full of great ideas about changing our relationship to time. It helped me through a tough transition in how I thought about hard work and self-worth. Many of my coaching clients ask for help feeling less busy and this is a book I find myself recommending all the time so I decided to add it here too.

Reading Tips

Tip #1 - Read what excites your heart. Really… trust your intuition and read what feels inspiring. Have fun with it! It doesn’t have to be homework. Likewise, if what you picked up isn’t vibing, put it down and try something else.

Tip #2 - Read to understand properly, not to finish the book quickly. This means read slowly, many times over if needed. Marinate on each idea until you get what the author is trying to convey. A teacher said to me once (about The New Eight Steps to Happiness):

“Truly understanding just this one book, will change your entire life, it is totally priceless.”

It stopped me in my tracks. I have now spent a year reading and meditating on just over half of this book, I am seeing so many layers, and deep realizations I missed when I first read it as quick as possible.

Tip #3 - Do the work if it is calling you. When books suggest prompts, or activities - it is an opportunity to learn more. If reading is all you have energy for, that is perfect. And if you feel a calling towards any of these prompts, I really recommend taking the time to do them to help you experience the teachings even deeper.

Tip #4 - Save money with local libraries and second hand bookstores. I like Better World Books for purchasing second hand in the US.

Tip #5 - Rejoice in your reading. Feel good that you are making tangible strides to your inner growth and helping yourself and others. Even if you only have time for a single page, acknowledge your efforts.

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Reading List: The Classics

This is a cross section of Toltec, Buddhist, Vedic, and some Modern Psychology and Spirituality. I also made some specific lists below for Vedanta and Buddhism if you want to go deep on one lineage. I suggest the order here, but per tip #1 - do your own thing!

• The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz

• Paths to God - Ram Dass

• How To Solve Our Human Problems - Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

• The Bhagavad Gita - Eknath Eswaran translation

• The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali – Translated by Sri Swami Satchidananda

• The Creative Act: A Way of Being - Rick Rubin

• Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings - Thich Nhat Hahn

• Nonviolent Communication – Marshall Rosenberg

• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals - Oliver Burkeman

• Soul Shifts - Dr Barbara DeAngelis

• When Things Fall Apart - Pema Chodron

• Sacred Powers - davidji

• Freedom from the Known – Jiddu Krishnamurti

What books have been deeply impactful book for you? And do you have any reflections on the above to help others?

Reading List: Vedanta lineage

• The Bhagavad Gita - Eknath Eswaran translation

• The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali – Translated by Sri Swami Satchidananda

• Paths to God - Ram Dass

• Be Here Now - Ram Dass

• Crest-Jewel of Discrimination - Adi Shankara (Translated by Christopher Isherwood)

Reading List: Buddhist lineage

• Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings - Thich Nhat Hahn

• How To Solve Our Human Problems - Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

• When Things Fall Apart - Pema Chodron

• The New Eight Steps to Happiness - Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

• The Garden - Geshe Michael Roche

• Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism - Chogyam Trungpa