Top 5 Well Being Books
Wellbeing is one of the top trending topics at the moment, no surprise considering what we’ve been through over the last few years .
COVID was something most of us never experienced before and not prepared for.
Now we are living with the longer-term effects, an economic downturn, rising cost of living and the changing landscape in the workplace.
Stress, anxiety, worry, and depression are the by-products of a society that has become increasingly difficult to navigate. So now more than ever we must find a way to take care of ourselves because our wellbeing must be a priority.
There are many ways to stay emotionally and mentally well.
We can start to practice Mindfulness. Make sure we take time out, spend time in nature and even dance!!
In addition we can invest in our wellbeing literacy because so we know how to take better care of ourselves.
The following 5 books on mental health and wellbeing are my personal favourites.
1 - The Art of Happiness – The Dalai Lama
I first read “The Art of Happiness” in the 1990’s. In this book The Dalai Lama gives some crucial life lessons and he gives a good talk on the difference between happiness and pleasure.
“Sometimes people confuse happiness with pleasure”. - The Dalai Lama states
He continues to explain that he once mentioned at a talk in India that the purpose of life was to be happy. To which someone in the audience responded
“Our happiest moment comes during sexual activity, so through sex one can become happiest”.
The Dalai Lama laughed and replied:
“The highest form of happiness is when one reaches the stage of Liberation, at which point there is no more suffering. That is true and lasting happiness.
Happiness that depends mainly on physical pleasure is unstable; one day it’s there, the next day it may not be”.
This teaching is so important, especially because in modern society we have completely confused pleasure with happiness and therefore happiness is never truly attained.
2 - Happiness – Matthieu Ricard
Matthieu Ricard is a Tibetan Buddhist monk that has been called “the world’s happiest man” after he participated in a 12 year brain study on meditation and compassion.
In his book “Happiness” he gives both a scientific approach to happiness alongside some spiritual teachings.
I find the pages in which he talks about renunciation extremely useful.
“We are like weary marchers, carrying heavy bags filled with a combination of provisions and stones. Wouldn’t the smart thing be to set our bag down for a moment to sort it out and lighten our load?” – he asks.
And he then adds
“Renunciation is not about depriving ourselves of that which brings us joy and happiness – that would be absurd; it is about abandoning what causes us inexhaustible and relentless distress”
He finishes by saying we should ask ourselves
“Is this going to make me happier?” – Genuine happiness – as opposed to contrived euphoria”.
What this teaches us is that chasing pleasure does not bring lasting happiness and we can choose to stop doing what causes us harm, instead focusing on what brings us true happiness.
3 - The Miracle of Mindfulness – Thich Nhat Hanh
In this classic guide to Mindfulness Thich Nhat Hanh gives us practical advice on how to live mindfully. The most important teaching we get from this book is to learn to bring our mind to the present moment by focusing on the task in front of us.
He talks about “The Essential Discipline” which he describes as follows:
When we wash the plates, we wash the plates. We focus on that plate, not the next one or the thing that happened earlier or what you need to do after.
When we eat, we savour the food in our mouth and don’t get distracted by the next thing on our plate. And when we walk, we just walk.
And my favourite quote from this book is
“The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.”
Lost Connections – Johan Hari
In “Lost Connections” Hari talks about how the way we live today is causing
“depression and anxiety at epidemic levels”
This is a must read for anyone that wants to understand the real causes of the current mental health crisis.
Hari gives scientific evidence to highlight the main causes and offers “pioneering new solutions”.
In short he states that there are six causes of depression and anxiety:
Disconnection from meaningful work
Disconnection from other people
Disconnection from Meaningful Values
Disconnection from Childhood Trauma
Disconnection from Status and Respect
Disconnection from the Natural World
It is therefore obvious to help improve our wellbeing we must reverse our disconnection from the six causes, to reconnect.
The Body Keeps the Score
This is perhaps one of the breaking work around the topic of mental health and trauma. Like the work of Gabor Mate, this work brings together the impact of negative experiences on the mind, brain and body.
The three main points are:
1. For real change to take place, the body needs to learn that the danger has passed and to live in the reality of the present.
2. Being traumatized is not just an issue of being stuck in the past; it is just as much a problem of not being fully alive in the present.
3. Nobody can “treat” a war, or abuse, rape, molestation, or any other horrendous event, for that matter; what has happened cannot be undone. But what can be dealt with are the imprints of the trauma on the body, mind, and soul.
Der Kolk’s provides a new approach to therapy, one that moves away from drug and talking therapies, towards an alternative approach that heals the mind, brain and body.
The main take away from this book is that trauma, stress and other negative emotional experiences have an impact on our body. Therefore when we think of wellness, we must not only focus on the physical aspects but give equal importance to our mental and emotional wellbeing.