Mar 3

Mar 3 Daily Inspirational or Spiritual Reading

Hello beautiful wellness seekers, I'm Liz Moser, and I'm a Mayo Clinic and National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach.

Since the start of my nightly checklists, 'reading something spiritual or inspirational' has been on my list.

Four plus years ago, I read the same passage, morning and evening, and then, maybe, two years ago when my mornings became packed with self-care habits (check out my morning routine vlog from a few months ago) The morning reading phased out, and I read some at night. But I miss the morning burst of inspiration or simply getting out of my head and thinking more significant, more positive thoughts than what is swirling in my head.

Today, I'm going to do a quick rundown of the books that have been in my rotation, and I'm going to pitch to you the value of a book over a daily phone app or email you might receive from your favorite thought leader.

I encourage my clients to charge their cell phones outside of their bedrooms and do their morning and evening routines before they pick up or shut their devices off.

Our cell phones, pads, or laptops have too many distractions between social media texts, IMs, or emails. So, I encourage you to add reading something inspirational or spiritual from a book before or after devices turn on or off. OK?

Without further ado. My lineup of readers:

The first reader I started with was A Year With Rumi: Daily Readings. Deepak Chopra says reading this book is an ecstatic experience that will shift your awareness and give your spirit true exaltation. I stuck with this book for over a year. The poetry may be centuries old, but Rumi’s words still resonate. I highly recommend this lovely book of poetry.

After a year and ½ of poetic metaphors, I was craving some more concrete advice. So, I reached for:

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and The Art of Living. According to the book jacket, the daily stoic is a compelling accessible guide to the good life—bringing classic wisdom to a new generation. You can't go wrong with these daily musings on regulating your emotions, thoughtfulness of others, and simply rolling up your sleeves and getting to work without whining. The Daily Stoic is a fantastic book!

I can also vouch for The Maxwell Daily Reader: 365 Days of Insight To Develop The Leader Within You and Influence Those Around You. This is good solid leadership and life advice whether you run a company, manage a small team, or a household.

A few other books that I pick up from time to time are:

Marianne Williamson: Daily Devotions And Reflections. The New York Times calls her the profit of love. And I agree she is about opening your heart to your higher power and the special people in your life.

365 Days of Positive Self-Talk. If you find you want to encourage more uplifting thoughts while curbing our very human tendency to think the worst, this book is for you.

Another beautiful book is Mark Nepo’s, The Book of Awakening. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith fame says Mark Nepo is a true poetic empath taking us on a 365 day by day journey.

And an extensive but fascinating read is Timothy Ferrris’ book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World. He asks the same series of questions such as, ‘How has a failure or an apparent failure set you up for future success. Do you have a favorite failure of yours?' to many famous people from Brene Brown to Steven Pressfield. The only downside to this book is it’s kind of hard to put down. So, if you want to keep your morning and evening inspirational reading short and sweet, this may not be the right book for you! Ha!

Another route I go on from time to time is simply reading from whatever nonfiction book my book group is currently reading. This is how I read James Nestors’ Breath and Dr. Mathew Walker’s, Why We Sleep. However, as I mentioned with Tribe of Mentors, unlike a book that has a separate passage for each day, this method of reading may make it difficult to put the book down. Also, while I found these books fascinating, they aren't particularly inspirational; yet, they were a good change of pace.

There you go, my invitation for you to adopt a daily morning and evening inspirational or spiritual reading habit. Why I recommend a book or kindle as opposed to reading off a device connected to the internet (too many potential distractions!) And finally, some of the books which have been in my lineup for the last four-plus years. I hope I've moved you to start an inspirational or spiritual reading habit!

I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and thank you for reading this blog about a daily spiritual or inspirational reading habit. If you have any questions about this blog, health, wellness, or wellness coaching with me, please reach out via my website at lizmosercoaching.com.