My favorite books to help you live your most fabulous imperfectly perfect life

Why am I passionate about this?

These are the books that changed my life and were the catalyst for a change in career from litigation attorney to life coach. I am also a Friendship expert who is currently traveling the US, meeting a stranger in every state to share a meal with. These books align with the way I live and the energy and lessons that I hope to share with everyone I meet. These are not just books to entertain but also books that have helped me get through some difficult times in life and have helped me find real purpose and meaning in the way I move through life.


I wrote...

Ask Yourself This: Ultimate Life Lessons From and For My Girlfriends

By Shari Leid,

Book cover of Ask Yourself This: Ultimate Life Lessons From and For My Girlfriends

What is my book about?

Find connection, confidence, and happiness with 60 powerful questions. While you may not have a professional life coach, you have your girlfriends—your ride-or-die friends, your new acquaintances, your colleagues—now you have my friends as well. Ask Yourself This takes you on a journey of self-discovery. In this final book of the Friendship series, life coach Shari Leid asks simple life questions that lead to thought-provoking answers, prompting conversations you’ve probably never had before.

As you read and respond through Ask Yourself This, you will discover: gratitude for the life experiences that brought you here; an understanding of why experiences were placed in your life; you possess all you need to manifest your desires; new and renewed self-confidence; and deeper connections to your community.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Desire Map: A Guide to Creating Goals with Soul

Shari Leid Why did I love this book?

This book changed my life. This is the book that taught me the power of journaling.

I found the journal prompts that the book offers to be useful and appreciate that they provided a guide that helped me define my core beliefs and taught me to listen to my inner voice in a way that brought about an easy method to figure out not only what is truly important to me but this method also helped me to define my goals and purpose in a no-fuss bare bones way.

This book was the catalyst that eventually led me to my career as a life coach. 

By Danielle LaPorte,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Desire Map as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Your bucket list. Quarterly objectives. Strategic plans. Big dreams. Goals. Lots of goals and plans to achieve those goals-no matter what. Except ...

You're not chasing the goal itself, you're actually chasing the feeling that you hope achieving that goal will give you.

Which means we have the procedures of achievement upside down. We go after the stuff we want to have, get, or accomplish, and we hope that we'll be fulfilled when we get there. It's backwards. And it's burning us out.

So what if you first got clear on how you actually wanted to feel in your life,…


Book cover of The Obstacle Is the Way

Shari Leid Why did I love this book?

The title of the book describes the message of the book perfectly and I’ve learned through this book to see opportunity when life throws curveballs my way.

I happened to have read this book not too long prior to being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 47 and because of the message of the book, my first response to my diagnosis after the shock and immediate sadness passed was, “What am I supposed to learn from this? Where is this experience going to lead me?”

And I re-read this book during the year I underwent surgeries to remove and recover from the frightening disease. It helped me see opportunity and personal growth through a trying time.

By Ryan Holiday,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Obstacle Is the Way as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

We give up too easily. With a simple change of attitude, what seem like insurmountable obstacles become once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Ryan Holiday, who dropped out of college at nineteen to serve as an apprentice to bestselling 'modern Machiavelli' Robert Greene and is now a media consultant for billion-dollar brands, draws on the philosophy of the Stoics to guide you in every situation, showing that what blocks our path actually opens one that is new and better.

If the competition threatens you, it's time to be fearless, to display your courage. An impossible deadline becomes a chance to show how dedicated you…


Book cover of The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Shari Leid Why did I love this book?

I love the message of living in the now.

While I’m a natural planner, I must be careful not planning my life out to the minute for months on end and getting bogged down by all the planning for the future. This book reminds me of the beauty of the present and to sit still every once in a while, to enjoy the now, the present – because the past no longer truly exists and neither does the future which has not happened.

It reminds me that if I’m not present, I can miss out on the gifts of what is right before me. Reading this book has brought a richer, fuller enjoyment into my daily life.

By Eckhart Tolle,

Why should I read it?

23 authors picked The Power of Now as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

**CHOSEN BY OPRAH AS ONE OF HER 'BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH'**

The international bestselling spiritual book, now with a new look for its 20th anniversary. Eckhart Tolle demonstrates how to live a healthier, happier, mindful life by living in the present moment.

************

'I keep Eckhart's book at my bedside. I think it's essential spiritual teaching. It's one of the most valuable books I've ever read.' Oprah Winfrey

To make the journey into The Power of Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart…


Book cover of The Awakened Family: A Revolution in Parenting

Shari Leid Why did I love this book?

This book singlehandedly changed the way I parented my children, especially my daughter who is very different than me in the way she processes information and how she moves through life. 

Through this book I learned to not only understand that her journey is her own and whenever I’m upset about her choices or the way she is doing things it often is because I’m inserting my own journey and fears into her life instead of letting her be who she is gloriously designed to be.

This book brought me a realization that my fears were often the motivator behind my parenting and helped me to redirect my focus to the joy and the wonder of the differences my child has and look for ways to support her strengths rather than focusing on changing what I deemed her weaknesses – thus, I was able to empower her in a way that I wasn’t doing before picking up this book.

This book not only saved my sanity as a parent, but also enriched my relationship with my children.

By Shefali Tsabary,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Awakened Family as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Parents ... you will be wowed and awed by [Dr. Shefali].' - Oprah Winfrey

Become the awakened parent you've always wanted to be and watch your children thrive.

All parents have aspirations for their children but for some these hopes turn into unrealistic expectations. In many cases, this puts huge amounts of pressure on children and has the potential to cause real harm, hindering your child's development.

Challenging modern myths on how kids should be, Dr Shefali helps parents recognise children for who they truly are instead of holding onto society's impossible ideals.

Drawing on Eastern philosophy as well as…


Book cover of The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Shari Leid Why did I love this book?

I believe strongly that everyone we meet is both our teacher and our student and this fictional tale exemplifies this belief.

In the book, the main character dies and his earthly life is explained by five people that he met while on earth – five people whose life course changed because of a chance meeting with him. This book reminds me that everyone we meet matters and every person matters.

Keeping the message of this book in mind has made me a kinder person who makes it her mission to engage fully with everyone she meets. In fact, in 2023 I’m on a personal mission, traveling to all 50 states to share a meal with a stranger in each of the 50 states.

Who knows? Maybe one, if not all 50, I’ll meet when I cross those pearly gates and we can share stories about how our “chance” meeting was life changing.

By Mitch Albom,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Five People You Meet in Heaven as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A STUNNING 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE MASTER STORYTELLER'S INSPIRATIONAL CLASSIC

To his mind, Eddie has lived an uninspiring life. Now an old man, his job is to fix rides at a seaside amusement park.

On his eighty-third birthday, Eddie's time on earth comes to an end. When a cart falls from the fairground, he rushes to save a little girl's life and tragically dies in the attempt. When Eddie awakens, he learns that the afterlife is not a destination, but a place where your existence is explained to you by five people - some of whom you knew, others…


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Empire in the Sand

By Shane Joseph,

Book cover of Empire in the Sand

Shane Joseph Author Of Empire in the Sand

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been a writer for more than twenty years and have favored pursuing “truth in fiction” rather than “money in formula.” I also spent over thirty years in the corporate world and was exposed to many situations reminiscent of those described in my fiction and in these recommended books. While I support enterprise, “enlightened capitalism” is preferable to the bare-knuckle type we have today, and which seems to resurface whenever regulation weakens. I also find writing novels closer to my lived experience connects me intimately with readers who are looking for socio-political, realist literature.

Shane's book list on exposing corporate, political, and personal corruption

What is my book about?

Avery Mann, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, is in crisis.

His wife dies of cancer, his son’s marriage is on the rocks, his grandson is having a meltdown, and his good friend is a victim of the robocalls scandal that invades the Canadian federal election. Throw in a reckless fling with a former colleague, a fire that destroys his retirement property, and a rumour emerging that the drug he helped bring to market years ago may have been responsible for the death of his wife, and Avery’s life goes into freefall.

Does an octogenarian beekeeper living on Vancouver Island hold the key to Avery’s recovery, a man holding secrets that put lives in jeopardy? Avery races across the country to find out, with crooked bosses, politicians, and assassins on his tail. Joseph spins a cautionary tale of corporate and political greed that is endemic to our times.

Empire in the Sand

By Shane Joseph,

What is this book about?

Avery Mann, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, is in crisis. His wife dies of cancer, his son’s marriage is on the rocks, his grandson is having a meltdown, and his good friend is a victim of the robocalls scandal that invades the Canadian federal election.

Throw in a reckless fling with a former colleague, a fire that destroys his retirement property, and a rumour emerging that the drug he helped bring to market years ago may have been responsible for the death of his wife, and Avery’s life goes into freefall.

Does an octogenarian bee keeper living on Vancouver Island hold…


5 book lists we think you will like!

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