The best books on love as a way of life

Stuck in a continuous cycle of the same old going nowhere stuff and looking for a way out. The way out appeared as a gift from a friend, You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise Hay.

I first shared a few brief moments with the book, as one does on a blind date that results in love before the evening is done, and the date continues to this day.

I developed a deeply intimate, open, and honest relationship with the wisdom offered here. Through a kind of gentle “pillow talk,” Louise taught me to love myself, forgive myself and others, let go of the past, and trust the future. My relationship with this book transformed my life, and it just keeps getting better. May it do the same for you.

Common self-talk: I am such an idiot! I am too fat, thin, short, or tall. Etc., etc., etc.

Ever feel like your brain is stuck in a negative thought cycle, trapped in a never-ending loop of doom and gloom? That was me until I discovered the awesome power of affirmations learned from this book.

Dr. Crane playfully uses a metaphor of a Cosmic Kitchen with all the ingredients needed to whip up a healthy mental diet that made me feel and experience a more satisfying life. With positive affirmations as ready-made recipes, I was cooking up joyfulness in no time.

I also learned how to gather and blend my unique ingredients for a mental diet tailored just for me. It's like being your very own mental MasterChef!

Bon appétit!

Having been raised in a dysfunctional, mostly loveless environment, I arrived at adulthood starved for love, a perfect setup for failed codependent relationships.

Finally, around age 45, rich love lessons began to find their way to me, not the least of which was this life-saving book. Dr. Buscaglia was the first and perhaps only university professor to teach love. He convinced USC to let him teach a class dedicated to love, and only two years later, his course, Love 101, was maxed out with 200 students and a waitlist of 600.

Mainly consisting of lecture transcripts delivered to people of many ages and backgrounds, you will find the content warm, gracious, humorous, and humble. So, open your heart and mind, and be prepared to receive the wonder of love.

As a lover of Rumi poetry, I was carried away by this book!

It is not, however, a book of poetry but a historical fiction about a transforaminal “love affair” between Shams of Tabrizi, a mystic Sufi wander, and the thirteenth-century Maulana Jalal-Ud-Din, Rumi, a traditional Islamic Cleric. This love relationship is not one we are used to hearing about but a genuine divine connection for spiritual elevation.

There are two fascinating novels in one, a contemporary story about a woman in a mid-life crisis on the edge of divorce and an empty nest, finding herself drawn into an outside relationship with a Scottish novelist, and his book Sweet Blasphemy.

Shafak seamlessly weaves love stories, a murder mystery, religious intrigue, mystical poetry, and contemporary and fourteenth-century family drama in a book I could not put down.

Recently I was blessed to meet the authors of this refreshing book. We immediately discovered our shared interest in love as a way of life and traded books on the topic.

I quickly learned that Absolute Love is a valuable resource for learning to live through love. I read most books for entertainment or information and then put them away. However, I find this one so inspiring that I now keep it on my desk, referring to it daily for heart-opening reminders about love and acceptance.

Each chapter offers well-crafted affirmations that can, with practice, gently shift our worldviews from fear to love and compassion. Precisely what is needed for world peace.

Bonus: Each chapter offers lessons on how to apply love to your personal and business life, what a blessing!