100 books like One Day My Soul Just Opened Up

This is my all-time favourite book. I heard the author tell her story and her resilience over a zoom conference and I immediately knew that my life would never be the same. I didn’t know how but I knew I would be different.

Stolen Time is about a woman wrongly convicted for murder who spent 17 years incarcerated, five of those years were spent in solitary confinement on death row. Her partner was also sentenced and in fact executed two years before Sunny was exonerated. It's the beautiful way Sunny speaks that made this my all-time favourite read. It’s a love story with real tragedy but told in the most resilient and forgiving way. I found it totally inspiring. Sunny taught me that no matter what the circumstances we have a duty to love and forgive no matter what if we want to live free. No one can steal our… show more.

The Monster I Love is written by Shannon Clifton by the same publisher as myself Fortis Publisher and it is the true story of this beautiful young woman who was subjected to the worst abuse from the very person that should have been looking after her the most, her father. 

He stole her innocence and childhood and even took her on the run with him whilst heavily pregnant with his child. She paid the ultimate price for loving her dad who became the ultimate monster in her life. This young woman is the strongest woman with the most resilience I’ve ever come across. To go through such abuse at such a young age and yet empower herself to be the best version of herself today made me incredibly proud to be a woman. After her father got sentenced Shannon took back her power and has become a fabulous champion for… show more.

The thing I love about Tyson's story is he makes it so relatable to ask questions that others are too afraid to answer. He talks about his triumphs but especially his tribulations. He single handily put mental health on the horizon up for discussion and this man being a giant and talented boxer showed men in particular that it was alright to hurt at times to get lost and to fall apart. Up to then, most celebrities were too proud to go deep and talk about their struggles. Not Tyson, this is the greatest gift you can give.

Honesty and integrity. Not being afraid of being shamed or judged but allowing the world to know that it's ok to talk about this. Not only OK but necessary. I admired the man and his family even more from that very read. It was fabulous looking into the mind of the best… show more.

After learning that ‘memoirs’ were a thing and since I’d grown up with a troubled background myself, I wanted to find out if there were stories written by black women who had struggles in life, neglect, or abuse. After intense research I came across this and was not disappointed. Not only does Cupcake experience abuse from a very young age, she becomes an orphan, ends up as an addict and a member of a notorious gang before turning her life around. The emotions of her story are so real and raw, I felt her journey in my heart as the reader.

After making it through the difficult extended season of life, I needed to regroup.

The “Ten Keys” the author presents are to unlock the Kingdom of God within each one of us to embrace our God-given purpose. “Start, vision, goals, courage, teamwork, excellence, the ability to fail, perseverance, joy, and giving it all away” provided not only ten keys to success, but a path forward.

Anyone who leads and works closely with others will benefit from this book which helps us capture God’s vision, know our mission, and helps others replicate the process. Any person who is struggling to stretch an area of his or her life in a positive direction is a peak performer if we simply stay engaged in the process.

I was inspired by this book which was written by a medical doctor, now working as an integrative doctor due to her own journey of healing a personal illness. Her knowledge of medicine is evident in this book, and she shows how integrative medicine can make a difference to help heal illness. I love that she shares real-life stories of client work and her integrative practices, and the success stories of people getting better.

From reading this book, I understood more why people in modern society are getting more unwell and the importance of more awareness of the integrative practices that are available. I found it valuable that the author also shares individual practices in the book that everyone can do to improve their health.

This book is both a memoir of Stephen Batchelor and a memoir of the Buddha himself. Batchelor integrates these two life stories with his journey through India which followed the footsteps of the Buddha. Batchelor teaches us what Buddha taught, but in a way that inspires as many questions as it provides answers. In this way, the reader goes on her own spiritual quest and perhaps, transformation, just as did Buddha and Batchelor. I love this book so much that it is a re-read for me, a wonderful well of inspiration and contemplation. This is also an easy read and a great way to begin dipping into the story and teachings of Buddha through a contemporary lens.

This was one of the last pieces Merton wrote before his life was cut short in 1967 and I believe that he outlined both the problems with education in the modern world as well as a possible solution in an accessible way. I often go back to the first chapter in this work as a foundation for my own understanding of teaching and learning. It is truly inspiring!

As a child in Guyana, Rose was steeped in African, Caribbean, and Latin American healing traditions. Trained in Eastern and Western herbal medicine, she is a master herbalist and owner of Sacred Vibes Apothecary. Her first book brims with insights that guide her work to unite “plants, ancestral practices, and community.” Rose affirms that spiritual herbalism is based on “a relational vision of health, with the understanding that we cannot heal alone in a vacuum.” I love how her use of stories, recipes, and daily practices makes healing with herbs accessible and enjoyable. With chapters organized by major body systems, Rose builds the reader’s knowledge of how physical systems work, insight into the sources of imbalance, and confidence to embark on a path of transformative well-being. 

This is a short, easy read. Some might even say it’s not sci-fi, but I think it fits. This was something I picked up in my teens and it helped create the framework for how I approach writing, creating, and my life. What if perception dictated reality, instead of the other way around? What would your life be like if you could change how you interacted with the world by just changing your mindset?