100 books like Striking Thoughts

Reading this book helped me change my life for the better. Putting Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings into practice in my daily life helped me live a more mindful, more peaceful life at a time of great transition in my personal life.

One of the things I love the most about this book is how simple it is to incorporate its practices into daily life. There are sections on how to be mindful about washing dishes or answering the phone! There are also sections that went much deeper, which dealt with how to be mindful of my emotions, which I have found so valuable in dealing with anxiety, difficult situations, and fear.

One of my favorite experiences related to this book was guiding a group of middle school-age kids through a discussion inspired by the “Tangerine Meditation.” Instead of a tangerine, we considered a piece of paper and talked about the… show more.

We come more up-to-date with my third book recommendation. However, this book was no less transformative for me. Richard Koch’s books around the 80/20 principle were a paradigm-shifting fork in the road for me personally. They came at a time in my life when I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed and really needed them. I credit them with being one of the main reasons I became invested in my own simplicity journey.  

This book (and others by the same author on 80/20) had such a profound effect on me that they influenced the name of my own company when I set it up 10 years ago. 80/20 is a concept I return to often in my own writing and I believe it is a close relative to simplicity. A powerful tool we can all learn to leverage. 

I believe deeply in the power of movement practice with strength training leading the way in foundational needs. Being a simplicity seeker, I am particularly drawn to the stripped-back nature of training with your own body weight (calisthenics) as a weight. I find this practice endlessly challenging and rewarding. I have long been a fan of the work of Danny Kavadlo (and his brother Al) who are two of the world’s leading authorities on calisthenics and were writing about its benefits years before it became as trendy as it is now. I’ve been fortunate enough to be coached by Danny several times whilst we holiday in New York and have written on my blog about some of our time and talks together.  

Danny is also a proponent of keeping things simple and likes to focus on what matters most. This book is something of a simplicity manifesto (to all things… show more.

Along with Bruce Lee's Striking Thoughts - Wisdom for the Way, the Tao Te Ching is one of the most re-read books on my shelves. It teaches me something new or gives me a fresh perspective on life every time I make time to read it. How many books can claim the same? Not many in my experience.

It's a concise book that punches above its relative weight. A gift that keeps giving. At first glance, it is a simple read with simple lessons to share. However, when you read the words there is a deepness to them, which often means you will read a page or passage and sit with it before moving on. Trying to absorb what you have read. There is wisdom in these pages.  

Whether you believe Lao Tzu was one man or many, isn't the point for me. There is a treasure in these pages.… show more.

I love this book because it feels deep—it is deep—but it’s also engaging. There’s a story and characters to follow, but at its core, it’s a fascinating introduction to philosophy.

The meaning of life, the big questions, how to understand and negotiate the world. I first read it as a teenager during my gap year in Southeast Asia, and it was the perfect mental companion to the bombardment of my physical senses. Zen turned my perception of the world upside down, and I reread it occasionally.

It has one of the most memorable titles of all time, and I still quote its core message, which involves motorcycle maintenance.

Bruce Lee was radical in every sense. He understood form and structure on an intimate level and then broke it apart to create his own discipline.

This book shows how Lee's journey was not just about martial arts; it was a deeper quest for self-expression, knowledge, and personal growth. His commitment to pushing against convention inspired me. He lived and understood the complete integration of mind, body, and spirit. 

Hazel Hill thinks she’s the only girl in the 7th grade who likes girls that way, until Tyler tells her that Ella Quinn told him she likes Hazel.

But Ella Quinn is pretty and popular, and she’s Hazel’s biggest rival in the upcoming speech contest. They talk. Ella confesses she only told Tyler that to stop his sexual harassment. It turns out, Tyler has been harassing a lot of girls.

They tell the school, but the teachers won’t do anything about it, even blaming the girls and punishing them. It is not a coincidence that Tyler’s mom is the superintendent of schools. Determined not to let Tyler get away with it, Hazel comes up with a plan. 

This poetic book by a literary scholar looks at the way we think about and experience not only the lives we lead, but those alternative lives that we do not lead. 

Our thoughts can lead us to obsessively regret our choices or focus on “the road not taken.” Miller looks at the sense of loss that can accrue as the potential transitions to the actual. 

He describes our unled lives as “part of this world as shadows are part of things…”    

Full disclosure, I know Bill Hanlon and we exchanged books at one of several speaking engagements together.

I cherish this book and have a signed copy featured in my collection. It is a simple straightforward ingenious way to disrupt destructive patterns in all relationships. And it works! Being in the mental health field, I would make this wonderful book mandatory for all counselors to read, if I had that power.

Full of examples on how to modify micro-behaviors, results could not be more life-changing. I found that I had the power to alter destructive patterns in my life by reacting differently in any given situation! Bill’s book explains how to do it.

I loved Natalia Sylvester’s tender and gripping YA novel about a young woman living with hip dysplasia yearning to be a mermaid because it reminded me of the big dreams I had as a young teenage girl.

Verónica will do just about anything to get a job as a real-life mermaid at Mermaid Cove, however her parents are not having it. They want Verónica to be a “serious” young woman and pursue jobs and opportunities that will benefit her future and they think they know what’s best for her body and her disability.

I resonated with this deeply because I too pursued goals and dreams that my parents were often not in favor of and have had to advocate for myself and what my body needs.