If you struggle with mental health or often feel suppressed by your own psyche, it may be worth exploring alternative self-help methods. While traditional self-help books can be insightful, from personal experience of feeling “stuck” for quite some time, what truly catalyzed my healing was engaging with philosophy and spirituality. You don’t need to identify as a spiritual person to benefit from new perspectives, and the following books offer an excellent starting point: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and The Untethered Soul by Michael Alan Singer.
Adopting the perspectives within these books can be incredibly transformative and become anchors to resort back to, when you find yourself stuck in a negative loop. So let’s dive in, see what each book entails and what kind of reader they are fit for.
The Four Agreements – If you need a foundation
The Power of Now – If you need a mindset shift
The Untethered Soul – If you need free therapy and a slap in the face
We can’t hear what we don’t acknowledge: “If you want to free yourself then you must first become conscious enough to understand your predicament” – Michael Alan Singer
The Four Agreements– A practical guide that offers 4 general principles to live by, revealing the source of self-limiting beliefs about ourselves and reality that rob us of joy and create unnecessary distress. This book is a good place to start for anyone new to exploring spirituality, offering a simple yet solid foundation for readers without any overwhelming concepts- a short 140 pages. It blends practical wisdom with spiritual insights, exploring Toltec teachings. The Four Agreements is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to perspective shift and personal freedom, but for many, it can spark a significant change in the way one moves forward with their life. I believe that everyone should give The Four Agreements a read at least once in their life.
- Be impeccable with your word
- Do not take anything personally
- Do not make assumptions
- Always do your best
The Power of Now – This book centers around the present moment as a source of freedom beyond the incessant noise of our minds. Tolle introduces some deeper spiritual concepts including definitions of the ego, the pain-body, presence, the’now’, stillness, consciousness, psychological time, etc. For example, he defines the ego as a false sense of self; a mental construct formed through identification with thoughts, emotions, past experiences, and labels. This ego creates a sense of separation from others and the present moment, leading to unnecessary suffering. Tolle also introduces the concept of the pain-body, which he describes as the emotional residue of past traumas. The ego feeds on this emotional pain, perpetuating negative emotional patterns that we as humans begin to identify with, which traps us in a cycle of inner pain. The book dives further into these concepts, revealing their limitations.Â
Ultimately, Tolle aims to enable awareness and detachment from habitual mind patterns. It is a good read for those who often feel overwhelmed by their thoughts, lost in their minds, or trapped in cycles of anxiety, offering new perspectives on how to break free from this. It encourages readers to transcend mental and emotional barriers, cultivating a deeper sense of presence and inner peace.
If the following quotes spark interest or curiosity, The Power of Now might be a good read for you:
- “The present moment is all you have. There is never a time where your life is not ‘this moment'”
- “Presence is pure consciousness”
- “We are not out thoughts or emotions, we are the observer, we are the awareness behind them”
- “The best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal with life’s challenges when they come”
- “End the delusion of time”
- “To be identified with you mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation
The Untethered Soul – This book can be described as incredibly self confronting. It challenges readers to face the uncomfortable truths regarding our inner psyche and behavior patterns including our attachments and fears. The book pushes readers to question habits and identification with the mind/ego, opening the door to a deeper, more honest, relationship with the self. The emotional baggage we are unaware of, avoid, or deny keeps us tethered to suffering.Â
Singer emphasizes that closing off our hearts, often as a protective mechanism, blocks the natural flow of energy within us, resulting in stagnation and emotional confinement. “If you close around something, you will be psychologically sensitive about that subject for the rest of your life” (Singer, 106). This habit, rooted in our past (painful) experiences, limits our ability to experience life fully and access the healing energies around us. By choosing to stay open, even in challenging moments, we allow energy to flow freely which helps us to grow, heal, and experience joy. Staying open requires conscious effort but ultimately frees us from the constraints of our ego and fears. Fear is an invitation to evolve. If it doesn’t scare you, how will it grow you?
The language used in this book can be viewed as slightly complex if you’re new to the terminology, but is fairly digestible in the broad scheme of things. Some of the language Singer uses includes the following: “the observer/inner roomate, mental dialogue, egoic mind, non-attachment, energy flow, self-transcendence, impermanence, consciousness, psychological walls, and mental constructs.”Â
Singer bridges metaphysical ideas with practical tools, laying out concepts from all sorts of philosophical roots (such as stoicism, buddhism, hinduism, taoism, as well as western philosophy and psychology).Â
The Untethered Soul is split into 5 sections, covering the following topics:
Part 1- Consciousness: you are not your mind, reality vs perception, the inner roommate.
Part 2- Energy: energy flow and blockages, habits of closure.
Part 3- Freeing Yourself: letting go of resistance, growth through pain, the root of fear.
Part 4- Going Beyond: dismantling mental walls, living without constraints.
Part 5- Living Life: choosing happiness, nonresistance, meditative awareness.
Singer’s direct, reflective, and raw approach, guides readers to self transformation through introspection, awareness, and honesty. It’s not all about peace. The journey is uncomfortable. It is painful. But it is necessary. Through self awareness, we can free ourselves from painful cycles and ultimately live a more honest, open, and fulfilling life. An incredible read if you’re looking to dive right into the deep end of spirituality and philosophy- And/or if you’re in need of a big mental shift and a slap in the face.
What isn’t resolved always repeats: “Change involves challenging what is familiar to us and daring to question our traditional needs for safety, comfort, and control. This is often perceived as a painful experience. Real growth takes place when you finally decide to deal with the pain. When you are comfortable with pain passing through you, that is when you will be free” – Michael Alan Singer
Notable quotes from the The Untethered Soul:
- “You re-create the world within your mind because you can control your mind but you can’t control the word. In the thought world, there’s always something you can do to control the experience”
- “The part of you inside that’s not okay with itself can’t face the natural unfolding of life because it’s not under your control. Your attempts to protect yourself from your problems actually create more problems”
- “If you continue to cling to what you’ve built, you will have to continually and perpetually defend yourself in order to reconcile your conceptual model of reality. There’s nothing you can make up inside your mind that can ever be considered reality”
- “Stop expecting the mind to fix what’s wrong inside of you”
- “The body communicates through its universal language- pain. Your psyche is communicating through its universal language- fear.”
- “External changes are not going to solve your problem because they don’t address the root of you problem”
- “Any condition you create will limit your happiness”
- “It is not life’s events that are causing problems or stress. It is your resistance to life’s events that is causing this experience”
Our value is in our perspective, and sometimes the catalyst to change begins with a single perspective shift. Whether you seek a foundational guide or a confrontation with the depths of your psyche, these books offer pathways to growth, change, greater awareness and peace. The question is simple: Do you want to grow? And if so, where will you start?
