15+ Self Love Resources to Inspire Your Journey

The Dark Side of the Light Chasers – Reclaiming your power, creativity, brilliance and dreams by Debbie Ford – Debbie Ford is the creator of The Shadow Process and talks about the stuff people don’t want to talk about like jealousy, judgment, hatred, mistakes and how integrating those parts of yourself is a crucial part of true freedom.

This is the true work of self-acceptance and it will open your mind to seeing yourself, and the world at large, in a whole new way. I also recommend her movie – The Shadow Effect and her book The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse.

Beautiful You – A Daily Guide to Radical Self Acceptance by Rosie Molinary – The name says it all, really. This is one of those books that I bought on kindle first and then really wanted to dig in so I bought the hard copy, too. It has lovely daily exercises to help you, not just understand but, practice self acceptance in a tangible way (so important!!).

 The Gifts of Imperfection – Let go of who you think you are supposed to be and be who you are by Brene Brown – Brene Brown is one of the leading experts on shame and this book nails it. If you like this book, you will also love her more recent books Daring Greatly and Rising Strong.

Finding you own North Star – Claiming the life you were meant to live by Martha Beck – Another common problem that arises in self-acceptance is not really know who we are and what we want from life. We’ve used dieting, self-hatred and people pleasing as coping skills and this book will give you the tools to reclaim who you truly are.

Her other books, Steering By Starlight and Finding Your Way In A Wild New World continue the conversation. And, if you want to explore this through a fictional lens, her book Diana Herself does just that.

Non-Violent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D.  – One of the key concepts I use in my work is Universal Needs. Understanding these needs has been quite intuitive for me, as I always seemed to “just know” that our actions were driven by these needs and I could “spot” the needs quite easily. This was the first book that helped me to attach verbal language to my intuitive knowing.

It is intended to help us communicate with others by helping us understand the root cause (needs) of the way we think, feel, and behave, instead of from a place of blame, lack of self-responsibility, and victim hood. It also makes an important distinction between feelings and thoughts, one that most people don’t understand, but is critical in being able to communicate effectively.

Emotional Alchemy by Tara Bennett-Goleman, – I discovered this book when I was just beginning to learn about the way our brains are wired for thinking and discovering that no matter the circumstances, I seemed to have some “core” patterns of thinking. This book helped me to understand where those patterns came from, how to identify them, and, most importantly,  it helped me to learn how to “stop digging deeper” every time I noticed one of these patterns, and instead, to choose to simply recognize it as “just a thought” and pivot into a more supportive way of thinking.