Book Club
The Best You’s top reads
The Mind Workout
By Mark Freeman
This is the debut book from Mark, a ‘mental fitness trainer’ based in Toronto. Mark made his name as a motivational public speaker, specialising in facilitating successful strategy workshops for leading company executives. However after recovering from mental illness difficulties, Mark decided to focus on leveraging technology to help others improve and maintain good mental health. The result is The Mind Workout, which combines learnings from mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), in order to help strengthen emotional wellbeing. Mark’s theory is you can’t be mentally fit without putting the work in, just as you can’t be physically fit without doing exercise. Few of us take the time to develop our mental fitness so doing the brain exercises can seem odd at first, but with Mark’s help you can learnt to make healthy changes while navigating the complexities of everyday life.
Freedom Seeker: Live More. Worry Less. Do What You Love
By Beth Kempton
What do you do when getting what you wanted doesn’t make you happy? Beth Kempton learned the hard way when she realised that the life she had built up for herself wasn’t what she wanted. As a high-spirited risk taker, wife and business owner, Beth saw that the stresses were making her feel hemmed in. She set out to find her personal freedom, and along the way discovered others doing the same. This book is a self-empowerment manifesto full of personal stories, inspiring nuggets of wisdom, as well as some transformational tools, including ‘the freedom keys’ (a collection of keys, which when activated, can unlock someone trapped in a metaphorical sense). Entrepreneur, mother and author, Beth’s inspirational journey proves that freedom is a choice.
Calm Cure: The Unexpected Way to Improve Your Health, Your Life and Your World
By Sandy C. Newbigging
From the author of Mind Calm Meditations, Body Calm Mediations and The Mind Detox
Method, the book Calm Cure: The Unexpected Way to Improve Your Health, Your Life and Your World showcases Sandy C. Newbigging’s latest technique for overcoming difficulties. He argues that most of us are so preoccupied with trying to deal with the symptoms of our problems that we never resolve the underlying causes. With any issue there are always three parts at play; however, we are taught to only focus on these first two (symptoms and causes). In Calm Cure, Sandy reveals the third aspect of ‘unconscious conflict’, and encourages readers to adopt his ‘peace with life’ approach. Sandy shares his powerful 3-Step Calm Cure technique for healing all manner of problems.
The Little Book of Inner Peace: Simple practices for less angst, more calm
By Ashley Davis Bush
This gorgeous, colour-illustrated guide includes a wide array of practices and exercises to help you unwind and let go of everyday stresses. While the idea of a ‘quick fix’ to find inner peace may seem unlikely, author Ashley Davis Bush introduces simple tools that will assist you in harnessing the benefits of mindfulness, meditation, gratitude, creativity, relaxation and compassion. The Little Book of Inner Peace is a great introduction to ideas like the ‘4-7-8 breath’ and ‘consulting your inner wise woman,’ giving you a springboard to further exploration. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of achieving calm, including equanimity, acceptance and gratitude, and the ethos behind the book is to spread the message on by sharing your new skills with family, friends, and your community.
The Happy Kitchen: Good Mood Food
By Rachel Kelly and Alice MackIntosh
From the author of Black Rainbow: How Words Healed Me – My Journey Through Depression and Walking on Sunshine: 52 Small Steps to Happiness comes this informative and practical guide to the power of positive eating. We all know the saying ‘you are what you eat,’ but when we feel at our worst, few of us make the effort to ensure we nourish our bodies and minds. Instead, we reach for the biscuit tin or ready meal. Former journalist Rachel Kelly has lived with depression for many years, and in this insightful exploration – a collaboration with nutritionist Alice MackIntosh – she shows how lifestyle interventions, such as diet change, are now seen as crucial to helping people manage depression and anxiety. The Happy Kitchen: Good Mood Food shows how easy it is to follow a ‘happy diet’ and sets out the simple changes needed to take a holistic approach to mental health.