Worth Reading At The Beginning Of The Year: 6 Books To Help Change For The Better

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

New Year is like a blank slate: you can write anything on it. For example, that in 2021 you will become healthier, happier and more confident in yourself. We chose six books, with which it will be so.

1. "A Year of Self Care" by Jennifer Ashton

The “take it and change everything” approach does not work. Many of us have tried more than once to become athletic, walk more and eat green vegetables, but … somehow it didn't work out. Here's why: It has nothing to do with taking care of yourself. The real concern is to act gently, little by little, listening carefully to yourself. This book contains 12 small changes that are easy to implement. One for each month of the year. And the effect is huge.

“On New Year's Eve, like many others, I make various promises to myself. And even if I know that what is planned will be beneficial, it is not easy to keep my word. But what if you limit yourself to one month? It’s quite real. A month is the ideal length of time for experiments, during which you can understand how and what can affect your life."

2. "Energy Value" by James Collins

James Collins is a sports nutritionist who works with Arsenal footballers, athletes from the UK Olympic team and other very energetic people. He offers his own approach to nutrition: the energy plan. This is not a newfangled diet, not a rigid menu with a hundred "no", but a practical guide from which you will learn how best to fill your plate today - based on your plans for the day and what is in the fridge.

“The energy plan can be applied not only by sports stars, but also by you and me. This method is based on the understanding that food is fuel. Our bodies and brains use this resource, and a well-planned refueling is the only way to look and feel the way we want, and get the most from this generous source of energy.”

3. "Diet Myths" by Tim Spector

Another nutritional book that everyone should read. Genetic Epidemiology Professor Tim Spector debunks popular diet myths. Why do some people gain weight just by looking at a bun, while others can eat bread all day and stay slim? Is breakfast the main meal of the day? Are fats harmful? From the book you will learn which ideas about nutrition are really proven by science, and which are just unfounded stereotypes.

“My intention is to overcome ignorance with the help of the latest scientific achievements and discoveries and open the way for the mind, which is still locked in a cramped cage. I would like to dispel the myth that obesity is just a matter of calculating the calories consumed and burned, that you need to eat less and move more, or skip a particular type of food.

4. "Time to Hear Yourself" by Anna Black

Living with your heart and not endless to-do lists sounds like a dream. But it’s real if you take a little time to yourself every day. This beautiful book contains weekly practices that will help you pause, become kinder to yourself and fall in love with life again. The program is designed for 52 weeks - an entire year filled with caring, attentiveness and self-compassion.

“Mindful awareness helps to better cope with stress and to react more easily to circumstances, to treat yourself and loved ones more kindly, to get more pleasure from life, and to get sick less often. Practicing mindfulness and mindfulness does not solve problems, but it changes our attitude towards experiences, especially negative ones. A person recognizes his own patterns of behavior, learns to think soberly and take a short pause before reacting to the situation."

5. "You Can Change the World" by Margaret Rook

Even if you are just a small person in a huge world, you can change a lot. Confirmation of this is the stories of 57 teenagers who were able to influence society. Volunteering, Internet activism, concern for the world, social entrepreneurship are becoming an alternative to the obsession with likes and high expectations. An incredibly inspirational book for teens and adults.

“Adolescents and young people today are called the 'generation of snowflakes'. They wanted to offend us with this - as if we are weak and it is easy to offend us, but to me this name seems positive and powerful. Each snowflake is different; they are unique, complex and amazing: when combined, they turn into a destructive avalanche."

6. "Willpower" by Kelly McGonigal

A bestseller book that can be read and re-read at the beginning of each year. It is about what willpower is and why sometimes we lack it. Don't worry: it's not about you. The fact is that self-control is influenced by many factors. Some enhance it, others turn it into dust. Knowing this, we can see both, turning willpower into a reliable controlled mechanism.

“Most books about life change - new diets or ways to gain financial freedom - will help you set goals and even show you how to achieve them. But if we had enough awareness of what we want to fix, every New Year's promise made to ourselves would come true. I believe the best way to develop self-control is to understand how and why you lose it. Knowing what is more likely to motivate you to give up will not set you up for failure, as many fear. It will support you and help you bypass the pitfalls in which willpower tends to change you."