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To read is to grow, learn, and complete the writer’s intent; it is also to enhance our human mind.

Full disclosure: I wish I enjoyed reading more than I do. I read, but I will admit I’d choose an audiobook over a physical book most days.

But I do read every day, whether it is one sentence, one page, or one chapter.

As English essayist, poet, and playwright, Joseph Addison said, “Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body.” My daily routine includes both. I read after meditation and before exercise.

Sometimes I read an article, an oracle card, or sometimes I read from a book. When I choose to use a book, I use the method of bibliomancy.

I set an intention for the day, breathe deeply into my tummy, and ask to see the most divine message. I then randomly open a book and see where my eye goes.

Time and again, I am taken to the perfect words that nudge me to an action step for the day or help me address an issue or emotion I need to process.

This is a practice that I have done for the past several years. While I do switch it up and use random books here and there, I find myself coming back to three books like trusted old friends; they always have the best advice.

The following three books have blessed me with wisdom and advice, which has helped me live more abundantly, take leaps, and love more courageously.

Here they are with a quote from each that is hopefully of benefit:

1. Creating Money Attracting Abundance by Sonya Roman and Duane Packer.

This one is an all-time favorite. It has helped me shift my mindset to be more abundant and has helped me honor my worth. I have so much confidence in it, I refer clients to it time and again.

There was a year my husband joined me in reading this book each morning. We opened it and each read a sentence or three. Exactly 51 weeks later, my husband took a risk with ease and explored entrepreneurship. He created more time and money freedom in his life, which still exists today.

A message from its wisdom:

“If you can’t believe something is possible, then you aren’t going to have it. But if you can have the smallest thought that it might be possible, you are already on your way to creating it.”

2. A Course In Miracles (scribed by Helen Schucman and edited by Bill Thetford, Kenneth Wapnick).

The book, referred to as ACIM for short, was written in 1976. While there is no official author attributed to the book, it is known to have been “scribed” by Helen Schucman, who said that every world was channeled. I have purchased many copies of this book throughout my life. The first time, I was a wandering lost soul, just out of high school. The second and third times, I must have forgotten about the previous purchases.

When I was in my early 30s, I made a cross-country move. I opened a box of books and found all three copies. Clearly, I was drawn to it but resisted reading it. The text teaches us that the physical world we think we are in is an illusion of our own making, made of a false belief in separation. The “miracle” (referred to in the title) happens with a shift in perspective. It has certainly impacted me and helped me understand how to live from a more loving and present place.

Its words of wisdom today:

“A wise teacher teaches through approach, not avoidance. He does not emphasize what you must avoid to escape from harm, but what you need to learn to have joy. Consider the fear and confusion a child would experience if he were told, ‘Do not do this because it will harm you and make you unsafe; but if you do that instead, you will escape from harm and be safe, and then you will not be afraid.’ It is surely better to use only words: ‘Do only that!’ This simple statement is perfectly clear.” 

3. The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks.

Unlike the first two books, this one makes sense to read from front to back, although I still like to just pull a paragraph from it each day. I appreciate the advice of Gay Hendricks; he is a successful individual on a connected spiritual path. He also shares tips from his thriving marriage that has undoubtedly helped to enhance mine.

This book has been a treasure chest full of advice on how to move through “the upper limit theory” and leap into a more balanced and harmonious life. Coming back to this book time and again is like having a business coach with me every morning.

The wisdom the text offers to us today:

“Ask yourself, in my work, what produces the highest ratio of abundance and satisfaction to the amount of time spent? (Even if I do only 10 seconds or a few minutes of it). By asking myself this question, I discovered that part of my genius is the free play of ideas in my mind.”

May these be of benefit to others as they have been to me. They truly have been words of wisdom that continue to offer life-changing lessons toward a more abundant life.

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