What are the most effective books in personal development and healing childhood traumas?

Just like the title says! Looking for some recommendations.

I loved reading The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday as it taught me practical wisdom for everyday resilience, so I was excited to read this new book.

Discipline Is Destiny expands on the Stoic principle of self-discipline, showing how control over one's actions, thoughts, and emotions leads to success and fulfillment.

What's It About:

This book explores the critical role of self-discipline in shaping a meaningful life. Holiday delves into historical examples of discipline, illustrating how figures like Marcus Aurelius, Lou Gehrig, and Queen Elizabeth II embodied this virtue. He argues that self-control is the foundation of greatness and that true freedom comes from mastering oneself rather than being ruled by desires or impulses.

Key Learning Points:

🔥 The Power of Self-Discipline:
Mastery over one's impulses leads to personal and professional success. Those who can delay gratification and stay committed to their goals tend to achieve far more than those who chase immediate pleasure.

🛑 Boundaries Foster Growth:
Setting limits on work, rest, and indulgence creates balance and longevity. Leaders and high achievers structure their time effectively, ensuring they don’t burn out or lose sight of what matters.

🧠 The Role of Self-Awareness:
Understanding your strengths and weaknesses allows for better decision-making. Recognizing where you struggle with discipline enables you to create strategies to counteract those challenges.

⏳ Effective Time Management:
Success is often determined by how well you manage your time. Strategies like time blocking, prioritization, and avoiding distractions help maximize productivity and efficiency.

💪 Health as a Discipline:
Physical well-being is a form of self-control. Exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy diet, and prioritizing rest are essential components of long-term success and resilience.

Important Frameworks:

1. Restraint Over Reaction:

The ability to pause before responding to emotions or external stimuli is a defining trait of disciplined individuals. Those who master this skill avoid rash decisions and maintain control in high-stress situations.

2. The Art of Saying No:

Success isn’t about taking every opportunity but about choosing the right ones. Holiday emphasizes the power of saying no to distractions, temptations, and unnecessary commitments.

3. Consistency Over Intensity:

Long-term success comes from daily, sustained effort rather than sporadic bursts of motivation. Discipline is a muscle that grows through repetition and consistency.

Action Steps:

✅ Develop Small Daily Habits: Start with manageable discipline-building habits, like waking up early, journaling, or reducing screen time.

✅ Set Clear Boundaries: Protect your time and energy by creating structured routines that support both productivity and rest.

✅ Reflect Regularly: Self-discipline isn’t just about effort—it’s about awareness. Regularly assess what’s working and what’s not to refine your approach.

Memorable Quotes:

“Discipline is not just about what we do, but what we don’t do.”

This highlights that restraint—choosing not to act on impulse—is just as crucial as taking action.

“We control our habits, or they control us.”

Holiday underscores the importance of intentionality in shaping our daily behaviors and routines.

“True greatness is being in control of yourself when everything else is out of control.”

This speaks to the power of self-discipline in navigating chaos and uncertainty.

Here are some of my other posts, in this sub, you might find useful:

1. 'Authentic Happiness' Book Summary
2. 'Can't Hurt Me' Book Summary
3. 'Psychology of Money' Book Summary
4. 'Great Mental Models Vol 1' Book Summary
5. 'Indistractable' Book Summary
6. 'The Untethered Soul' Book Summary
7. 'The One Thing' Book Summary
8. 'Tiny Habits' Book Summary
9. 'Building A StoryBrand' Book Summary
10. 'Think Again' Book Summary
11. 'The Challenger Sale' Book Summary
12. 'Positioning' Book Summary
13. 'The Book You Were Born to Write' Book Summary
14. "Revenge of the Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell (2024)

Has anyone heard of this book? This is like the 'meditations' for productivity.

Hi. If you have read Factfulness by Hans Rosling, do you think it is worth the read? I am an American that is tired of the news currently. My library had 13 people waiting for the book so I was curious if you think it would be worth purchasing. Thanks.

Hello curious minds 🧠

In Good Energy, Dr. Casey Means shares 25 habits that can guide us from understanding the theory to actionable steps in living a healthier lifestyle. These habits are grouped into 9 categories:

1. Nutrition
2. Movement
3. Sleep
4. Stress, Relationships, and Emotional Health
5. Meal Timing and Habits
6. Light
7. Temperature
8. Ingested Toxins
9. Environmental Toxins

I shared 8 nutrition habits last week. Today, I will share 8 more surrounding movements, sleep, and mental health.

🍖😴❤️‍🩹 8 Habits on Movement, Sleep, and Mental Health

If you’re looking to stick to the habits below, a great place to start is by getting yourself a fitness wearable.

These wearables are full of features that let you track all kinds of health and fitness data, so you can easily see your progress and know if you are hitting your goals.

Movement

1. Do moderate-intensity movement at least 150 minutes per week
2. Do resistance training three times per week for at least 30 minutes per session
3. Take 10,000 steps per day
4. Move at least 90 seconds every hour for 8 waking hours per day

Sleep

1. Get seven to eight hours of sleep per night, confirmed by a sleep tracker
2. Get consistent sleep, with regular bedtimes and wake times

Mental Health

1. Meditate daily
2. Do self-exploration and/or sign up to therapy

For more information on each of these habits, check it out here.

❓ Question for you: What fitness trackers do you use / recommend?

Happy learning,

Ryan

Hey all! I hope this finds the right audience 🙂... I recebtly read a really good relationship book that is vastly different from other relationship books. It doesn't repeat the same overused advice. The format is different because it's in the form of poetic quotes that provoke deeper thought and reflection. The book is Man + Woman United Again = Relationship Happiness. It's by Kevin Nelson on Amazon if anyone is interested. I bought it because I thought the name was intriguing, but I've really grown to appreciate the book. It also talks about raising children, building a family and other social issues like racism etc. If anyone is interested and tired of the same old format and advice like me, you should really check it out 😊

Hi everyone :) ,
I'm currently reading the trilogy secret secret of russel brunson and i was wondering if his fourth book :' unlock the secret' was usefull.
i'm starting an online bizz and i love the trilogy. but i'm kind of confused on how to implement everythnig.
i'm considering buying the box set to get the work book 'unlock the secret'.
i'm looking for people who have it and who can tell me if its usefull please :)
thank you in advance !

Lately these days, while talking to people I found out that my vocab is not that great or not even okay Ig. Heard that reading books might help but i haven't read any book till date. Sometimes I feel I'm out of humour or crazy ideas or idk something is missing in me and i often think that soul solution is book. What should I do. Any book recommendation. Thanks in adv :)

Hello curious minds 🧠

In Good Energy, Dr. Casey Means shares 25 habits that can guide us from understanding the theory to actionable steps. I am excited to share these habits with you and slowly adopt each one. These habits are grouped into 9 categories:

1. Nutrition
2. Movement
3. Sleep
4. Stress, Relationships, and Emotional Health
5. Meal Timing and Habits
6. Light
7. Temperature
8. Ingested Toxins
9. Environmental Toxins

In this newsletter, I will be focusing on the 8 habits for Nutrition category.

🏥 8 Nutrition Habits

The first three habits focus on what to cut out of your diet. The other 5 habits guide us toward what we should include. I have listed all the specified ingredients from the book.

For me personally, the first three habits seem to be the hardest, especially with the overwhelming number of processed foods in the market. The first step is awareness and once we are mindful of what we are including in our diets, we can slowly work towards incorporating these habits.

1. Eliminate refined added sugars
2. Eliminate refined grains
3. Eliminate industrial seed oils
4. Eat over 50 grams of fiber per day
5. Eat three or more servings of probiotic foods per day
6. Increase omega-3 intake to a minimum of 2 grams per day
7. Increase antioxidants, micronutrients, and polyphenols through plant diversity
8. Eat at least 30 grams of protein per meal

For more information on the exact list of things to avoid and things to include for each of these habits, check out the long list here.

❓ Question for you: Do you use any apps to check the ingredients of the food you buy? Instead of keep checking the books for list of things to avoid, I feel like there must be an app out there already that does this? If not, maybe a startup idea? ;)

Happy learning,

Ryan

hi! i’m looking for some recommendations on relationship help books? looking to better understand how to communicate healthier and affectively, understand each other on a deeper level, trust, validate feelings etc etc. i’m working at bettering myself and trying to learn more about how to maintain a healthy relationship. i ‘20F’ and my ex girlfriend ‘20F’ are going to try again and i want to make sure i do everything in my power to do it right this time and give us both what we deserve. i have more of an avoidant attachment style, and she has more of an anxious attachment style. we were together for almost two years, i love her too much to not try my hardest and one of the steps i want to take is to read a book! pls recommend any books that have helped you and i appreciate it :)

My parents avoid arguing at all costs, resentment grows, and anger bursts out in the most hurtful manner.

I don't know what a healthy relationship looks like. If I ask, people will present themselves as the perfect couple - but it doesn't mean they're sincere.

Are there fiction books with a healthy relationship couple?

Or non-fiction ones that also offer clear examples, rather than just tell you what to do & not do?

I would like to increase my awareness/ability to boil things down to truth/spot fallacies in arguments as well as increase my creative thinking/thinking different other then what’s in plain sight. Learning how to think out of the box also helps in mathematics so it would be beneficial to me .

can you guys suggest me some books or sources

Are there any autobiographies, memoirs, or fiction books that dive into analysis paralysis, perfectionism, overthinking, and procrastination?

Hi everyone!

I’m conducting a study called "Literary Success and Social Networks: A Study of Reader Engagement", and I need your help!

The goal is to understand how bestselling authors influence readers' decisions to follow them on social media and engage with their content. If you're a book lover or follow authors online, your input would be super valuable!

The survey is short (less than 5 minutes) and completely anonymous. You can find it here: https://forms.gle/MHtt6FX4kwh2vnso8

Thank you so much for taking the time to help out! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments too I’d love to hear your perspective.

Hello curious minds 🧠

I just finished reading Good Energy by Dr. Casey Means. It’s a great introduction to a topic I am just starting to learn about. Highly recommend!

Building on last week’s newsletter on the three dysfunction that disrupts our cellular energy production and health, is there a way we can detect early signs that our cells are not functioning well before they lead to bigger problems?

We all get blood tests from time to time but how often do we really know what to test for and what those numbers mean?

Recently, I had a blood test, and my doctor told me my results were “pristine”… But when I looked at one of the numbers, ALT (which checks liver health), it was at 41 IU/L. According to the Good Energy book, the optimal level for ALT is less than 17 IU/L. So how can my results be “pristine” if I am so far from ideal?

In the book, Dr. Means talks about over 10 important markers that can help us understand our overall health. Since I am new to this, I won’t cover everything in one go, but I will share 5 key markers now and more in future newsletters.

Questions to the group:

1. How often do you do body checks and tests? How do you track progress?
2. If you are based in the UK, what providers do you use to periodically do your blood tests? Bluecrest?

🏥 5 Key Biomarkers and Indicators of Metabolic Health

Here are 5 biomarkers and 1 indicator. For each one, I will try my best to explain what it is and why it is important. For the list of the normal and optimal ranges, please check here.

1. Triglycerides: Are You Overwhelming Your Cells with Energy?

What is it: Triglycerides are a type of fat that forms when excess glucose (from sugar and carbs) is converted and stored in the bloodstream. High levels indicate an overconsumption of sugar, refined carbs, or alcohol, and are linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Why is it important: High triglycerides contribute to insulin resistance, fat buildup in the liver, and a vicious cycle of metabolic dysfunction. Lower levels are associated with better cardiovascular and metabolic health.

2. High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL): The "Good" Cholesterol

What is it: HDL is considered “good” because it helps remove cholesterol from the blood vessels and transport them back to the liver for elimination. Higher HDL levels reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Why is it important: HDL is often used as one of the predictors of cardiovascular risk. HDL has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that helps prevent plaque buildup in arteries and reduce inflammation. While higher HDL is generally better, extremely high levels may also indicate issues, so balance is key.

3. Fasting Glucose: A Marker for Insulin Sensitivity

What is it: Fasting glucose reflects your blood sugar levels after an eight-hour fast. High fasting glucose can indicate insulin resistance, which it’s a precursor to diabetes.

Why is it important: A high fasting glucose level is a sign of insulin resistance blocking glucose from getting into our cells. However, a common way the body react to this insulin block is by producing more insulin, essentially “forcing” the cell to let glucose in. This means that your fasting glucose levels can look normal for a long time while insulin resistance is developing… which it’s why fasting insulin is another important test to do.

4. Blood Pressure: The Silent Killer

What is it: Blood pressure assesses the force of blood against your artery walls. Consistently high readings strain your heart and arteries, increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and kidney problems.

Why is it important: High blood pressure can damage blood vessels and lead to blockages in the vascular system that can affect important blood flow. Blood pressure is connected to insulin resistance; one of the functions of insulin is to stimulate nitric oxide, which it’s the chemical that widens the vessels. With insulin resistance, this process is affected, leading to less dilated vessels.

5. Waist Circumference: A Window into Visceral Fat

What is it: Waist circumference provides an estimate of fat in and around your abdominal organs. Excess fat in the waist area is a sign of excess energy deposited in a place that it’s not supposed to be.

Why is it important: Fats can be stored in the body’s in three areas and each represents a different level of risk for metabolic dysfunction. 1) Subcutaneous fat: the fat under the skin that you can pinch. This fat is not considered to be dangerous. 2) Visceral fat: the fat coating the organs in the abdomen. This fat is dangerous and it promotes chronic inflammation and increases risk of disease. 3) Ectopic fat: the fat inside the cells of various organs. This fat is extremely dangerous, blocking insulin receptor signalling.

Waist circumference is a useful proxy of the level of visceral fat. You can measure visceral fat in more precise ways, such as imaging studies, such as dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans.

6. Triglyceride-to-HDL Ratio: A Key Indicator of Insulin Sensitivity

What is it: This ratio provides a simple yet powerful insight into insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular risk. It’s calculated by dividing triglycerides by HDL.

Why is it important: The triglyceride-to-HDL ratio is the best way to check for insulin resistance other than the insulin response test.

According to a paper published in Circulation, the most powerful test to predict your risk of a heart attack is the ratio of your triglycerides to HDL. If the ratio is high, your risk for a heart attack increases sixteen-fold (1,600 percent)! This is because triglycerides go up and HDL goes down with diabesity.

Happy learning,

Ryan

I've started to take german lessons last week to help me prepare for my exchange program in Berlin in march. I want something simple, with not so much crazy vocabulary. I was trying to search for juvenile books like The Little Prince version of germany(something like it). Thx for the help

Looking for more self development

Crossposting from r/suggestmeabook
I am not a big reader, but this year I would like to spend my time working more on feeling improved in a few categories. My resolution for the year is to read 12 books in different categories that can help cater to that. I'll list the one's I have thought out to help show the vibe of self help books I am drawn to, but was hoping you champion readers could help me fill in the rest of the categories with your best self improvement books. Thanks in advance.

# - Month - Category - Title - Status

• 1 - January- Parenting - Momma Cusses: A Field Guide to Responsive Parenting - Read It
• 2 - February - Financial - Financial Feminist - Not Read
• 3 - March - Stressing Less - The art of not giving a F*** - Not Read
• 4 - April - Donor Kids - Finding Our Families - Not Read
• 5 - Marriage after Kids
• 6 - Communication, talking to anyone
• 7 - How to grow in your career or make your job work for you
• 8 - Habits one should have, or how to make strong ones
• 9 - Family relationships as an adult
• 10 - Open
• 11 - Open
• 12 - Open

I have a very low self-worth for myself to the point that even if someone beats the hell out of me, i would not get angry with him. This is not because I am a pacifist but rather because I see myself as being worth not much more than a piece of stone. I used to think that perhaps achieving something significant would boost my self-worth. But I have come to realize that I am caught in a downward spiral, that is, low self-worth causes poor performance, and poor performance perpetuates low self-worth. I am already working quite hard, but this low self-worth is holding me back. Can you guys please recommend me some books for building self-worth?

Hey everyone!

I love this Reddit community – so many of you are passionate about reading and sharing great recommendations. That got me thinking, what if we started a book club here? (If this already exist, please let me know as I would like to join 😄)

We could use some software to vote on the book we want to cover each month and then set a date to discuss it together. I did this for my university before during the covid period and it was fun.

Would you be interested in joining? Drop a comment if you are keen or have any suggestions on how we could make it work! 😊

Hi everyone,

I’m in need of some serious cleansing. Can anyone recommend a good book that’s wholesome, sweet, filled with morals, respect, and will give my soul a peaceful place in heaven?

For the first time in my 29 boring years of life, I decided to read a dark romance book—Beautiful Fiend by Lola King—thanks to TikTok..... and Sweet Baby Jesus, this book is DARK DARK, like the outer space. I seriously want to laundry my eyes and brain and dry them in the sun. It made me want to use holy water as moisturizer. I couldn’t finish it. I was so disgusted I thought I'm gonna have a cardiac arrest. My fragile heart and soul can’t handle it. Dark romance is NOT for me. 😞

So please, I need a book that has a wholesome plot and characters. No Rape, Sexual Assault or any Boombayah scenes with no consent. No to toxic Male MC or cheating. I want to fall in love with the Male MC because he's so perfect. So perfect that it will raise my standards so high I'm gonna be single for the rest of my life.

Thank you so much. 

I’ve always enjoyed books and words and writings.

But I have noticed as I grow older, I’m picking up more serious books. Books that I would like to digest and get the whole book in me.

I found ‘annotating’ and ‘marginalia’. As I go through different techniques, despite it working and increasing my engagement with the work, I’m finding that it hinders me from reading.

What should I do?

Hi everyone, Im looking for a reading buddy to explore and discuss books with. Im open to different genres and ideas. Let me know if youre interested

Hello curious minds 🧠

Happy new year! Hope everyone had a good holiday break.

This year, my focus is on health; for myself and my family. I have been reading Good Energy by Dr Casey Means, and while I am still reading through it, I am finding it a fascinating read.

The book emphasises the importance of understanding and improving our metabolic health to prevent and even reverse chronic diseases.

But, I am not going to lie… I am new to this area and I don’t fully understand all these terminologies yet. What exactly is metabolic? Inflammation? Free radicals? Oxidative stress? 🤯 But, with the help from AI, I have been able to make sense of some of these concepts. If you don't fully understand the below, I have included definitions of the core concepts here.

According to Dr. Means, the root cause of many illnesses lies in metabolic dysfunction, which often comes from a mismatch between our modern lifestyles and the needs of our cells. Things like poor diet, lack of exercise, insufficient sleep, chronic stress, and exposure to environmental toxins all contribute to this dysfunction. Again metabolic dysfunction (at the cellular level) means your cells can’t produce energy effectively, which prevents them from functioning as they should.

These lifestyles lead to three main problems — mitochondrial dysfunction, chronic inflammation, and oxidative stress. Together, they form what Dr Means calls the trifecta of dysfunction, which disrupts cellular energy production and health. I have taken the descriptions of these three dysfunctions directly from the book:

I am not a doctor and I am new to this space. This is just what I have learned so far and how I understand it. So please do your own research.

One thing this book has taught me is that we can’t blindly trust our doctors. There’s a chapter that explains how the medical system often prioritises treatments and interventions over prevention and holistic health. Instead of addressing the root causes of health issues, like lifestyle and diet, it tends to focus on managing diseases once they have already developed.

A big takeaway for me is the knowledge gap between doctors and patients. Given how the system works, we can’t always rely on doctors to act in our best interest. That’s why I have decided to invest time in learning more about how my body works and taking charge of my own health; and I encourage you to do the same 💪🏼

Questions to the group:

1. What are some of the best books you would recommend on this topic? My next to reads are glucose revolution and ultra-processed people but like I said, I am very new to the area so would love to hear what you guys have to recommend. Are there any books on how to understand blood tests / what biomarkers to look for etc?

2. I love lifestyle gamification and to gamify health, my plan is to learn how to cook 100 recipes by the end of the year and being able to understand the benefits of each ingredient and recipe. Are there any good websites / books you guys would recommend on recipes? I don't want super green ones like how not to die but still a good one that offers a balance between good taste and nutritional.

3. I have been having AG1 for 1 - 2 years but then stopped. I personally like the thought of having all the main nutrients cover but what do you guys think about it? Do you guys use any alternatives?

Happy reading,

Ryan

Hi, do you have any recommendation to reframe my mindset to be less envious and negative? I know it's a part of therapy work, but if I can get some more resources I'd be grateful.
My issue stems from a constant perfectionism and low self-esteem:

- envy when something good happens in someone else life, even friend or family: finding a partner, buying a house, graduating, changing jobs ... my internal discourse is either to diminish their accomplishment, thinking they don't deserve it or wishing that it's not going to end well
- need to challenge others point of view and actions and "win" the conversation, which ends up in me considering a lot of people as not worthy of connection
- very powerful self-defence mechanisms that include lying and avoiding responsibilities to fit with my idea of how perfect i should be

All those just keep me bitter and miserable. I work a lot on my self-talk to reframe them but I would really love to be more positive and caring in first intention, not after a internal berating.
I doubt I can totally get rid of the envy but maybe diminish it so it's not always the first thing that jumps to my mind.

I wrote a free eBook that you may find useful.

Titled “Attaining Fulfillment: 8 Pillars To Live By”, I describe a rough outline that a person can follow to find fulfillment. We long to be accepted. We are doomed to face hardships. We thirst for purpose. I tackle these realities and more.

If you are interested, here are some links.

Amazon (Kindle) // Apple // Google Books / Smash Words (PDF/Epub/etc)