The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself (New Harbinger/Noetic Books)

I bought this book for myself initially to help me in my spiritual awakening development. It is written in plain and simple terms and demystifies the whole process, a process that seems complicated but is actually ridiculously easy. I read it five times in the first month whilst working away in Spain and I came back floating on air with a deep feeling of serenity. I've read it twice more since then and I'm sure I'll read it many times in the future. I found the section on how to release pain particularly effective, and an instant cure to rid yourself of anything that "rattles your cage" forever. When something produces a negative reaction in you such as anger, dis-ease, or just an uncomfortableness, then that is the time to just take a few seconds to acknowledge the pain, come to terms with it and then allow it to pass through your heart. It really is that simple and unbelievably effective. The description of the Tao or "walking the middle path", a notoriously difficult thing to explain is also very elopuently described and demystified in such a simple way.

I'm buying this book not for myself but for someone we met on a journey back from the airport in the early hours of the morning. We found her lying in the grass at the side of the road around 2am, a lovely girl with mental health and drink problems but with a sharp intellect and the knowing and the want to sort herself out. This will only be a part of her recovery but we're going to hold her hand through this and hopefully she'll be giving it a read whilst in rehab.

I can't recommend this book enough. If you've ever had the thoughts of "is this it?" or "there's got to be more" then this is the book for you.