2024 Reading List
Here are a few more books that you might find useful in your own journey of Purpose. Taken as a list they may not seem related, however, each one brings something related directly or indirectly to the journey of Purpose discovery.
Soulcraft (Plotkin)
approaches Soul not as a religious entity, but a person’s unique, innate Purpose. It’s a place in the larger Earth community that only they can fill. Here in you will find a diverse set of wilderness ceremonies and practices, from dream work to vision fasts, designed to help the individual descend into the unconscious and return with discovered Purpose gifts for the world.
Why I liked it: This book helped me extend and expand my own collection of tools for self-directed, psycho-spiritual exploration.
Read if: You are interested in practices that support Purpose Discovery. You are ready to explore the depths of your own psyche. You are a coach, therapist, or other guide working with people on the second half of life transition.
Tarot and the Archetypal Journey (Nichols)
uses a Jungian lens to explore the Major Arcana and how it depicts the universal Hero’s Journey of individuation. Each card is presented as a living archetype and as a mirror reflecting a specific stage of human psychological development and the challenges we face in the quest for wholeness.
Why I liked it: Steeped in Jungian concepts, it goes far beyond typical Tarot interpretations, explaining why symbols like the Fool , Death, or the Devil resonate so deeply with our collective unconscious.
Read if: You are Jung-curious and interested in a deeper, symbolic approach to your Tarot practice. You want to use Tarot to understand your own life’s journey.
Positive Provocation (Biswas-Diener)
argues that true growth often requires a helpful nudge of discomfort, pushing people to confront their lack of awareness through courageous and challenging conversations. It provides a framework for using provocation as a deeply respectful tool to break through stagnation and spark professional and personal transformation, and at the same time the book itself challenges decades of commonly accepted coaching advice and teaching.
Why I liked it: Gave me permission (like I needed it) to color outside the lines that I was so carefully judged on drawing within during coach training. It spoke to my intuitive coaching style that combines support with appropriate levels of challenge.
Read if: You are a coach or manager and looking to improve how you have a coaching conversation. You feel like you have coaching basics down and want to deepen your practice.
Working Identity (Ibarra)
challenges the traditional plan and implement approach to career change, arguing instead that we discover our true self through action and experiment. Career transition is not a straight line but a messy process of trying on new identities until we find a fit that resonates with our evolving internal reality.
Why I liked it: Career change for me was so unpredictable and messy. As a coach I find that the career conversation is always an identity conversation at its core. This book resonates with my belief that we have to examine “who am I to be?” before “what will I do for a job?”
Read if: You are not totally happy in your own career, but you’re not sure what’s next. You are a coach or manager who works with people on their careers.
Your Body is Your Brain (Blake)
demonstrates how our nervous system and physical sensations are actually the control center for our emotional intelligence, social skills, and decision-making. Blake argues that by learning to listen to and retrain our bodily responses, we can shift ingrained habits and show up with more presence, resilience, and wisdom than through intellectual effort alone.
Why I liked it: As someone who had no somatic literacy for a large part of my life, this book really spoke to my own bodily awakening and practice around working with clients on the connected intelligence of the body. I also enjoyed hearing the stories of Blake’s clients.
Read if: Your friend Matt recommends it. You are a heady person, spending your days analyzing and overthinking, and you are looking for a different way to approach life.
A Hidden Wholeness (Palmer)
explores the "divided life,” where our inner truth and outer actions are at odds. It offers a blueprint for reuniting them through the concept of a "Circle of Trust." By creating safe, non-judgmental spaces, we can invite our shy souls to emerge, allowing us to live with authenticity rather than hiding behind masks of professional or social convenience.
Why I liked it: Circle of Trust framework changed the way I work with groups. I also liked the focus on integrity as personal truth and wholeness.
Read if: You facilitate groups and would like to invite more heartfelt depth.
The Gentle Art of Blessing (Pradervand)
proposes "blessing" as a practical, non-religious spiritual practice that involves silently wishing the absolute best for every person and situation you encounter, especially those that cause you pain. The author provides a transformative guide to shifting one's internal frequency from judgment and resentment to unconditional goodwill.
Why I liked it: It’s radically simple and it works. An ongoing practice, it helps me move from reacting negativity to initiating my own peace, which feels incredibly empowering in a chaotic world.
Read if: Your dear friend Kathy (one of the kindest people you know) recommends it. You know you need more positive encounters in your life.
Walking in Wonder (O’Donohue)
is a collection of conversations and reflections that celebrate the sacramental nature of the earth, urging us to move through life with a sense of sacred curiosity. By slowing down and honoring the thresholds of our lives, such as birth, death, and change, we can rediscover a sense of belonging that modern life has stripped away.
Why I liked it: Mysticism in the more-than-human world, stunningly beautiful lyrical genius, accessible sacred wisdom.
Read if: You have unmet grief, you want more contemplation in your life, or you are aching to remember your wild connection to Earth.
Man and His Symbols (Jung)
The language of the unconscious is not words, but symbols: the recurring images in our dreams, myths, and art that point toward hidden psychological truths. Jung and colleagues explain how modern humanity has lost touch with these archaic remnants, and how reconnecting with them is the only path to a truly integrated, whole personality.
Why I liked it: For Jung, this is as accessible as it gets. It reminded me just how deeply our psyche is connected to all of human history.
Read if: You want to read only 1 book by Jung. You want to get a sense of concepts like anima/animus, shadow, individuation, collective unconscious, mythic symbolism.
