Recommended Reading List

At Holistically Divine Counseling (HDC), we believe in the transformative power of knowledge and self-discovery.

This curated selection of books reflects our commitment to supporting you on your journey toward personal growth, healing, and overall well-being. Whether you’re seeking practical techniques to navigate life’s challenges, a deeper understanding of psychological principles, or inspirational stories of resilience, this collection offers diverse resources to meet your needs. Each book has been chosen with care, aiming to provide you with insights, comfort, and the tools necessary to embark on a path of self-improvement and emotional empowerment. We may earn a commission when you purchase a book using the links below.

1-18 of 55 books
  • Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

    By: Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, Bruce Patton

    Getting to Yes offers a proven, step-by-step strategy for coming to mutually acceptable agreements in every sort of conflict. Thoroughly updated and revised, it offers readers a straight- forward, universally applicable method for negotiating personal and professional disputes without getting angry-or getting taken.

  • The Gifts of Imperfection
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    The Gifts of Imperfection

    By: Brené Brown

    What transforms this book from words on a page to effective daily practices are the ten guideposts to wholehearted living. The guideposts not only help us understand the practices that will allow us to change our lives and families, they also walk us through the unattainable and sabotaging expectations that get in the way.

  • Calm Your Thoughts: Stop Overthinking, Stop Stressing, Stop Spiraling, and Start Living
    • Anxiety & Depression
    Calm Your Thoughts: Stop Overthinking, Stop Stressing, Stop Spiraling, and Start Living (The Path to Calm)

    By: Nick Trenton

    Calm Your Thoughts is a book that understands where you’ve been through,the exhausting situation you’ve put yourself into, and how you lose your mind in the trap of anxiety and stress. Acclaimed author Nick Trenton will walk you through the obstacles with detailed and proven techniques to help you rewire your brain, control your thoughts, and change your mental habits.

  • Unfuck Your Brain: Getting Over Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Freak-Outs, and Triggers with science
    • Anxiety & Depression
    Unfuck Your Brain: Getting Over Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Freak-Outs, and Triggers with science (5-Minute Therapy)

    By: Ph.D. Harper, Faith

    A no-nonsense and helpful guide on how to cope with a slew of mental-health issues that are hellbent on ruining the lives of millions of people worldwide.

  • Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior
    • Anxiety & Depression
    Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior

    By: Mark Goulston, Philip Goldberg

    Practical, proven self help steps show how to transform 40 common self-defeating behaviors, including procrastination, envy, obsession, anger, self-pity, compulsion, neediness, guilt, rebellion, inaction, and more.

  • Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
    • Anxiety & Depression
    Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

    By: James Clear

    No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving–every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

  • The Highly Sensitive Person's Guide to Stop People-Pleasing: Finally, Put Yourself First, Set Boundaries with Confidence, and Release the Negativity in Saying NO!
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    The Highly Sensitive Person’s Guide to Stop People-Pleasing: Finally, Put Yourself First, Set Boundaries with Confidence, and Release the Negativity in Saying NO!

    By: C. Jeffrey

    If you struggle to say “no” to others, usually at the expense of your own needs, know that there’s a way out. This guide was specially written for highly sensitive people like you, whose empathetic nature can sometimes be used against them. You’ll see that it’s possible to utilize the power of your heightened sensitivity while overcoming your people-pleasing and self-defeating tendencies at the same time.

  • Safe People: How to Find Relationships that are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren't
    • Boundaries
    Safe People: How to Find Relationships that are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren’t

    By: Henry Cloud, John Townsend

    Safe People will help you discover why good people can get tangled in bad relationships, how to avoid repeating your own mistakes, and how to pick safe, healthy people for the friends you make and the company you keep.

  • The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You

    By: Elaine N. Aron Ph.D.

    Do you have a keen imagination and vivid dreams? Is time alone each day as essential to you as food and water? Are you noted for your empathy? Your conscientiousness? Do noise and confusion quickly overwhelm you? If your answers are yes, you may be a highly sensitive person (HSP) and Dr. Elaine Aron’s The Highly Sensitive Person is the life-changing guide you’ll want in your toolbox.

  • Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself
    • Boundaries
    Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself

    By: Nedra Glover Tawwab

    Healthy boundaries. We all know we should have them–in order to achieve work/life balance, cope with toxic people, and enjoy rewarding relationships with partners, friends, and family. But what do “healthy boundaries” really mean–and how can we successfully express our needs, say “no,” and be assertive without offending others?

  • Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well

    By: Douglas Stone, Sheila Heen

    Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen have spent the past fifteen years working with corporations, nonprofits, governments, and families to determine what helps us learn and what gets in our way. In Thanks for the Feedback, they explain why receiving feedback is so crucial yet so challenging, offering a simple framework and powerful tools to help us take on life’s blizzard of offhand comments, annual evaluations, and unsolicited input with curiosity and grace. They blend the latest insights from neuroscience and psychology with practical, hard-headed advice. Thanks for the Feedback is destined to become a classic in the fields of leadership, organizational behavior, and education.

  • The Highly Sensitive Person's Guide to Dealing with Toxic People: How to Reclaim Your Power from Narcissists and Other Manipulators
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    The Highly Sensitive Person’s Guide to Dealing with Toxic People: How to Reclaim Your Power from Narcissists and Other Manipulators

    By: Shahida Arabi MA

    If you’re a highly sensitive person, or identify as an “empath,” you may feel easily overwhelmed by the world around you, suffer from “people-pleasing,” experience extreme anxiety or stress in times of conflict, or even take on the emotions of others. Due to your naturally giving nature, you may also be a target for narcissists and self-centered individuals who seek to exploit others for their own gain. So, how can you protect yourself?

  • Not Nice: Stop People Pleasing, Staying Silent, & Feeling Guilty... And Start Speaking Up, Saying No, Asking Boldly, And Unapologetically Being Yourself
    • Boundaries
    Not Nice: Stop People Pleasing, Staying Silent, & Feeling Guilty… And Start Speaking Up, Saying No, Asking Boldly, And Unapologetically Being Yourself

    By: Dr. Aziz Gazipura

    Are You Too Nice? If you find it hard to be assertive, directly ask for what you want, or say “no” to others, then you just might be suffering from too much niceness. In this controversial book, world-renowned confidence expert, Dr. Aziz Gazipura, takes an incisive look at the concept of nice. Through his typical style, Dr. Aziz uses engaging stories, humor, and disarming vulnerability to cut through the nice conditioning and liberate the most bold, expressive, authentic version of you.

  • The Art Of Saying NO: How To Stand Your Ground, Reclaim Your Time And Energy, And Refuse To Be Taken For Granted (Without Feeling Guilty!)
    • Boundaries
    The Art Of Saying NO: How To Stand Your Ground, Reclaim Your Time And Energy, And Refuse To Be Taken For Granted (Without Feeling Guilty!)

    By: Damon Zahariades

    Damon Zahariades provides a step-by-step, strategic guide for setting boundaries and developing the assertiveness you need to maintain them. You’ll learn how to say no in every situation, at home and in the workplace, according to your convictions. And best of all, you’ll discover how to get your friends, family members, bosses, coworkers, and neighbors to respect your boundaries and recognize your personal authority.

  • Self-Love Workbook for Women: Release Self-Doubt, Build Self-Compassion, and Embrace Who You Are
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Self-Love Workbook for Women: Release Self-Doubt, Build Self-Compassion, and Embrace Who You Are

    By: Megan Logan MSW LCSW

    Embrace who you are with this guided self-love book for women of any age and any background. This year, you’ll embark on your journey of self-discovery by learning what self-love is, and then immersing yourself in activities that help you build your self-esteem and improve your relationships. This book includes a variety of exercises to engage with your sense of self-love, and the companion journal encourages you to go even deeper with writing and reflection.

  • Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts
    • Anxiety & Depression
    Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts

    By: Jennie Allen

    Are your thoughts holding you captive? I’ll never be good enough. Other people have better lives than I do. God couldn’t really love me. Jennie Allen knows what it’s like to swirl in a spiral of destructive thoughts, but she also knows we don’t have to stay stuck in toxic thinking patterns.

  • Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World

    By: Jenn Granneman, Andre Sólo

    Everyone has a sensitive side, but nearly 1 in 3 people have the genes to be more sensitive than others—both physically and emotionally. These are the people who pause before speaking and think before acting; they tune into subtle details and make connections that others miss. They tend to be intelligent, big-hearted, and wonderfully creative; they are wired to go deep, yet society tells them to hide the very sensitivity that makes them this way. These are the world’s “highly sensitive people,” and Sensitive is the book that champions them.

  • Just as I Am
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Just as I Am

    By: Cicely Tyson

    “Just as I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside. In these pages, I am indeed Cicely, the actress who has been blessed to grace the stage and screen for six decades. Yet I am also the church girl who once rarely spoke a word. I am the teenager who sought solace in the verses of the old hymn for which this book is named. I am a daughter and a mother, a sister and a friend. I am an observer of human nature and the dreamer of audacious dreams. I am a woman who has hurt as immeasurably as I have loved, a child of God divinely guided by his hand. And here in my ninth decade, I am a woman who, at long last, has something meaningful to say.” –Cicely Tyson