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 76 books
  • 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.

  • Boundaries with Kids: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Children
    • Boundaries
    Boundaries with Kids: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Children

    By: Henry Cloud, John Townsend

    Join Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend, authors of the New York Times bestseller Boundaries, as they share the research and guidance you need to raise your kids to take responsibility for their actions, attitudes, and emotions. What Boundaries has done for adult relationships, Boundaries with Kids will do for you and your family.

  • Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most

    By: Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, Roger Fisher

    We attempt or avoid difficult conversations every day-whether dealing with an underperforming employee, disagreeing with a spouse, or negotiating with a client. From the Harvard Negotiation Project, the organization that brought you Getting to Yes, Difficult Conversations provides a step-by-step approach to having those tough conversations with less stress and more success.

  • Drama Free: A Guide to Managing Unhealthy Family Relationships
    • Boundaries
    Drama Free: A Guide to Managing Unhealthy Family Relationships

    By: Nedra Glover Tawwab

    Every family has a story. For some of us, our family of origin is a solid foundation that feeds our confidence and helps us navigate life’s challenges. For others, it’s a source of pain, hurt, and conflict that can feel like a lifelong burden. In this empowering guide, licensed therapist and bestselling relationship expert Nedra Glover Tawwab offers clear advice for identifying dysfunctional family patterns and choosing the best path to breaking the cycle and moving forward.

  • Boundaries in Marriage: Understanding the Choices That Make or Break Loving Relationships
    • Boundaries
    Boundaries in Marriage: Understanding the Choices That Make or Break Loving Relationships

    By: Henry Cloud, John Townsend

    In Boundaries in Marriage, Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend, counselors and authors of the New York Times bestseller Boundaries, teach us that healthy boundaries are the property lines that define and protect you and your spouse as individuals. Once you have them in place, a good marriage can become better, and a less-than-satisfying one can even be saved.

  • The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color
    • Healing & Trauma
    The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color

    By: Natalie Y. Gutiérrez LMFT

    If you are a person of color who has experienced repeated trauma—such as discrimination, race-related verbal assault, racial stigmatization, poverty, sexual trauma, or interpersonal violence—you may struggle with intense feelings of anger, mistrust, or shame. You may feel unsafe or uncomfortable in your own body, or struggle with building and keeping close relationships. Sometimes you may feel very alone in your pain. But you are not alone.

  • Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are
    • Boundaries
    Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are

    By: Lysa TerKeurst

    Is it unloving or selfish to set a boundary with family members or friends? Are Christians ever called to walk away from a relationship that’s no longer safe or sustainable? #1 New York Times bestselling author Lysa TerKeurst deeply understands these hard questions in the midst of relational struggles. After thousands of hours of counseling intensives and extensive theological research that transformed the way she defined healthy relationships, Lysa is now more committed than ever to loving people well without losing the best of who she is.

  • It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle
    • Healing & Trauma
    It Didn’t Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle

    By: Mark Wolynn

    It Didn’t Start with You builds on the work of leading experts in post-traumatic stress, including Mount Sinai School of Medicine neuroscientist Rachel Yehuda and psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score. Even if the person who suffered the original trauma has died, or the story has been forgotten or silenced, memory and feelings can live on. These emotional legacies are often hidden, encoded in everything from gene expression to everyday language, and they play a far greater role in our emotional and physical health than has ever before been understood.

  • Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe

    By: Craig Groeschel

    Do you ever wonder, “Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?” Do you wish you could see the evidence that prayer changes lives? Are you tired of playing it safe with your faith? In Dangerous Prayers, New York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel helps you unlock your greatest potential and tackle your greatest fears by praying stronger, more passionate prayers that lead you into a deeper faith.

  • The Memo
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Memo

    By: Minda Harts

    From microaggressions to the wage gap, The Memo empowers women of color with actionable advice on challenges and offers a clear path to success. Most business books provide a one-size-fits-all approach to career advice that overlooks the unique barriers that women of color face. In The Memo, Minda Harts offers a much-needed career guide tailored specifically for women of color.

  • Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity

    By: Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith

    How can you keep your energy, happiness, creativity, and relationships fresh and thriving in the midst of never-ending family demands, career pressures, and the stress of everyday life? In Sacred Rest, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a board-certified internal medicine doctor, reveals why rest can no longer remain optional.

  • Breaking Free from Body Shame: Dare to Reclaim What God Has Named Good
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Breaking Free from Body Shame: Dare to Reclaim What God Has Named Good

    By: Jess Connolly

    It’s one thing to know in your head that you were created in the image of God. Yet it’s quite another to experience this belief in your body, against the cultural ideals of a woman’s worth. And between the two lies a world of frustration, disappointment, and the shame of somehow feeling both too much and never enough in your body.

  • Positive Affirmations for Black Women
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Positive Affirmations for Black Women: Attract Love, Success, Happiness, Wealth and Abundance, Increase Confidence & Self-Love, Improve Your Mindset

    By: Limitless Abundance

    The words we say to ourselves have immense power and impact over our lives. What you think, you become. Affirmations restructure the dynamic of our brains so that we truly begin to think nothing is impossible. This book contains a collection of affirmations written specifically for Black women. Positive affirmations are a great way to combat subconscious thoughts, by allowing you to focus your energy on encouraging positive changes in your life.

  • Decolonizing the Body: Healing, Body-Centered Practices for Women of Color to Reclaim Confidence, Dignity, and Self-Worth
    • Healing & Trauma
    Decolonizing the Body: Healing, Body-Centered Practices for Women of Color to Reclaim Confidence, Dignity, and Self-Worth

    By: Kelsey Blackwell

    As a woman of color, you are more likely to experience oppression, discrimination, and physical or sexual violence in your lifetime. In addition, your family may have experienced generational trauma and systemic racism going back for centuries. This old and new trauma can manifest in both the mind and body. However, there are ways you can free yourself from this trauma, build confidence in yourself and your abilities, and restore your powerful sense of self.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t

    By: Simon Sinek

    In his work with organizations around the world, Simon Sinek noticed that some teams trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives are offered, are doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why? The answer became clear during a conversation with a Marine Corps general. “Officers eat last,” he said. Sinek watched as the most junior Marines ate first while the most senior Marines took their place at the back of the line. What’s symbolic in the chow hall is deadly serious on the battlefield: Great leaders sacrifice their own comfort–even their own survival–for the good of those in their care.

  • After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love
    • Healing & Trauma
    After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love

    By: Alexandra Elle

    Part memoir and part guide, Elle shares stirring stories from her own remarkable journey from self-doubt to self-love. This soulful collection is filled with illuminating reflections on loss, fear, bravery, healing, love, acceptance, and more. Readers follow along her journey as she transforms challenging experiences—a difficult childhood, painful romantic relationships, and single parenting as a young mom—into fuel for her career as a successful entrepreneur and author driven by purpose and passion.