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 54 books
  • My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
    • Healing & Trauma
    My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies

    By: Resmaa Menakem

    In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology. My Grandmother’s Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.

  • Good Vibes, Good Life: How Self-Love Is the Key to Unlocking Your Greatness
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Good Vibes, Good Life: How Self-Love Is the Key to Unlocking Your Greatness

    By: Vex King

    How can you learn to truly love yourself? How can you transform negative emotions into positive ones? Is it possible to find lasting happiness? In this book, Instagram guru Vex King answers all of these questions and more.

  • Dare to Lead: Brave Work Tough Conversations Whole Hearts
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.

    By: Brené Brown

    Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work.

  • 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.

  • Sensitive Is the New Strong: The Power of Empaths in an Increasingly Harsh World
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Sensitive Is the New Strong: The Power of Empaths in an Increasingly Harsh World

    By: Anita Moorjani

    In a time when traits like sensitivity, kindness, and compassion are sorely undervalued, Anita Moorjani helps empaths—whether emerging or acknowledged—navigate obstacles they may face and identify what makes them unique. She teaches them how to claim their true powers as empaths and to be their most authentic selves.

  • Bring Yourself: How to Negotiate Fearlessly
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Bring Yourself: How to Negotiate Fearlessly

    By: Mori Taheripour

    Contrary to conventional wisdom about what makes a good negotiator – namely, being aggressive and unemotional – in Bring Yourself, Taheripour offers a radically different perspective. In her own life, and in her nearly 20 years of experience teaching negotiation, she’s found that the best negotiators are empathetic, curious, and present. The essence of bargaining isn’t the transaction, but the conversation and human connection. It is when we bring our whole, authentic selves to the table that we can advocate for ourselves fearlessly and find creative solutions that benefit everyone.

  • 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.

  • Prayer Journal for Women: 52 Week Scripture, Devotional & Guided Prayer Journal
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Prayer Journal for Women: 52 Week Scripture, Devotional & Guided Prayer Journal

    By: Shannon Roberts, Paige Tate & Co

    Prayer Journal for Women: 52 Weeks Scripture, Devotional, & Guided Prayer Journal includes Scripture verses, reflections on the Word, and journaling prompts to guide your walk with God and strengthen your faith.

  • Woman Evolve: Break Up with Your Fears and Revolutionize Your Life
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Woman Evolve: Break Up with Your Fears and Revolutionize Your Life

    By: Sarah Jakes Roberts

    Everyone faces trials, and everyone will mess up. But failure should not be the focus. Your focus should not be on who you were but rather the pursuit of who you can become. In Woman Evolve, Sarah helps you understand that your purpose in life does not change; it evolves.

  • 100 Days of Joy and Strength: A Devotional Journal
    • Faith & Spirituality
    100 Days of Joy and Strength: A Devotional Journal

    By: Candace Cameron Bure

    A 100 day devotional bible journaling adventure by New York Times Best-selling author and actress, Candace Cameron Bure. Set out on a 100-day journey to find overwhelming peace—a peace that only comes from resting in God’s joy and relying on His strength and loving resources every day.

  • No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model
    • Healing & Trauma
    No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model

    By: Richard Schwartz Ph.D., Alanis Morissette

    Is there just one “you”? We’ve been taught to believe we have a single identity, and to feel fear or shame when we can’t control the inner voices that don’t match the ideal of who we think we should be. Yet Dr. Richard Schwartz’s research now challenges this “mono-mind” theory. “All of us are born with many sub-minds―or parts,” says Dr. Schwartz. “These parts are not imaginary or symbolic. They are individuals who exist as an internal family within us―and the key to health and happiness is to honor, understand, and love every part.”

  • Hope in the Dark: Believing God Is Good When Life Is Not
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Hope in the Dark: Believing God Is Good When Life Is Not

    By: Craig Groeschel

    Pastor and bestselling author Craig Groeschel hears these words often and has asked them himself. We want to know God, feel his presence, and trust that he hears our prayers, but in the midst of great pain, we may wonder if he really cares about us. Even when we have both hope and hurt, sometimes it’s the hurt that shouts the loudest.

  • Bible Promises for Moms: Inspirational Verses of Hope & Encouragement for Christian Mothers
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Bible Promises for Moms: Inspirational Verses of Hope & Encouragement for Christian Mothers

    By: Heidi St. John

    God understands the heart of a mom, as well as the daily cares and worries that can weigh you down. No matter where you are in your mothering journey, God’s mercies and promises are for you. This pocket-size book of Scriptures provides hundreds of Bible promises that are relevant to the needs of every mother, interweaving them with personal reflections from popular author Heidi St. John.

  • Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself
    • Healing & Trauma
    Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself

    By: Melody Beattie

    Melody Beattie’s compassionate and insightful look into codependency—the concept of losing oneself in the name of helping another— has helped millions of readers understand that they are powerless to change anyone but themselves and that caring for the self is where healing begins.

  • The Highly Sensitive Person in Love: Understanding and Managing Relationships When the World Overwhelms You
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    The Highly Sensitive Person in Love: Understanding and Managing Relationships When the World Overwhelms You

    By: Elaine N. Aron Ph.D.

    Based on Elaine N. Aron’s groundbreaking research on temperament and intimacy, The Highly Sensitive Person in Love offers practical help for highly sensitive people seeking happier, healthier romantic relationships. From low-stress fighting to sensitive sexuality, the book offers a wealth of practical advice on making the most of all personality combinations. Complete with illuminating self-tests and the results of the first survey ever done on sex and temperament, The Highly Sensitive Person in Love will help you discover a better way of living and loving.

  • 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.

  • Emotional Self-Care for Black Women: Discover How to Raise Your Self-Esteem, Eliminate Negative Thinking and Heal from Past Traumas Even if Your Life is Chaotic Right Now
    • Healing & Trauma
    Emotional Self-Care for Black Women: Discover How to Raise Your Self-Esteem, Eliminate Negative Thinking and Heal from Past Traumas Even if Your Life is Chaotic Right Now

    By: Alicia Magoro

    Have you been feeling like you can never get a break? Are your days full of conflict and challenges that you constantly have to fight and overcome? Are you tired of riding the rollercoaster of anger, fear, frustration, and overwhelm and wish you could just take a step back from your problems? Being a black woman today comes with unique struggles that others don’t even know about. You face the discrimination that both women and people of color encounter. Your needs are often belittled or dismissed. You have to battle against a lot of unhelpful labels and limitations imposed on you by society.

  • It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered
    • Faith & Spirituality
    It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered

    By: Lysa TerKeurst

    Life often looks so very different than we hoped or expected. Some events may simply catch us off guard for a moment, but others shatter us completely. We feel disappointed and disillusioned, and we quietly start to wonder about the reality of God’s goodness. Lysa TerKeurst understands this deeply. But she’s also discovered that our disappointments can be the divine appointments our souls need to radically encounter God.