9 Best Mindfulness Books to Read on the Plane
There are two types of people – the movie downloaders or the bookworms who can crush out 2 books in the span of 3 hours on their flight. To be completely honest, I usually end up bringing a book, read 2 pages, then end up watching a movie or listen to a podcast the rest of the time. Regardless, this list of books on mindfulness can be read anywhere – on the beach, on the plane, or curled up in a blanket by the fire at home. However, if you dare read any of these book suggestions on the plane, be prepared to not be able to put the book down! Helps for a faster flight ๐
Let’s get into the 9 Best Mindfulness Books to Read on the Plane!
10% Happier – Dan Harris
This is a GREAT book for those who initially have some skepticism towards the whole mindfulness/meditation ordeal. Dan Harris, a very well known and previous news anchor on ABC news, describes his journey of becoming more mindful throughout his hectic job and constant wandering mind. He interviews well known “gurus” such as Eckhart Tolle, Deepka Chopra, and Mark Epstein*** as he searches for the answers to achieving a calm mind.
Find the book on his website: www.tenpercent.com or order it on Amazon here!
2. The Mountain Is You – Brianna Wiest
If you’re like me and tend to self-sabotage certain aspects of life, this book is your lifesaver. Brianna gives extremely insightful and practical information/steps to identify your self sabotage brain and run up the mountain with it. This book teaches you how to overcome the battles in your mind. It ultimately teaches you to realize you’re not trying to overcome the mountain, you are the mountain! Life has its winding ways full of ups and downs, but that’s just part of life/part of your mountain. Life is a beautiful journey, let’s train our brain to see that!
You can purchase the kindle version, audiobook, or paperback version from Amazon here!
3. The Four Agreements – Don Miguel Ruiz
The Four Agreements provide you with 4 practical ways to live your life. These 4 principals allow you to truly embrace who you are and allow you to live more authentically:
- Be Impeccable With Your Word
- Don’t Take Anything Personally
- Don’t Make Assumptions
- Always Do Your Best
In a nutshell, this book gives you wisdom on accepting who you are, being true to your word, and not assuming but seeing things for as they are. If you’re looking for a quick but insightful read on the plane (an easy 160 pages) then this book is for you!
4. The Universe Has Your Back – Gabrielle Bernstein
Gabrielle Bernstein is one of my favorite authors when it comes to truly living life and letting go of control. She mentions many tips and daily habits to cultivate more love into your life, as she so effortlessly describes, “The happiness, safety, and security we long for lies in our commitment to love.” We are meant to live and love in this world, it’s time to let go of anything that is not meant for us and truly live and sit with our inner love, light, and kindness. In living this way, I believe we will receive the same in return.
5. Self Compassion – Kristin Neff
Have you ever heard the phrase, “the grass is always greener”? We as individuals have a tendency to feel as if someone else is always more good looking, more deserving, more worthy, more successful. It takes a certain mindset shift to grow our compassion toward ourselves. Kristin Neff does a fabulous job in this book by describing how instead of judging ourselves we can have compassion on our imperfections. Kristin describes how having compassion for ourselves can help us cultivate compassion towards others, A win-win!
6. Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness – Jon Kabat-Zinn
Don’t let this 600 page book scare you off! This book solely helps you live in the moment, even when the moment is hard. It touches on how we as humans have multiple stressors, whether that’s emotional pain, physical pain, illness, fear, anxiety, etc., and how we can overcome these constant stressors by reacting differently. We usually react to hard situations by feeling hurt, worthless, defeated, but what if we reacted differently? Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches us to embrace the pain, feel all the feels, and then move on. Slow down, take in the ups and downs of life, and cultivate gratitude and kindness as every single person is going through something we may not know about.
7. The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: How to Be Calm and Mindful in a Fast-Paced World – Haemin Sunim
A book you can turn to again and again, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down is a book full of wisdom about living in the present moment. It teaches us to be grateful for the small things and the small moments that can pass by so quickly. If we slow down and give gratitude to the present moment, we can become more happier and insightful beings. Many of us take things very personally, if we learn to let go and understand everyone is going through their own struggles, we can become more compassionate and cultivate more love to ourselves and others.
8. The Untethered Soul – Michael Singer
Yet another book by an incredible mindful author, the untethered soul helps our soul be, well, untethered. Negative thoughts and feelings can haunt us daily, but this book helps you identify the voice in your head that is responsible for the negativity and rise above it. Michael Singer describes how we mindlessly go through our daily tasks with constant inner chatter. We never dig deeper to understand where this chatter is coming from, why we listen to it, and what it’s actually doing to us. He proposes the question, what if we had the option to not believe every thought that runs through our brain?
The Untethered Soul is a very deep and moving book that can help you look at your thoughts from a different angle. This can ultimately allow us to achieve the peace and happiness that we are all so desperately striving for (the twist is – all the love peace and happiness we are striving for is already inside of us)!
9. Stop Overthinking – Nick Trenton
Many of us (definitely me) tend to think overthinking is helping us solve the problem before the problem even happens. Somehow, thinking about the situation makes us feel like we are diluting the pain before it happens (if it even ends up happening). This book tells us straight up to cut it out with 23 well-organized techniques. If obsessive thoughts and worrying consume you, I highly recommend you give this book a read.
What do all of these books have in common? Tuning into the present moment. It is way too easy to let life fly by. I, for one, do not want to be a person that just goes through the motions of life. I hope this post inspired you to read at least one of these life changing books, and if so, I want to hear about it! Email me or dm me on Instagram and we can chat about all things mindfulness!
If you’re looking for more healthy travel habits make sure to check out the 21 Best Habits of a Healthy Traveler!
THANK YOU for reading and being here! Sending hugs!