Phosphorescence is like a warm hug on a dark day. Julia Baird highlights to us all of the beauty in our lives, even that disguised as misery so we can continue to be inspired and awe struck on even the seemingly worst of days.

This book was recommended to me by a friend who told me “everyone should read this book”. Having now read it, I agree entirely. Everyone should read this book. A series of short stories and reflections of love in all of it forms, collected by Trent on the streets of Brisbane CBD — love of a friend, love of a partner, love of a sibling, parent, friend, love of a place. This book just moved me in so many ways.

A book to foster introspection and to cultivate a life that is meaningful and aligned. “It’s your attempt to get special experiences from life that makes you miss the actual experiences of life.” I frequently reference this gem in my yoga classes too. Easy to read with a profound and moving message delivered in each chapter.

The Yamas and Niyamas are yoga’s 10 ethical guidelines. Deborah Adele has presented them so beautifully so we can all learn from and live by yoga’s teachings. The book is presented very cleanly and clearly with numerous practical examples of living by the yogic principles. For anyone who has ever participated in one of my yoga classes, I almost always reference this book.

It’s fascinating how the keys to live a fulfilling life that were relevant to a woman in the 60’s remain perfectly relevant today. This book really negates the concept of things we’re dealing with “these days” — what our generation deals with, many have before us. Eleanor’s points are moving and inspiring. For example “success must include two things: the development of an individual to his utmost potentiality and a contribution of some kind to one’s world.” A must read.

Liz Gilbert has this amazing way of delivering tough love in a way that feels gentle and inspiring. This book is for anyone who involved in creative work; not just artists or poets, but anyone who creates at all. She teaches you to get out of your own head, not to take yourself so seriously and not to suffer on your creative path. Creativity is meant to be fun after all.

This is a book for all introverts. Not a “how to be confident or more extroverted” like so many self help books, but why you have so much to offer the world without changing the fundamentals of your personality. There are many things that make introverts unique and valuable. This book is a celebration of those things.

This is my go-to recommendation when anyone asks how they can be more eco-friendly. The book is presented as 30 ways you can act more environmentally friendly with reduced waste, low waste and zero waste options for each tip. I strongly believe we all have a role to play in making our world more sustainable. This book teaches you how simple playing your part can be.

This was sad, wonderful and brutally eye opening. David writes about the impact humans have had on the environment and the dark trajectory we are on, then ends the book with a powerful call to action for changing this course. Our future can be bright but only if we act now.

The topic of female sexuality has consumed a lot of my time over the last year or so. This book was incredibly validating of many of the thoughts and experiences I’ve had in recent times. It made me better able to understand and accept myself and my sexuality, and positioned me well to communicate better with my partner. Feel like this is a must read for all women.

This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. Anyone who doesn’t like the way they look should read this book. The way you view your body has much less to do with the way you look and much more to do with the way you think you look. Dr Cash explains this comprehensively and elegantly so you too can cultivate a positive body image. Even with a very positive body image already, this book granted me even more freedom from my outward appearance.

“Follow this diet and lose 10 pounds” / “love yourself the way you are” — in a time where there are so many mixed messages on how to approach our bodies to achieve good health and an aesthetic we’re happy with, Dr Kausman answers the question of “if dieting isn’t the solution to my weight and body woes, what is?” Dr Kausman does beautifully not to dichotomise loving your body V wanting to lose weight, granting you permission to desire and pursue both.

This was a phenomenal book for anyone struggling with binge eating. Dr Fairburn fosters a greater understanding of how and why we binge eat and continue to do so, then presents a step by step program for how to break the cycle. He takes a complex phenomenon and breaks it down into something simple and approachable. This is a fantastic system that you can approach self-guided or with the help of a trusted loved one or professional.

What are our results: training, body composition, career or otherwise if not a reflection of our daily habits and behaviours? We so often discredit the process of behaviour change and habit formation, wanting results now (if not yesterday) via some quick fix. James Clear speaks wonderfully to the power of forming habits that are conducive to your goals and values and provides simple steps and a clear framework to make the things you want to do, the easy things to do.

Willpower is extremely poorly understood. All of us at one point of another have claimed we need more of it. Kelly McGonigal explains what willpower is and provides extremely tangible steps to gain more self-control and achieve better outcomes. Rather than wishing for more willpower and getting absolutely nowhere, try implementing some of these tangible steps so you can actually start making some moves in the right direction.

For anyone who struggles to get meaningful work done. The book is broken in to two parts: why we should want to work deeply, then how to work deeply. Newport conveys that deep work is the key to extracting meaning from your profession and provides tangible steps and examples for making deep work fit your lifestyle.

For anyone who has ever under-slept, here are all the reasons why you should make your beauty sleep more of a priority and some very tangible methods to improve your sleep quality and quantity. Your entire lifestyle affects your sleep, so only altering the last 10 minutes of your day with some oil and blue-light glasses may or may not get you very far in getting more of it. Walker asks you to zoom out and look at your entire lifestyle to increase and improve the quality of the sleep you’re getting.

Warning: strong themes. A Little Life follows four friends from college to adulthood, their lives heavily revolving around one friend, Jude whom carries significant trauma from his childhood. The relationships and human experience portrayed in this book are both beautiful and devastating.

A boss woman who knows what she wants making a career in the film industry in a time that women were meant to be at home making a family and keeping a nice house. Strong feminist and LGBTQIA+ themes which is basically the key to a great book for me. I could not put this down.

It took me a little while to get in to this one but it’s gone down as one of my favourites of all time. This story was an incredible celebration of nature and poetry, all the while a coming of age and a crime mystery. The ending blew my head off.

This is probably the book that most resembles A Little Life to me, which I’ve been searching for ever since finishing it. Not because it is dark; it is entirely not; but the way the author develops the characters, and the way you seem to grow with them throughout the novel is something I really enjoy. It is the story of four sisters and how their relationships evolve over the course of their lives, as they evolve as individuals. It was beautiful and a profound lesson in empathy.

Female athlete’s entire self-worth hinges on her achievements, at the detriment of relationships — of course I was going to love this one. A novel with really powerful themes of sport psychology, self-worth, relationships, connection and yeah, just the stuff I love.

This book may as well have been written about my own Grandad. I laughed and cried in equal hysterical parts. Will leave you with significantly more empathy for the grumpy old people in your life.

This was a phenomenally moving story. Fiction laced through the history of the writing of the Oxford Dictionary. Sheds light on the lack of opportunity for female contribution and representation in the dictionary as well as the opportunities for women that now exist since the feminists battled for the vote. So damn moving.

I love John Boyne as an author and he just nails so many chilling themes in this one. It’s a historical fiction following the life of Gretal Fernsby, a now 92 year old women and the daughter of a commandant of one of the largest Nazi extermination camps. Trauma, domestic violence, guilt, fear, friendship. This was a truly brilliant read.

I’ve read this book twice: once in my early 20’s and not a huge RHCP fan. And again at 30, as a huge RHCP fan. It slapped both times. I loved reading about sex, drugs and rock music the first time I read it. I love even more now reading about the life of this guy that was a mess in his 20’s, who was seemingly given nine lives, and who has survived all of that and jets around a stage like an athlete now in his 60’s. The RHCP are a total marvel to me.

The movie (while enjoyable) does not even come close to doing this book justice. Eat Pray Love is a memoir that chronicles the author’s 12 month solo journey to Italy (to eat), India (to pray) and Bali (for love). The story is light and so damn inspiring for anyone on a journey to find themselves.

“You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal. I call it an education.” Tara tells her own story that gets to the heart of what an education offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes and the will to change it. This was a phenomenal book that will leave me forever grateful to the education I have been afforded. Trigger warning: domestic violence.

Obviously Will Smith is a bit of a polarising personality right now, but I absolutely loved his book. His personal insights in to self-worth, career, love, relationships, nature and not missing the point of life really landed with me. I took a lot out of it.