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Wellness

Spring Cleaning for Your Brain: Books for Being the Best You

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCF chapter.

With spring right around the corner, a lot of people are starting to defrost along with the snow (metaphorical snow, of course, seeing as we don’t get snow here in Florida). The most common trend towards making a great change is a good spring cleaning, though sometimes that’s just not enough. If you’ve been thinking about how you can level up past earthly queen to full-blown goddess, pick up one of these books! Learning more about yourself is so important, and can help you in building exactly the path you’re meant to be on.

How to do the work by Dr. Nicole Lepera

Written by the “Holistic Psychologist” herself, this book is a guide to a process Dr. LePera calls self-healing. It’s a way to commit to tiny ways that all catalyze change in your life, allowing you to become more in touch with who you are outside of what you’ve been through. She focuses on getting to know your reactions to situations in your life, your conditioned thoughts, getting in touch with your own intuition and finding your actual core beliefs. This book explores what matters most to you and gets you started on the road to better mind-body-soul awareness.

A Mind of Your Own by Dr. Kelly Brogan

Dr. Brogan, a psychiatrist who studied cognitive neuroscience at MIT but was for looking something deeper, turned to integrative holistic medicine after going through her own diagnoses of medical issues and realizing she, like many of her patients as well, was not really getting any better. She studied, primarily in females, the body’s hormonal response, the way our thyroid affects our mood and vitamin deficiencies among other biological factors we may overlook in considering what changes we should make to improve our mental state. The book takes conventional medicine and explains why it should be thrown out the window, then gives a comprehensive 30-day plan still founded in science that truly makes the body feel a difference.

The Power of Awareness by Neville

This book pretty much delves into the very prevalent topic of mindfulness, with its primary message being that the world around you is built by your perspective, and by being aware of that you can be more balanced when it comes to thought and action. Neville brings up that we can change our lives when we change these things, the assumptions we have of not only others but ourselves. There’s a limit placed on us when we see only through our pre-set lens, but we can actually use our awareness to build a better reality.

the alchemist by Paulo Coelho

More of a fictional approach to the same sort of concepts, The Alchemist follows the story of the shepherd boy, Santiago, as he travels across the world to Egypt over many years, following the vision he had in a dream. Along the way, he’s always presented with many crossroads and often gets stuck in other places along the way. Without spoiling much more of the story, by the end of his journey, Santiago is left with one prominent realization: his gift is in himself all along. Sometimes, we forget what is most worth focusing on.

Atomic Habits by James clear

Similar to the idea that small change can lead to big growth, Clear presents four steps for breaking bad habits and, in turn, adopting healthier ones. He makes it super simple for us with the fact that those four steps are pretty much summed up by the famous saying “keep it simple, stupid!” But really, the point is that our goal setting should be based on what we know ourselves to be best at or will stick to, and it will get the ball rolling for all the ideas you want to set in motion. Our goals are all set with the same pattern of cue, craving, response and reward. It’s all about following what we know best — ourselves.

Physical change is exciting, rejuvenating and necessary, but the quiet transformation is what cracks the surface and really throws you into life’s momentous joy. Hopefully, one of these books helps you in becoming the best version of yourself!

Juana Bernal is a Colombian from South Florida learning to navigate the wonders of Central Florida. When not studying to pursue their degree in Psychology, they can be found somewhere outside, checking out new fashion inspo or studying up on astrology.