It's easy to lose ourselves in the busyness that surrounds us at the end of the year. The start of the new year is the perfect time to create space for intentionality and self-care. No matter your goals for the year ahead—whether you want to focus on nurturing your body or mind (or both!)—the books below offer wisdom and inspiration as you slow down, set priorities, and discover new ways to find peace, contentment, and creativity in your everyday life.
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Books to Inspire Healthy Bodies
- When you want to explore new hobbies but don't know where to start
- When you want to feel less busy and rushed all the time
- When you want to declutter your life without losing your mind
- When you want your closet to be more sustainable
- When you want to try Dry January
- When you want to find more calm in everyday moments
- When you want to approach your year more mindfully
- When you want to build a life of simplicity, connection, and repair
- When you want to nourish your faith with wisdom from ancient Christians
- When you want to protect your peace and set healthy boundaries
- When you want to encounter God in your daily life
- When you want to feel truly content with your life
Books to Inspire Healthy Bodies
When you want to explore new hobbies but don't know where to start
In today's grind culture, hobbies become side hustles. Work creeps into leisure time. Perfectionism reigns. We look up to experts, and we look down on amateurs. But what if being a total amateur is actually a good thing? From Karen Walrond, author of The Lightmaker's Manifesto and Radiant Rebellion, comes In Defense of Dabbling: a delightful jaunt into how to resist grind culture and do the things you love, even if you're not any good at them.
When you want to feel less busy and rushed all the time
How nice it would be to clear the calendar—to just stop doing so much stuff. Except kids get sick and the work project awaits and elderly relatives need care. No matter how well you hack it, manage it, slice or dice or delegate it: in some seasons of life, busyness is a given. The solution, writes Rachelle Crawford, is not to merely declutter your calendar or unsubscribe from the busy life. The trick lies in learning how to be busy. How to Be Busy is a lighthearted, practical guide for how to live your deep, meaningful, unhurried life—right in the middle of your busy one.
When you want to declutter your life without losing your mind
Think minimalism means a perfectly curated, always tidy home? Think again. Drowning in tides of toys, overflowing closets, and a crazy schedule, Rachelle Crawford assumed you had to be naturally organized to keep a tidy living space. Then she found minimalism: the messy, real-life kind that is less about perfection and more about purpose. With empathy, grace, and humor, Crawford shares doable ways to own less and live more fully. Learn to become a more conscious consumer, create a capsule wardrobe, inspire family members to join you, free up more time for the things that matter, and create a tidy(ish) home.
When you want your closet to be more sustainable
It's time to rethink what clothes we buy, wear, and toss out, knowing that we can have a positive environmental impact while still looking good and dressing well. As consumers, we have the power to make a difference with the clothing choices we make. In What to Wear and Why, top fashion writer turned sustainability activist Tiffanie Darke sheds light on the unsustainable practices and immense environmental impact of the fashion industry and presents a compelling argument for why transformative change is urgently needed.
When you want to try Dry January
Alcohol isn't going to fix the systemic lack of support for mothers—and pretending it's the solution to surviving motherhood does more harm than good. Mommy Wine Culture is a symptom of a larger issue: the mental load of motherhood and a systemic lack of support for moms. Mixing research, cultural references, interviews, and the author's sobriety story, It's Not about the Wine reveals what's really plaguing mothers and offers tangible tips for evaluating your relationship to alcohol and lightening your load.
When you want to find more calm in everyday moments
For centuries the practice of breath prayer has helped center people from a variety of faith traditions on the sacred in everyday life. Through brief words of prayer or petition said silently to the rhythm of one's breath, this simple, meditative act combines praise for the divine with focused intention, creating a profound spiritual connection in the quiet, and even mundane, moments of the day. In Breath Prayer, Christine Valters Paintner introduces us to this spiritual practice and offers beautiful poem-prayers for walking, working, dressing, cleaning, sitting in silence, doing the dishes, living in community—breathing the divine into our daily lives.
Books to Inspire Healthy Minds
When you want to approach your year more mindfully
Beginning in around the third century CE, a group of monastics known as the desert mothers and fathers retreated to the deserts of northern Egypt, Syria, and Palestine to pursue lives of silence and prayer. A key phrase, repeated often among the sayings of the desert mothers and fathers, is "Give me a word." Fast-forward many centuries to the present day, and we find the practice of seeking a word being reclaimed by the spiritually minded in new ways. Give Me a Word will gently lead you through the process of receiving your word, testing its resonance, and embracing its meaning.
When you want to build a life of simplicity, connection, and repair
Sojourners Magazine (Volume Editor)
For five decades, Sojourners magazine has been deeply engaged with the world while calling its readers to a new kind of life and faith rooted in justice and peace. Light for the Way is a powerful, yet meditative collection of pieces from the last fifty years of Sojourners magazine, exploring how contemplative practices, rest, simplicity, environmental engagement, and communal care are essential for sustaining our resistance and repairing our world.
When you want to nourish your faith with wisdom from ancient Christians
What if desert elders from more than a millennium ago could walk beside us and nourish our spirits now? Desert spirituality doesn't mean going it alone; it means finding companions to walk with us. The Way of the Desert Elders is a spiritual expedition into the stories and wisdom of ancient, desert-dwelling Christians, who show us how to forge faith at the edges of empire.
When you want to protect your peace and set healthy boundaries
Many of us can regurgitate why healthy boundaries and saying "no" are important. So why are we still over-accommodating and actively participating in imbalanced relationships that fuel anxiety and exhaustion? In Serial Fixer, psychotherapist and wellness consultant Leah Marone will help you break old habits of fixating on—and fixing—the problems of others. Examine your habitual need to control, understand why you feel so invested in other people's drama, and explore ways to release perfectionism's grip.
When you want to encounter God in your daily life
Rocks. Cast iron skillets. Portraits. Calendars. Shoes. The regular objects of our lives can be conduits of God's love and grace—if we notice them. In Souvenirs of the Holy, join Laurie M. Brock on a journey of spiritual direction through everyday things, and discover the sacred in the ordinary. Reflect on the items in your life that connect you to a God who dwells within and beyond the material world. With creative ideas for praying with objects, this book is ideal for book clubs, church circles, and small groups seeking deeper, more tangible spiritual experiences.
When you want to feel truly content with your life
This Book Won't Make You Happy
Happiness is fleeting. What if you don't even need it to live a life of peace and purpose? In This Book Won't Make You Happy, Niro Feliciano offers a path to something much more achievable and satisfying: contentment. By incorporating eight simple postures rooted in cognitive behavioral science and mindfulness practices into our daily routines, we can move away from anxiety and toward balance.
To view all of our books and resources, visit broadleafbooks.com.
