Books I’m Reaching to for Reading, Mindfulness & Divination

One of my favourite things to do is to sit down in a quiet space and get lost in a book! I love to read and always have done for many reasons. To me, reading helps me to find an inner balance; if I am ever feeling stressed or worried I can always rely on a little reading to calm my mind. I try to read every day, whether it is for a couple of hours while my son naps (these are starting to become rare) or 10 minutes or so before I go to sleep at night.

Reading is my therapy as well as a hobby and I try to include this on my daily to-do list as this keeps me positive. I wasn’t sure what to call this post as it is kind of my current reading list and books I am going to read next in honour of World Book Day. Check out last years post on World Book Day for a list of my favourite books.

LES PARISIENNES BY ANNE SEBBA

Last week I finished my first read of the year, Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s by Anne Sebba, a non-fiction novel, full of personal, first hand accounts of women who lived in Paris during the Second World War and bravely shared their stories.

The amazing women whom are mentioned in this book endured what some of us can only imagine during World War II. Reading Les Parisiennes has been enlightening and educational and I would recommend it to everyone. Keep an eye for a full book review on this non-fiction novel soon on Beauty Baking Bella. Check out my review of this book here.

HAPPY & HAPPY JOURNAL BY FEARNE COTTON

You may have seen this Happy Journal in my first post of 2018 sharing my What I Want to Achieve in 2018.

As well as my Happiness Planner, which you can find my review on here, I have been using my Happy Journal as a daily reflection at the end of the day. I find the book inspires me with its ‘thought of the day’ prompts and just to have somewhere to jot down whats on my mind, a way of emptying my head before I go to sleep at night.

I will admit I had not read the Happy book before starting the journal, but I now have a copy which is the book that I am currently reading. So far I am finding it a very easy and beneficial read but I will do a full review on the whole book once I have finished it. If you have read Happy by Fearne Cotton please let me know your thoughts!

CARTES POSTALES FROM GREECE BY VICTORIA HISLOP

Victoria Hislop is my favourite author. I now have six of her books and the Cartes Postales from Greece is my next read. I love the way her books are written and her stories are ones that I lose myself in and feel a connection with.

I love history romance novels and have a huge love of Greek history, mythology and culture. Yes, this may sound very strange as I am a Turkish Cypriot but I grew up hearing stories of Greek culture as well as Turkish culture and in a way the only differences between the two are Religion and Language.

One of Victoria’s books is called The Sunrise, which I mentioned in my last World Book Day post,  a story based on true events and times during the civil war in 1974 when Turkey ‘invaded’ the northern part of the Island in response to a Coup that was backed by Athens. For many years, the two sides had been in a civil war and the then Greek government wanted to the rid the Island of Turkish Cypriots resulting in fighting from both sides for years until the ‘invasion’ and to this day the island is still divided. This book, although fiction, a story behind Varosha in Cyprus, showed how not all Greeks and Turks on the island wanted the slaughter of one another and many were even friends or work colleagues. My family were massively affected by this war in Cyprus, both good and bad, but I personally have no ill feelings towards Greek people and I actually have had some lovely Greek friends and colleagues.

I can’t wait to start reading this book to get lost in a story that breathes culture and life, let me know if you would like a full review.

FIVE MINUTES IN THE MORNING – A FOCUS JOURNAL

Five Minutes in the Morning: A Focus Journal is another journal that I have on my bedside table and one that I want to start using more. This journal helps to practice mindfulness; I will be writing up a post about my mindfulness journey soon but for now a brief explanation of what I have been doing. To practice and achieve mindfulness I have been using my journals and planners, yoga and meditation. This journal is a helpful guide in my mindfulness journey, the pages of this book encourage jotting down your thoughts and rediscovering yourself. I have found that so far, my mindfulness journey has allowed me to find a more balanced approach to life and this journal allows me to regroup and refocus my mind and body.

Just 5 minutes in the morning to prepare myself for a more positive, calm and productive day ahead. If you are like me and have a busy and hectic lifestyle but find joy from practising yoga and meditation and jotting your feelings down to find peace, definitely invest in this book.

DREAM – A DREAM DICTIONARY

Last but not least, my Dream book. I have had this book for years and years! It was bought for me as a gift because I dream a lot, I used to be obsessed with looking up the meaning of my dreams. When I suffered from severe depression and I was on medication, I used to sleep a lot, often never feeling any better for it. I would suffer with parasomnia regularly and the types of dreams I had were very strange and somethings disturbing. Now days, I don’t dream as often as I am so tired from being a busy Mummy and have come out the other side of depression, I must be too tired to dream haha!! When I do have a dream that I remember, which gives me a deeper feeling of happiness or terror, I always turn to this book to analyse what it may mean.

I am a true believer in spiritual understanding and feel that I am a spiritual person. My Nene (Grandmother in Turkish Cypriot) ‘taught’ me how to do Turkish coffee cup reading, an ancient way of fortune telling and divination, I also have my own set of Tarot cards. It is best not to live your life 100% by these means of ‘fortune telling’ but it is exciting to hear what ‘may be’ in the present or future.

For now these are my go to books for all different reasons. As the year goes on I have a list of books I want to buy and read so keep an eye out for a posts on my 2018 reading list.

Pinar xo