books — resources — elliot freeman

bookno. 0000

Alan Watts

Now, who hasn’t come across this figure if you’ve even touched the world of ‘spirituality’. YouTube algorithm especially loves the man. And why not! He’s fabulous. With the mystique of a wizard and the sense of humour of a kindly uncle. He’s a great guide through the world of the mysterious. Here are some notes from various sources that I have recorded of him: On growth: remember, an oak is no better than an acorn. After all, what does the oak produce but more acorns. The oak is just an acorns way of becoming more acorns. So do not see yourself as more superior to people who are not spiritually enlightened. We are living different life’s.

Brene Brown

There’s one undisputed Queen of shame and vulnerability. Brene Brown. Her TED talks are great and so are her books. Her ideas genuinely changed the way I related to vulnerability. I shared this once at sharing circle and a woman laughed at me 😅 She thought that I was joking because Brene Brown has become a bit of a buzz word. But for me, Brene Brown seriously changed my life 🙌 Here are some of my notes from her stuff:

Courage to be disliked

This book was another game-changer for me. I grew up as a people-pleaser as a survival tactic. It served me well, until I looked around at my life and realised I didn’t belong. I’d said yes to everything except myself. Learning that being disliked is actually a sign of a well-lived life was breathtaking. And it’s a space I continue to lean into at my edge. The root idea is that interpersonal relationships are the cause of all problems, because to live as a social being you must confront the life tasks of work, friendship, love.

Feel the fear and do it anyway

A classic. My mum gave this to me when I was 20. I was struggling with depression and couldn’t see a way out. Reading this book helped me to take responsibility for my life. To not see myself as a victim. And as I started to make small changes - doing the odd pencil sketch, going for a run - I started to feel momentum build in my life that carried me out of the darkness. So much wisdom in the title of the book alone.

New Earth

Now, I actually believe this book is better than the Power of Now. It seemed to click more into place for me. Regardless, Eckhart Tolle has a way with words and he’s done a great deal for helping to reshape ideas about ourselves. Here are my notes: The unconscious compulsion to enhance ones identity through association with an object is built into the structure of the egoic mind. Identification is to make something the same as you, part of your identity. As a child, it could be a toy. Later on it becomes clothes, a house etc. we try to find ourselves in things but never quite make it and end up losing ourselves in them. That is the fate of ehe ego.

The Untethered Soul

Oooo I love Michael Singer. This book gave me a new framework for how to live. I felt like I was writing down a passage from every single page, it really hit me hard. Here are my notes: Consciousness takes on the disguise of forms until they reach such complexity that it completely loses itself in them. However, the suffering that arises from this apparent distinction forces consciousness to dis identify from form and awakens it from its deep self. It regains self consciousness but at a far deeper level than when it lost it.

The War of Art

Ever wanted to start a creative project but felt blocked? Yeah, you me and 8 billion other people. Steven Pressfield writes about this problem so elegantly in his book, explaining the resistance we meet and how to overcome it. Genius. The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we feel pursuing it Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator of what we must do

Universal Christ

This book blew my mind when I read it in 2020. I never considered myself a Christian. To be honest, I thought the ideas were archaic. This book presented a radical revision of Christianity, presenting Christ as a universal energy (’consciousness’) that aligns more with modern views on spirituality. My Christian friend gave this to me and I’m forever thankful. It allowed me to revisit my relationship with the word ‘God’, letting go of the false beliefs I’d had around it, and accept it into my own lexicon.

Velvet Rage

This book helped me to understand that my journey as a gay man was so similar to others. That we fall into a cycle of shame that leads to self-destructive patterns. Understanding that my life was part of a patterns helped me so much to begin breaking it. Here are my notes: Most gay people say they don’t feel shame. But most also struggle with the private belief that "if you really knew the whole, unvarnished truth about me, you would know that I'm unlovable". So we set about on the business of 'earning' love and escaping the pain of believing we are lovable. This is the creator of the fabulous gay man and his destroyer.