30 Books Guaranteed To Boost Your Courage

By Dr. Lissa Rankin

As a doctor who became fascinated with the strong, scientifically proven link between fear and disease, I started realizing it might be part of my job as a physician to help people deal with their fear as part of their prescription for self-healing. But I'm not a psychologist or a spiritual teacher! How could I, as a physician, help my patients?

Inspired by the call to make courage part of the medicine I prescribed, I read hundreds — and I mean hundreds — of books. I read everything from the original sacred texts to psychology and spiritual self-help books to articles in the psychological literature to fiction and memoirs, trying to cull together answers to the question "How do we move beyond fear?" and "What makes us brave?"

I also interviewed hundreds of resilient people who had faced terrifying experiences and mined those experiences for every ounce of soul growth they could. The results of my research are compiled in my book, The Fear Cure: Cultivating Courage As Medicine For The Body, Mind & Soul.

But in case you're on your own journey from fear to courage and would find it helpful, here are my recommendations for the books that most influenced me.

1. The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

2. Falling into Grace by Adyashanti

3. Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

4. An Open Heart by the Dalai Lama

5. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

6. Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.

7. Finding Your Way in a Wild New World by Martha Beck, Ph.D.

8. Outrageous Openness by Tosha Silver

9. Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser

10. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

11. Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hạnh

12. The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck

13. A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield

14. Be Here Now by Ram Dass

15. The Places that Scare You by Pema Chodron

16. Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers

17. A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson

18. Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore

19. The Illuminated Rumi by Jalal al-Din Rumi

20. The Dark Side of the Light Chasers by Debbie Ford

21. Living in the Light by Shakti Gawain

22. The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn

23. Sacred Contracts by Caroline Myss

24. Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav

25. Love Without Conditions by Paul Ferrini

26. Loving What Is by Byron Katie

27. Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche

28. The Courage to Heal by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis

29. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

30. I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj

There are certainly many others that I haven't read yet, and for this particular list, I chose to focus only on self-help-ish books. But there are so many others! And I know there's SO much wisdom in this community. I'd love to hear your recommendations. Which books make you brave? I'll add them to my reading list.

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Dr. Lissa Rankin

Lissa Rankin, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Mind Over Medicine, The Fear Cure, and The Anatomy of a Calling is a physician, speaker, founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute, and mystic. Passionate about what makes people optimally healthy and what predisposes them to illness, she is on a mission to merge science and spirituality in a way that not only facilitates the health of the individual, but also uplifts the health of the collective. Bridging between seemingly disparate worlds, Lissa is a connector, collaborator, curator, and amplifier, broadcasting not only her unique visionary ideas, but also those of cutting edge visionaries she discerns and trusts, especially in the field of her latest research into "Sacred Medicine." Lissa has starred in two National Public Television specials and also leads workshops, both online and at retreat centers like Esalen and Kripalu. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her daughter. She blogs at LissaRankin.com and posts regularly on Facebook.