There are times in our lives when we need a little inspiration, encouragement and a lot of insight from others in order to return to a place of self-love, self-acceptance and healing.

For me, this kind of support often comes from conversations with friends, fellow bloggers and entrepreneurs, but also from reading tons and tons of books. Most of the time, I have six or seven self-love books on my nightstand, secretly wishing I could read them all at once.

The great thing about self-love books is that they often reveal a point of view that is so different from the one we currently have that our walls of self-loathing and self-doubt literally collapse through the sheer power of words.

I’ve experienced this phenomenon many times in the past few months and years.

The following ten self-love books were especially helpful on my journey to finding myself, understanding myself and, yes, loving myself. 

Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth

In this deep and reflective book, Roth urges us to pay attention to what we truly need – which can never be found in a supermarket. She shares her powerful eating guidelines and goes deep into the connection between our physical hungers and our spiritual needs.

I literally could write an entire post with just quotes of the book – her words are that powerful.

A few of my favorite insights:  “Weight is what happens when you use food to flatten your life.”

“Spiritual hunger can never be solved on the physical level.”

“The problem isn’t that we have bodies; the problem is that we’re not living in them.”

“All any feeling wants is be welcome with tenderness. It wants room to unfold. It wants to relax and tell its story.”

“You are not a mistake. You are not a problem to be solved. But you won’t discover this until you are willing to stop banging your head against the wall of shaming and caging and fearing yourself.”

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz

My favorite quotes: “Whatever happens around you, don’t take it personally… Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves.”

“Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.”

“If someone is not treating you with love and respect, it is a gift if they walk away from you. If that person doesn’t walk away, you will surely endure many years of suffering with him or her. Walking away may hurt for a while, but your heart will eventually heal. Then you can choose what you really want. You will find that you don’t need to trust others as much as you need to trust yourself to make the right choices.”

And if you want to know what the four agreements are, I really encourage you to read the book. 🙂

A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson

This best-selling book by Marianne Williamson is so full of awesomeness that I wrote a blog post about it. To say that this book is filled with nuggets of gold is an understatement. Reading it, I wanted to underline every sentence, savor every word, soak it in and never forget the truth, the wisdom, the comfort and the challenge of it all.

This book will help you find a way back to yourself, begin the healing process you’ve been waiting on for so long, forgive yourself, forgive others and become a more empowered and miracle-minded human being.

Feeling Good When Life Is Hard by Marthe Hagen

In this beautiful book, Marthe shares in her unique and mesmerizing way that, yes, life is often hard, but suffering is harder. Life is tricky, but you have a choice to un-tricky it.

This book gives hope; hope that there’s happiness just around the corner; hope that you can be happy even when you’re caught in the eye of a tornado; hope that no matter what, you’ll be OK; hope because you are not alone.

You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay

If you don’t know Louise Hay, you should. She’s an inspiration and an international icon in the self-help sphere. She encourages you to heal your mind and thus, heal your life.

In this book, she shares brilliant and practical advice and miraculous stories of people who truly transformed their lives by changing the way they think.

Spirit Junkie – A Radical Road to Self-Love and Miracles by Gabrielle Bernstein

By now – September of 2013 – you’ve probably heard of Gabrielle Bernstein. She’s everywhere these days – TV, podcasts, vlogs, newspapers, everywhere. However, before all that craze began, I’ve read her book Spirit Junkie and cried and cried and cried. Not because it was a bad book, but because I could relate so much to her struggles.

If you have an addictive personality, hate yourself, can’t stand your life and would do anything to finally be at peace and feel whole again, read this book.

Broken Open – How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow by Elizabeth Lesser

A book that shows how difficult times can change our lives for the better. Lesser shares her personal story and walks you through ways you can help yourself when life seems unendurably hard.

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown

When I met Brene Brown last year, my heart was beating so fast I thought it’d jump out of my chest. She’s a huge role model of mine and I do admit to having a girl crush on her.

Her research on  shame, authenticity and belonging is not only super profound and touching, but it also brought her to understand ten characteristics that make up people who are living a truly wholehearted life.

Love Your Body The Way It Is by moi (aka me aka Anne-Sophie)

This guide will challenge you to transform everything you thought you knew about your body. It does not matter if you are overweight, underweight or anywhere in between, you’ll learn amazing things about yourself and your body.

Most importantly, this book will teach you how to stop focusing on food, weight and outward appearances and finally start to LIVE. 

Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie

While suffering from depression, Katie had a moment of clarity; one moment that would change her life forever. In Loving What Is, Byron Katie shares her story and her moment of enlightenment while introducing four questions that will change the way you perceive yourself and this world and turn misery into peace and freedom.

On to you: What are your favorite self-love and body-acceptance books? I’d love to hear your ideas and add few new self-love books to my reading list.