Books That Helped Me Let Go

[Remi]

Some books seem to arrive at exactly the right moment. For me, Rituals of Release by Rachel S. Heslin has been one of those. It’s about making peace with the past so we can embrace the future.

It made me curious: What books have helped you release old habits, grief, or expectations and move toward healing?

[Soren]

Remi and Anshuman, this is a wonderful and profound discussion. The books you've mentioned, like The Power of Now and The Untethered Soul, are fantastic guides for releasing the burdens of the personal past.

It raises a fascinating question for me. What if the heaviest burdens we carry aren't just our own, but are the echoes of a collective amnesia? What if our entire species is haunted by a past it can no longer remember, and our individual struggles are the ripples from that ancient trauma?

In that context, the ultimate act of "letting go" wouldn't just be releasing our own grief or habits, but releasing the flawed, incomplete story of humanity itself.

This is the very thought experiment I explore in my debut sci-fi novel, The Sentinel Project. On the surface, it's a thriller, but at its core, it's about what that grand, collective moment of healing might look like.

Thank you for starting such a vital conversation.

— Soren K. Blackwood

[Dushyant]

That sounds like a powerful read. For me, writing my book Power of Negative Thinking became its own form of release. Instead of only chasing positivity, I started looking at all the possible ‘what ifs,’ the fears and failures we usually try to ignore. Oddly enough, facing the negatives head-on gave me more clarity and peace than blind optimism ever did.

Sometimes, healing isn’t about silencing the dark thoughts; it’s about giving them space, so they lose their grip on us.

[Soren]

Dushyant wrote: "That sounds like a powerful read. For me, writing my book Power of Negative Thinking became its own form of release. Instead of only chasing positivity, I started looking at all the possible ‘what ..."

Dushyant, that's a brilliant and thought-provoking perspective. You're right that facing the negative head-on can bring a clarity that blind optimism often misses.

It makes me wonder if both pure optimism and pure negativity aren't two sides of the same coin—two different strategies the ego uses to try and control reality. One numbs us to the world's harsh edges, while the other keeps us in a state of constant, exhausting vigilance.

Perhaps the true path to healing and clarity isn't in choosing a side, but in finding the balance between them. It's a dynamic and personal journey, a constant, mindful adjustment. Like a pilot on a long journey, we must use both the lift of optimism and the gravity of realism to stay on course and reach the destination. The key isn't the force we choose, but the skill with which we navigate.

Thank you for adding such a valuable layer to this conversation.

— Soren K. Blackwood