It’s already close to the middle of 2014 and you’re in need of some mid-year inspiration. Here are 5 inspirational books that will give you the extra nudge you need to boost your mood and your outlook. Enjoy!

1. “Adulting”, Kelly Williams Brown

You may age in number but still feel like a kid. Many of us encounter this sentiment, but is it something we should fight or embrace? “Adulting“reconciles our desire to feel young and the need for us to fulfill the adult role in everyday life. This book was inspired by Brown’s blog, which helps people become adults in 468 easy(ish) steps.

2. “The Art of Tinkering”, Karen Wilkinson and Mike Petrich

This book features all the activities, workshops and quirky experiments that pay homage to the activity of tinkering. Defined as taking things apart, exploring tools and materials and building science/technology art, tinkering is about fooling around with tools, materials and concepts – learning through doing. For the handy reader with a knack for fun-filled, innovative projects, “The Art of Tinkering” will keeps things fresh and whimsical.

3. “The Gift of Adversity”, Normal E. Rosenthal

Contrary to popular belief, difficulties do more for us than cause us trouble. “The Gift of Adversity” sheds light on how adversity can strengthen and motivate us. Rosenthal helps readers understand why it is important to encounter struggle in our everyday lives.

4. “Stumbling on Happiness”, Daniel Gilbert

Written by a Harvard psychologist, “Stumbling on Happiness” explains to us how our thoughts limit our understanding of the future and the satisfaction levels. The book reminds us how little we really know about the people we are bound to become.

5. “Steve Jobs”, Walter Isaacson

The title speaks for itself. Steve Jobs was a visionary, a perfectionist, and someone who changed the course of many industries, including music, personal computers, phones, animated movies, digital publishing, tablet computing and so much more. This book was written off of 40 interviews conduction with Steve Jobs over the course of two years. What better way to be inspired than by one of the greatest tech leaders of our time?

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This summer, sit down with a book that inspires you to keep things light — both in mind and body. These 7 summer reads inspire a healthier and happier lifestyle.

There is a collection of books relatively fresh on the market that are bound to change your relationship with food, inspire you in the kitchen and around the house, as well as keep you stimulated and excited for the best season of the year. Happy reading!

1. May Cause Miracles: A 40-Day Guidebook of Subtle Shifts for Radical Change and Unlimited Happiness – Gabrielle Bernstein

The summer is all about letting go and taking it easy. Gabrielle Bernstein’s May Cause Miracles embodies that sentiment to a tee. Author of Spirit Junkie and Add More –Ing to Your Life, Bernstein’s latest inspirational installment reveals simple steps to improving our daily lives, from our bodies and self-image to our relationships and finances.

2. VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health – Mark Bittman

Mark Bittman is a critically-acclaimed Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times and author of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and Food Matters. In VB6, Bittman demonstrates how eating vegan all day and then whatever we like for dinner (in moderation) can improve our health and help us lose weight. With this so-called “flexitarian” approach, we can shed the strict mindset and enjoy what we like while our bodies reap incredible benefits.

3. Nice is Just a Place in France: How to Win at Basically Everything – The Betches 

For those who like a no-shit, more stripped approach to self-motivation, Nice is Just a Place in France is a fitting read. The crude language is humorous and to the point, which may just be the tough love we need to conquer ourselves and the world.

4. The Honest Life: Living Naturally and True to You – Jessica Alba

Take it from Jessica Alba when it comes to living cleaner and more environmentally-friendly. A new mom, Alba realized the chemicals laden in many household products and toiletries geared towards babies. From this, The Honest Company was born, offering parents clean, fashionable and naturally safe products for both parents and babies. The Honest Life provides the research behind common mainstream products used by parents and babies and shows us how to get rid of the chemicals in our lives while embracing a truer diet and mindset.

5. The Headspace Diet: 10 Days to Finding Your Ideal Weight – Andy Puddicombe

Maybe it’s not what we’re doing that’s keeping those last five pounds attached to the hips, but rather our mindset concerning them. Approach dieting from an alternate route – one that depends more on the mind than self-discipline. The Headspace Diet helps to bring us to a place that reduces our emotionally-driven attachment to food and improves our mind-body relationship. Mindfulness-based meditation is outlined as a daily, 10-minute practice that can offer us powerful results and help us shed those pounds.

6. Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal – Mary Roach

Gulp gives us a taste of quirky science, following food from its initial encounter with human senses, through the body, and down to the toilet. Roach touches upon cultural taboos as well as asks questions many are afraid, or often don’t think of, to ask. Find out why the stomach doesn’t digest itself or if it was constipation that killed Elvis, with this fun, anything-but-ordinary read.

7. Unmastered: A Book on Desire, Most Difficult to Tell – Katherine Angel

Pair those hot summer nights with a sensual escape. Katherine Angel’s Unmastered explores sensuality and desire in a fresh way by recounting her own stories and reflecting on the relationship between the sexes and the intricate connection, characterized by both pleasure and pain, we have with sex. The book unhinges the door we place between ourselves and our inner, sometimes dark sensuality.

 Photo Credit: Aafromaa

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