You have encountered some rough spots or times and need to dig in to dig out.

• The Four Agreements: A Toltec Wisdom Book, Don Miguel Ruiz, Amber-Allen Publishing, 1997. Nicely written and relevant work covering four fundamental principles for bettering your life. The latter part of the book describes steps one can take in transforming your life, including the implementation of the four agreements.
• Despondency: The Spiritual Teaching of Evagrius Ponticus on Acedia, Gabriel Bunge, SVS Press, 2012. More of a scholarly look at Evagrius's writings on acedia, or despondency. But can be relevant to one struggling with negativity. Evagrius was a 'desert father' of the 4th century. The '7 Deadly Sins' are an adaptation by the Catholic church from Evagrius's writings. However, the church dropped acedia, or despondancy, from the list. This book examines Evagrius's thoughts on this left out 'Deadly Sin'.
• The Feeling Good Handbook - David D. Burns; Plume 1999. Stumbled on this book while taking a morning walk in the fall of 2022. Turned my head as I passed a micro-library in front of someone's home and the title of the book jumped out. Later, a friend said he was given a copy of this book by a counselor. I have found it immeasurably useful. Dr. Burns has deal with a host of persons who do not always make the best use of their thoughts. This is cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). A fundamental tenet is that your feelings are driven in large part by your thoughts. Want to improve your feelings, improve your thoughts. Ten forms of Twisted Thinking are introduced early on and a slew of tools are introduced, discussed and illustrated by actual cases.
• Co-Dependents Anonymous - Third Edition, 2020. Got this in July 2022. The CODA program was founded in 1986. In my words, codependency pertains to unhealthy ways of relating to yourself, others, groups, institutions, etc. in life. Some 'patterns' that are provided to assist one in self-evaluation are the 'Low Self-esteem Patterns:
  • have difficulty making decisions.
  • judge what they think, say, or do harshly, as never good enough.
  • are embarrassed to receive recognition, praise, or gifts.
  • value others' approval of their thinking, feelings, and behavior over their own.
  • do not perceive themselves as lovable or worthwhile persons.
  • seek recognition and praise to overcome feeling less than.
  • have difficulty admitting a mistake.
  • need to appear to be right in the eyes of others and may even lie to look good.
  • are unable to identify or ask for what they need and want.
  • perceive themselves as superior to others.
  • look to others to provide their sense of safety.
  • have difficulty getting started, meeting deadlines, and completing projects.
  • have trouble setting healthy priorities and boundaries.
• Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition, 2019. AA began in 1935 and the story is well known. The instigator of the 12 step approach to addressing problems, the approach has been successfully adopted by many other 'anonymous' programs. The 12 steps are
  • We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
  • Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  • Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
  • Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
  • Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
  • Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
  • Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
  • Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
  • Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  • Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
  • Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
  • Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
  
  Improving
  

  You have your stuff together and want to improve what is an already reasonable situation.

  • Awaken The Giant Within - Anthony Robbins. I once dealt with a very successful lawyer and he sent me his e-mail newsletters which included books he was reading. This one came up and I checked it out and found it to be very useful.
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families - Stephen R. Covey (3CDs). Nice discussion of ideas for a more effective family. Topics include: Paradigms; Emotional bank account deposits; 1. Proactive; 2. Begin with the end in mind; 3. Put first things first; 4. Think win-win; 5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood; 6. Synergize; 7. Sharpen the saw.
  
  Practicalities
  

  These are books that are for simply practical aspects of life.

  • Nolo's Simple Will Book - 7th edition. Used this to write my will. If your situation is not overly complex, the Nolo books can be very useful, allowing you to do things on your own, and correctly of course.