🧠 My Favorite Health and Wellness Book This Month
Shoutout to one of my clients for this recommendation!
Good morning, High Performers.
Paradoxically, sometimes the best way to overcome something is to stop thinking about it.
Lately I’ve taken the plunge into thorough, unbroadcasted self-development. It hasn’t been a radical shift in my day-to-day routine, but I’m doing things that I’ve been putting off for very long or have been scared to do every day.
Since reading this book, I relentlessly pursued a development of consistent habits, mindfulness practices, like speaking with therapist and journaling, and actively releasing things that don’t serve me.
Some of the metaphorical smacks in the face, this book has given me over the past three months have been insane.
The book is Letting Go, by David R. Hawkins.
Newsletter Summary:
My review (so far) of Letting Go and why I highly recommend it
One thought from the book that is especially poignant
🧠 My Favorite Health and Wellness Book This Month
Every now and again, a self-development book makes the rounds among the masses not because it’s trendy, but because people actually feel lighter after reading it.
Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act comes to mind.
But David R. Hawkins’s Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender is one of those books, and even with some redundancies, I consistently feel as though I finish chapters with advice I can put into action.
The core of Hawkins’s message is this: when we stop fighting our emotions and instead allow them fully, they lose their grip on us.
Most of us rely on three coping mechanisms when life gets heavy—suppression (burying feelings), expression (venting without relief), or escape (distraction, overwork, numbing out).
I’m guilty of all three. I like to think I live a pretty clean life, but conversations with my therapist have affirmed I don’t take enough time for myself and could probably afford to drastically clear my plate.
Hawkins’ solution is a fourth path: surrender.
That means noticing a feeling, letting it be present without judgment or analysis, and giving it space until it naturally dissolves.
Sooo much harder than it sounds.
What makes Letting Go stand out is how it links this process to a broader map of consciousness—a map he spends his chapters moving through.
From lower, negative states like shame, guilt, and anger, onward into courage, acceptance, love, and joy, Hawkins puts into words the energetic fields that many of us struggle to articulate when we’re around positively and negatively charged people.
The earlier chapters highlight that the turning point isn’t dramatic; it’s the quiet move from pride (clinging to an image) to courage (engaging reality as it is). This shift opens the door to everything that follows.
This has formed the crux of my months long self development. Instead of going monk mode and trying to social media detox, abstain from all vices, and give things up cold turkey, my focus has been elsewhere…
…In sticking to the things I say I believe in, not putting things off and taking immediate action, and being the man my mom, wife, and ancestors would be proud of in the smallest of moments.
These micro-moments, Hawkins insists, are the building blocks of real transformation.
Not every reader buys into Hawkins’s more metaphysical and spiritual claims.
But skeptics admit the surrender technique works as an everyday emotional tool.
Think of it less as philosophy and more as emotional hygiene—decluttering the nervous system (see, we’re getting fitness-y) so you’re less reactive and more available for love, clarity, and creativity.
Ultimately, the book’s final destination is Peace.
And peace isn’t something you chase; it’s what remains when you let go of resistance.
Over time, surrendering fear, anger, and control leaves behind something far steadier—an inner quiet that isn’t shaken so easily.
My most poignant quotes:
“Surrender is the fastest way to move beyond fear, anger, and resistance.”
“The shift from pride to courage is the turning point of growth.”
One Thought About Pride To End Your Week
The chapter on Pride really resonated with me, so I wanted to share the exercises I found most helpful in “swallowing” mine.
Pride is in the middle of the emotional ladder of consciousness.
It’s a recognition of the fact that you are important, you matter, your existence, however small a blip in this universe, contributes meaningfully to this continuum.
But it’s also brittle. It depends on defending an image—being “right,” being admired, being in control.
That makes it fragile, because the moment pride is challenged, anger and shame rush in.
(I shudder even recanting this because I think of all the times I’ve felt holier than thou for being more “right” than someone else.)
To move beyond pride, try this simple practice I’ve been working on;
Notice a moment you feel defensive (maybe during feedback or when someone disagrees with you).
Ask yourself quietly: “What am I trying to protect right now?”—my reputation, my sense of being right, or my need to look strong? Why am I protecting that?
Let yourself feel the raw vulnerability beneath it. This could be fear of rejection or loss of control. Stay with it instead of pushing it away.
Release the need to defend. Tell yourself: “I can be wrong and still be whole.” This tiny act of surrender shifts you from pride into courage—the willingness to face truth as it is.
Each time you remember this, you’ll care less about winning arguments, thus starting them less frequently in the first place.
You’ll start realizing that you are complete without having to prove it to anyone.
And you’ll feel empowered to make decisions based on your will to make them, not to impress or peacock for anyone.
Have a great weekend.