Dear Mary, congratulations of winning the contest & thank you for deciding to generously share 600 HBD. It is definitely not a small amount & surely will mean a lot to some of us here.
Anyway, I like the initiative & the instructions of the contest cause I have read some number of books that really made an impact on me & made my life change. It is even hard to choose the one that made such a significant impact that I remember cause it passed a lot of time & than other outer numerous stimulus kept on influencing me...
I would dare to mention the book Swami Vivekananda: Vedanta. Vedanta means "Truth". Swami never was writing. He was only talking wisdom. Channelizing. His disciples were writing down the lessons.
I remember how while I was reading this book, it was momentarily erasing all of mine mind constructions which made me behave in certain ways, it was erasing my firm beliefs of how the life in this world functions & I was feeling instantly lighter & enlightened. I remember I felt bliss & euphoria. I felt like this book is reprogramming my brain like it was really a computer & I'm installing a new system program on it. I also remember that some pages were so difficult to read & comprehend that I need to read them multiple times to really understand what I'm reading. But also, nevertheless, how difficult some pages were, as a whole the book was so light & came into me so easy. After that my view on this physical reality was never the same & I was interacting differently with everything.
At the moment I got that book in my hands, I was seeking for the Truth, like I always am. That is the reason why the book came into my hands. Cause I was yearning for it! If I remember correctly, I was kind of lost before I got the book. I was in the moment of change. Now, years after I read it, I believe I am on my spiritual path where I do not stick too hard to any object or desire. I try to observe myself in the interaction with the rest of the physical world around my body, seeing the true self captured in my body, being conscious of passing of time & all physical things. Being conscious of my everlasting & everchanging Soul which came into this dimension only as a temporarily user who will pass into other dimensions when the time comes.
A quote from the book:
Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves and every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone.