Care for a Mind Altering Experience?

I guess my first contact with mind altering text was as a child,
nursery rhymes and such, then school and the Bible, until in my teens
I began searching for some deeper meaning to life. My parents are
devout Catholics so Catholicism played a large part in forming my
adolescent mind but it never completely felt right or whole, so I
continued to seek to fill the void by exploring poetry then books like
J R Tolkiens 'Lord Of The Rings' Trilogy and the Dragonlance
Chronicles, things that would export me to worlds of adventure,
heroism, magic and love...Ah Love...as I became older I thought that
maybe my void would be filled from stories of unrequited obsession,
hot steamy nights, heartache and the inevitable happy ending, but
alas, all it really did was open up a new world of endless possibility
(Catherine Cookson and Jane Austen).I grew bored and began searching
in another area, a darker one. Diana Gabaldon kept me intrigued for a
while, then I discovered Anne Rice and the story of Lestat. I was
shocked, even disgusted, still I couldn't put the books down, then I
laughed so hard I cried, then I cried a different cry.Then I fell in
Love, for real and with a real man, and I did not feel the need to
read for quite a while. It seemed that my void had been filled....for
a while....in my thirties life became 'normal' with children and home
and life and I was contented....for a while....When I was thirty six I
finally admitted to myself that in debt was not a good place to live
and I had began to feel that old familiar empty feeling returning and
that is when I discovered 'Personal Development'.It was a rather
daunting term, I thought, didn't sound like much fun and it was funny,
looking back, how I felt a sense of foreboding, an unsureness of what
was to come. It is easy to look in the mirror at the reflection of
what we perceive ourselves to be, not so easy to look beyond that
reflection to our true selves. One of my eldest sons favorite movies
growing up was 'The Never Ending Story', at one point Atreyu, the
hero, comes face to face with the 'Magic Mirror Gate', by looking into
this gate your true self is revealed....I had often wondered what I
would see....To say that my journey into personal development was
enlightening is an accurate description, but at times it was heart,
mind and soul destroying and I wanted to give up...I did not give up,
for I knew deep deep down that this was exactly what I needed. Seven
years later I can say with absolute certainty that I am a different
person. I am strong, I believe in myself and my abilities, I have
money in the bank all the time, I am confident, I am a great partner,
I am a great mother and grandmother, I am a great friend and daughter,
I am a great business woman, I am fit and healthy and I am very
excited about my future!I strive to learn more everyday about how I
can become more so I can give more and have more and there is no
greater way to learn than from the best. Below are some of the books
that have altered my mind, I invite you to share in the
experience:o)The Hobbit, J R Tolkien
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, J
R Tolkien
The Dragonlance Chronicles, Laura and Tracey Hickman and
Margaret Weis
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Dwelling Place and
The Cinder Path, Catherine Cookson
Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway,
Susan Jeffers
The Travellers Gift, Andy Andrews
The Secret, Rhonda
Byrnes
The Magic Of Thinking Big, David J Schwartz