Another excellent book on this topic of becoming aware is M.Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled. In this book, Peck explores the idea of making decisions and being a grownup about the consequences. Like Eckhart's book, it has transformed the lives of millions.

A recession stops paychecks temporarily, but it should never stop hope. We may have no control over the causes, but the end result can be a better situation than the previous one. Just to throw out a bit of possibility thinking: It may be that there are better paradigms to make money in this new America than we have been using up to now. How about making money online as an example?

I don't have any country-wide statistics, though I looked for a while and came up short, but I can give my own: In 1997 I was on the Internet a lot making websites and the like, but made no money. Now, 11 years later, I write a blog about issues of psychology that earns about $300 a month (when I am fortunate.) If my story is any indicator of the money people in American can make online, then I think it's encouraging news.

As Americans forge ahead through these times of recession, the cuts are like a stab in the back. In this writer's opinion, the question should not be "How do I get back what I had?" rather, it must be, "How can I become conscious and change my paradigm of the world?" The books I've listed both give great advice on how to achieve that consciousness. I think a lot of people are going to become conscious as a result of reading them.