The book’s premise is that we all could benefit from learning to relax, breath, and contemplate how we really want to live life. I went looking for coping skills on how to better manage the external aspects of my busy life, but discovered that the secrets were in how I was internally thinking and/or reacting to life. Whole new worlds of thinking were opened up to me that gave me an inkling of what my life could be like if I could adjust my approach. Those big challenges that were constantly getting in my way were only as ‘big’ as I let them be. What if I could internally view them as ‘small stuff’?
As I read I recognized myself and my thinking patterns almost instantly, and then I started turning down the corners of various pages. For example, chapter 2 (only 1.5 pages into the book) is titled, ‘Make Peace with Imperfection’. What? You mean I don’t have to be perfect in everything that I do in order to be OK? I don’t remember Mom telling me that! Chapter 3; ‘Let Go of the Idea that Gentle, Relaxed People Can’t Be Superachievers’. And, he even has true life examples of calm people achieving great things! Wow, wouldn’t that be cool to be a successful person whose heart is not always racing? Chapter 4; ‘Be Aware of the Snowball Effect of Your Thinking’. You know how that goes. Have one scary or stressful thought, and then let that roll into the next scary thought, and then you are moving into a crisis, and then that crisis is going to bankrupt you, and then you will have no family or friends left, and then what will you do? All this and you are still laying in bed trying to get back to sleep. Hmmm! Maybe this is just in your head. Maybe you’re not going to have a crisis and be alone for the rest of your life. Maybe if you had consciously stopped your imagination after that first scary thought and decided not to go bankrupt tonight while trying to sleep, you could actually go back to sleep and continue living your life again tomorrow morning.
I chuckle when I look back now at my copy of the book. Four of the first five chapters have the corners turned down, and then I must have realized that I was going to ruin the whole book if I continued in this pattern. So I just settled in, two minutes at a time, hidden up in the master bathroom, a couple of times a day, getting life lessons from a great little, insightful and thought provoking book. Little did I know that that was only the beginning of my journey towards a more calm, confident, and joyful approach to life. I’ll let you know when I get there completely, but in the meantime I am loving the journey.
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