Another favourite of mine and I re-listen to this many times for its simple wisdom and putting everything in perspective. If it’s late at night and I can’t sleep I put on the audio version of this and relax.
Dr Richard Carson has made his expertise happiness reducing anxiety stress and depression and focusing on what really matters in life. Looking back on my life so far I know that I’ve often got things out of perspective and worried far too much about the small stuff. This is a book to read early in your life or give to one of your children. Good sound advice.
Some others I have read “How To Win Friends and Influence People”, “Think and Grow Rich”, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and I would list this book among them for its anecdotes and good reminders on perspective. It’s the one book which contrasts with everything I’ve learnt in the Military and Business about life. So, this book teaches you to chill out. The chapter titles tell you a lot – well worth a read:
Chapter 1. Don’t sweat the small stuff
Chapter 2. Make peace with imperfection.
Chapter 3. Let go of the idea that relaxed gentle people cannot be super-achievers.
Chapter 4: Be Aware of the Snowball Effect of Your Thinking
Chapter 5: Develop Your Compassion
Chapter 6: Remind Yourself that When You Die, Your “In Basket” Won’t Be Empty
Chapter 7: Don’t Interrupt Others or Finish Their Sentences
Chapter 8: Do Something Nice for Someone Else — and Don’t Tell Anyone About It
Chapter 9: Let Others Have the Glory
Chapter 10: Learn to Live in the Present Moment
Chapter 11: Imagine that Everyone Is Enlightened Except You
Chapter 12: Let Others Be “Right” Most of the Time
Chapter 13: Become More Patient
Chapter 14: Create “Patience Practice Periods”
Chapter 15: Be the First One to Act Loving or Reach Out
Chapter 16: Ask Yourself the Question, “Will This Matter a Year from Now?”
Chapter 17: Surrender to the Fact that Life Isn’t Fair
Chapter 18: Allow Yourself to Be Bored
Chapter 19: Lower Your Tolerance to Stress
Chapter 20: Once a Week, Write a Heartfelt Letter
Chapter 21: Imagine Yourself at Your Own Funeral
Chapter 22: Repeat to Yourself, “Life Isn’t an Emergency”
Chapter 23: Experiment with Your Back Burner
Chapter 24: Spend a Moment Every Day Thinking of Someone to Thank
Chapter 25: Smile at Strangers, Look into Their Eyes, and Say Hello
Chapter 26: Set Aside Quiet Time, Every Day
Chapter 27: Imagine the People in Your Life as Tiny Infants and as One-Hundred-Year-Old Adults
Chapter 28: Seek First to Understand
Chapter 29: Become a Better Listener
Chapter 30: Choose Your Battles Wisely
Chapter 31: Become Aware of Your Moods and Don’t Allow Yourself to Be Fooled by the Low One
Chapter 32: Life Is a Test. It Is Only a Test
Chapter 33: Praise and Blame Are All the Same
Chapter 34: Practice Random Acts of Kindness. Enjoy the good feeling that doing an act of kindness brings.
Chapter 35: Look Beyond Behaviour
Chapter 36: See the Innocence
Chapter 37: Choose Being Kind over Being Right
Chapter 38: Tell Three People (Today) How Much You Love Them
Chapter 39: Practice Humility
Chapter 40: When in Doubt about Whose Turn It Is to Take Out the Trash, Go Ahead and Take It Out
Chapter 41: Avoid Weatherproofing
Chapter 42: Spend a Moment, Every Day, Thinking of Someone to Love
Chapter 43: Become an Anthropologist
Chapter 44: Understand Separate Realities
Chapter 45: Develop Your Own Helping Rituals
Chapter 46: Every Day, Tell at Least One Person Something You Like, Admire, or Appreciate about Them
Chapter 47: Argue for Your Limitations, and They’re Yours
Chapter 48: Remember that Everything Has God’s Fingerprints on It
Chapter 49: Resist the Urge to Criticise
Chapter 50: Write Down Your Five Most Stubborn Positions and See if You Can Soften Them
Chapter 51: Just for Fun, Agree with Criticism Directed Toward You (Then Watch It Go Away)
Chapter 52: Search for the Grain of Truth in Other Opinions
Chapter 53: See the Glass as Already Broken (and Everything Else Too)
Chapter 54: Understand the Statement, “Wherever You Go, There You Are”
Chapter 55: Breathe Before You Speak
Chapter 56: Be Grateful when You’re Feeling Good, and Graceful when You’re Feeling Bad
Chapter 57: Become a Less Aggressive Driver
Chapter 58: Relax
Chapter 59: Adopt a Child Through the Mail
Chapter 60: Turn Your Melodrama into a Mellow-Drama
Chapter 61: Read Articles and Books with Entirely Different Points of View from Your Own and Try to Learn Something
Chapter 62: Do One Thing at a Time
Chapter 63: Count to Ten
Chapter 64: Practice Being in the “Eye of the Storm”
Chapter 65: Be Flexible with Changes in Your Plans
Chapter 66: Think of What You Have Instead of What You Want
Chapter 67: Practice Ignoring Your Negative Thoughts
Chapter 68: Be Willing to Learn from Friends and Family
Chapter 69: Be Happy Where You Are
Chapter 70: Remember that You Become What You Practice Most
Chapter 71: Quiet the Mind
Chapter 72: Take Up Yoga
Chapter 73: Make Service an Integral Part of Your Life
Chapter 74: Do a Favour and Don’t Ask For, or Expect, One in Return
Chapter 75: Think of Your Problems as Potential Teachers
Chapter 76: Get Comfortable Not Knowing
Chapter 77: Acknowledge the Totality of Your Being
Chapter 78: Cut Yourself Some Slack
Chapter 79: Stop Blaming Others
Chapter 80: Become an Early Riser
Chapter 81: When Trying to Be Helpful, Focus on Little Things
Chapter 82: Remember, One Hundred Years from Now, All New People
Chapter 83: Lighten Up
Chapter 84: Nurture a Plant
Chapter 85: Transform Your Relationship to Your Problems
Chapter 86: The Next Time You Find Yourself in an Argument, Rather than Defend your position, see if you can see the other point of view first.
Chapter 87: Redefine a “Meaningful Accomplishment”
Chapter 88: Listen to Your Feelings (They Are Trying to Tell You Something)
Chapter 89: If Someone Throws You the Ball, You Don’t Have to Catch It
Chapter 90: One More Passing Show
Chapter 91: Fill Your Life with Love
Chapter 92: Realise the Power of Your Own Thoughts
Chapter 93: Give Up on the Idea that “More Is Better”
Chapter 94: Keep Asking Yourself, “What’s Really Important?”
Chapter 95: Trust Your Intuitive Heart
Chapter 96: Be Open to “What Is”
Chapter 97: Mind Your Own Business
Chapter 98: Look for the Extraordinary in the Ordinary
Chapter 99: Schedule Time for Your Inner Work
Chapter 100: Live This Day as if It Were Your Last. It Might Be!