All posts tagged: book review

Respond don’t React

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Yesterday was Holocaust Memorial Day and the 70th Anniversary of Auschwitz liberation, so it seems apt that today’s post is about Viktor Frankl’s best-selling classic Man’s Search for Meaning. The extraordinary memoir of a psychotherapist who survived life in a Nazi concentration camp. The story is based on his experiences in camp where he laboured, starved and was subjected to horrific abuse, whilst his pregnant wife, brother and parents all perished. It is a profound book on the strength of the human spirit in the face of despair. There are two areas that really stand out for me in this book. The first is Frankl’s argument that we cannot avoid suffering, that life is suffering, but what is important is our perception of it and how we choose to react to it. “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor Frankl  How we perceive something gives it its meaning and whilst we …

new year. new book. new perspective.

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The Road Less Travelled is a ‘classic work on relationships, spiritual growth and life’s meaning’. Written by best-selling author M. Scott Peck, it draws heavily on his experience as a psychiatrist and is a compelling book full of wisdom and tips to a happier, healthier and more meaningful life. It’s one of the few books I’ve carried around that gained a great deal of attention. Sat in coffee shops, on the bus, waiting for a friend in a restaurant, endless people noticed I was reading it and felt compelled to comment; “Great book”, “That’ll stay with you forever”, “Wonderful read” and I completely understand why. It is a life-changing book and one I will no doubt revisit again and again. Topics covered include – Discipline and the art of delaying gratification, giving up comforts in the present for future gain. Love as a choice not a feeling, extending one’s self for the purpose of nurturing another’s spiritual growth. Finding Grace within ourselves, evolving our conscious minds and making the unconscious, conscious. It’s a thought-provoking journey that took me …