It's such a blessing when you find an opportunity, an unrecognized passion, a kindred spirit, and a good book at the exact moment you are ready to embIt's such a blessing when you find an opportunity, an unrecognized passion, a kindred spirit, and a good book at the exact moment you are ready to embrace it. The moment when you know you need it the most. The moment a particular song, a piece of writing, an incident, a conversation will resonate with you creating vibrations that will affect the rest of your life. When you're not searching for it but stumble upon it by accident. A very fortunate accident.
I don't believe in destiny or any such bullshit. Even though I'm an eternal optimist and a hopeless romantic, I have a cynical side. If bad things happen to you and you just shrug it off, saying, "everything happens for a reason," I need to question- What's the reason I'm suffering so much when I did nothing wrong? Why do bad things happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? Don't we all question these things?
Perhaps I'm not mature enough to handle situations that are out of my control. But I'm learning more each passing day. And at the exact moment of my existential crisis, I happened to find a book that spoke to me like it was meant for me, waiting to find me at the right time. It will color my decisions and shape my thoughts for years to come.
Let me introduce you to a book that soothed me immensely when I was hurting a lot. It has acted as a balm alleviating my bruised heart and uplifting my vanquished spirit. When everyone in the world disappoints you, just be sure that you will find comfort in the pages where words weave magical tapestry; when hung on the walls of your heart, it will clear your vision and invigorate you to make the best of what you have.
Because you deserve the world, and to get it, you must make efforts to change yourself from within and let go of the fallible notions the world has instilled into you. You must change the very foundation of the belief system to change your reality. All you need to do is break the agreements you have made to yourself and make new agreements. I hope this write-up is enough to convince you to read this excellent book!...more
I picked up this book on a whim because years ago the title had caught my attention. Well, it wasn’t a terrible book as I had expected. There were cerI picked up this book on a whim because years ago the title had caught my attention. Well, it wasn’t a terrible book as I had expected. There were certain things I didn’t agree with, but overall, it's an excellent starting point for understanding the opposite sex.
By distinguishing men and women, the author attempts to explain certain ways and behavior inherent to the two sexes. By understanding them and learning how to deal with them, men and women can strike a balance and have a healthy relationship.
Not all men and women have 100% masculine or feminine qualities, so it would be wrong to put them in a box and assume certain things about them. So, it’s better to have honest and open communication instead of guessing at the patterns of their behavior.
However, I could relate to a lot of situations mentioned in the book and it’s crazy, but I kind of became comfortable with my feminine side, especially the emotion part. I get high and low on emotions and I beat myself up for being irrational sometimes, but I guess it’s not a bad thing.
Overall, it’s a good book but gets boring towards the ends because of unnecessary and repetitive content. ...more
When I finished reading this book yesterday, I thought the first 70% of the book wasn’t that bad. Hell, I can even go as far as to say that it had preWhen I finished reading this book yesterday, I thought the first 70% of the book wasn’t that bad. Hell, I can even go as far as to say that it had pretty good points for someone new to relationships.
Now that I’m writing this review, I don’t think I can hold back because the remaining part of this book is fucking trash and I have to talk about it!
If you’ve ever been in a relationship where there’s healthy communication, I think all the advice given by the author won’t sound so revolutionary. That's because you don’t have the fancy words to label the ways you show your love to your partner.
But, I don’t want to drag this book down completely as I feel that this has some good points in the beginning. “Love language” is a metaphor for the actions you take to show your love for your partner which results in a full love tank i.e. satisfaction in a relationship.
After the emotional high of love wears off AKA honeymoon phase of the relationship ends, it leaves us with the reality that the person we are with is not as perfect as we had once imagined. In this situation, we have to make efforts to sustain love and cultivate intimacy.
All of this is fine until the author ruins everything by attempting to save the relationship of a woman who has been abused. Using religion, he manipulates her to have sex with her husband (because his primary love language is physical touch). I’m not even exaggerating this. I found it wrong and vile.
If he had given the same advice to a man, I’d be angry too. But this is especially disgusting because, in many cultures and communities, women are told to just put up with the abuse or sweep it under the rug. I just cannot believe he gave this advice using such pleasant words.
It takes two to be in a relationship. It should be the decision of two people to make it work. If only one person is putting in efforts while the other person couldn’t care less, it’s best to give up because this is an unhealthy dynamic.
It was wrong on his part to give such advice to the vulnerable woman who was in a dilemma of whether she should stay with her abuser or leave. It just plays into the mentality that a good girl can fix a bad guy if she loves him enough. We should wonder about something else. Is the guy even worth loving? Short answer: No. Long answer: HELL NOOOOOO!
Secondly, he talks about how a relationship can be revived even after there has been sexual infidelity. I’m neither an expert in the field of dating and relationships nor have I read any research papers or statistics, but I feel there should be a line that cannot be crossed.
In my opinion, certain actions should be forbidden and considered the last straw in relationships for eg, cheating, abuse, and some other serious offenses (murder?).
I think aiming to make every relationship work by applying the love language rules is idealistic and unrealistic. Sometimes, people just aren’t compatible. There might be a hundred reasons for not being together. I don’t think all problems can be solved by applying the five simple rules.
All in all, read the first 70% of the book as it is sensible. For the rest, hurl the book out of the window and forget about it....more
"The Richest Man in Babylon" is one of the most interesting and valuable books on financial planning I came across. I'm on this journey to discover so"The Richest Man in Babylon" is one of the most interesting and valuable books on financial planning I came across. I'm on this journey to discover some good books on finances, and its definitely worth a read. This is coming from someone who has no idea on how to manage money, but the lessons mentioned in the book are great for people who don't know where to begin!
This book combines fine storytelling with sound financial advice, which is one of the most fascinating aspects of it. The book draws inspiration from the ancient city of Babylon, which used to be the wealthiest city in its time. The people in Babylon used to be clever and wealthy financiers and merchants.
While digging up the remains of Babylon, archaeologists found clay tablets that had writings that explained how people lived back in the day. It also mentioned rules that the ancient people used to gain control of their finances. These rules or laws applicable six thousand years ago in Babylon can be used even today as the basic principles regarding money don't change.
The best part about this book is that it doesn't have any technical jargon or complex ideas about how to manage your money. What you get are simple and easy to implement rules or habits you can integrate into your life that will benefit you in the long run. Combine that with exciting storytelling, you get an excellent value-for-your-money guide on finance.
Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes, And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills, Brings forth aMind is the Master power that moulds and makes, And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills, Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:— He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass: Environment is but his looking-glass.
This is a short and inspiring philosophical book with its title being influenced by a verse in the Bible. The author also makes references to Jesus, Krishna, and Buddha while explaining his ideas. The central theme of the book is that a man is shaped by the thoughts he harbors whether consciously or subconsciously. Good and positive thoughts will attract joy and peace while negative thoughts will attract misery and despair. If he finds himself in an unfortunate situation that is out of his control, he needs to accept the fact that nothing lasts forever.
He can choose to find the good things from an unpleasant experience while from the bad things, he can learn important lessons. He can let the failure and pain guide and motivate him to improve himself and his life to earn the success he rightfully deserves. This will cause him to take ownership of his life and not blame other people for everything that is wrong in his life.
All a person needs to do is alter the way he perceives a situation. If you see the world as your ally, you’ll find that the world is a beautiful thing that wants you to succeed and it’ll present endless people and opportunities to achieve those goals and if you believe that the world is conspiring against you, you’ll find yourself at war with the enemy you can’t conquer and live with perpetual hell of your own making. Our thoughts will manifest into his habits and the habits will shape our circumstances because mind and body are intimately connected.
If you want to live a successful life, you need to have a passion or a vision of an ideal life. If you have a picture of what an ideal life looks like to you, you’re going to work really hard to achieve that and the unfavorable circumstance you’re in right now will seem like a temporary state that you’ll eventually get out of. Using the basic rule of cause and effect, instead of worrying about things you can’t control, you can focus on giving the best from your side. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to learn to find better and efficient ways and try again.
A calm person draws strength from within so the external circumstances don’t faze him. What you get is what you deserve in life and if you don’t have it then you need to work for it and earn it. It’s mostly how to use the law of attraction to your maximum benefit. The author also talks about the benefits of meditation in your daily life and interesting discussion about the cause of suffering and how to reach a state of enlightenment.
Heard it all before. One thing that's always constant in life is change and we should adapt to it to be successful in our career and relationships.Heard it all before. One thing that's always constant in life is change and we should adapt to it to be successful in our career and relationships....more
I believe the title of the book ‘Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight’ might be a little misleading. It should’ve been along the lines of ‘Don’t losI believe the title of the book ‘Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight’ might be a little misleading. It should’ve been along the lines of ‘Don’t lose your mind, adopt a healthy lifestyle’ or something like that. Losing weight is just an added bonus you get along with fulfilling the main goal of improving physical and mental health by following two steps- eating healthy and working out regularly. But then again, it’s not as attention-grabbing as the former!
Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a good book on nutrition, this one’s totally worth your time. It’s short and precise when it comes to explaining all the important points regarding diet i.e there’s no such a thing as a diet if it’s something you can go ‘on and off’ of. When it comes to weight loss, she burst all the myths and tackled a lot of misinformation surrounding the craze of crash diets, detoxes, juice cleanses, sugar-free products, exotic products, low-fat, low-carb, high-protein diet etc.
The author seems well experienced and she put forward her points clearly, backing it up with scientific explanations, drawing some those explanations from Ayurveda. I liked that way she broke down the stigma around certain foods like how certain food gets vilified for all the wrong reasons, which most of the time, is just a marketing gimmick. She promoted the idea of knowing and accepting your body and treating it with utmost love and respect.
She explains all the functions of important nutrients that our body needs and the benefits of exercise. People who want to start a healthy lifestyle can really benefit from it as the author has listed all the different food sources along with the right way, the right time to eat them to get the maximum benefit. This book is not just about explaining when and what to eat but also how to get in touch with your body and mind. I liked the way she explained the nutritious value of Indian food that we already eat so there’s no need to replace it with other exotic foods. It’s good to follow the principle of- ‘Eat local, think global’.
I’ve been on my ‘fitness journey’ which is just another fancy term for eating right and working out regularly, as I got a little overweight due to an unhealthy lifestyle. I lost 9kg in less than a year but that achievement pales in comparison to how good and comfortable I feel in my body. What I followed was more or less of what this book suggests. It all comes down to being aware of your health and listening to your body. I did nothing drastic but made a few changes that I can follow my whole life. When you get a good understanding of it, you don’t need to hire a professional to help you with the ‘diet’.
Before starting my fitness journey, I did a lot of research on my own. The internet’s a lovely place! It’s kind of embarrassing to admit now that all of what I learned during my ‘journey’ is just common sense and nothing else. Yet, I wasn’t aware of it before, even though I knew about it in a way. It’s the same with most people. But, it’s never too late to mend your ways. This book was written in 2009 and I’d like to think we’re hopefully in a better place now. Apart from that, it was very useful and I’m definitely going to try to implement better ways to cheat and the practice of mindful eating.
This is one of the most logical and straightforward self-help books I read. The author has done a great job in capturing the philosophy of Stoicism anThis is one of the most logical and straightforward self-help books I read. The author has done a great job in capturing the philosophy of Stoicism and presenting it in a practical way that can be used in your daily life. I don't know much about Stoicism philosophy but it really piqued my interest and I'll definitely read more about it. This book is perfect when you're going through a rough time and you need a quick dose of inspiration. On top of it, the language is simple and effective and it really feels like you're being adviced by a rational mentor in a way that is not preachy. This book will prove to be beneficial to anyone who prefers to hear the no-nonsense truth instead of comforting lies. ...more
This is a short and simple book. I didn't have much expectation going into it, but I was pleasantly surprised. First, the writer explains the differenThis is a short and simple book. I didn't have much expectation going into it, but I was pleasantly surprised. First, the writer explains the difference between the conscious and subconscious mind and what role is played by both of them. Then, he makes a very good case by giving us examples by stating the reason our subconscious mind plays a vital role in shaping our life. It got me hooked. It's been said and done and it's nothing I haven't heard before but I was compelled to try out some of the the exercises myself like writing positive affirmations and memorizing them everyday. It's a fun activity and by no means, it'll lead to anything unless you take conscious steps towards your goal which is very important. The approach is positive, effective and motivating. I know it works and I can't wait to try it out myself....more
If you search for the best non-fiction (business) books list, the one that is popular even today is “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and after reading it, I underIf you search for the best non-fiction (business) books list, the one that is popular even today is “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and after reading it, I understand why. It’s one of the best books on finance and it changed my perspective of looking at money.
Told in an interesting and engaging manner, Robert Kiyosaki advocates the importance of financial literacy. By using anecdotes from his life and the lessons he learned from his two father figures, the author explains the difference between the mindset of rich and poor regarding money.
In this book, the author points out the traditional mistakes people make while handling their finances and how the educational system does not focus on financial literacy. Therefore, he encourages people to learn about accounting, financial market, taxes and investing.
One of the fascinating things that stands out in this book is the stark difference between the point of view of the rich and poor person of looking at money. The rich dad sees money in a positive light which is at odds with the popular opinion about money.
Overall, this is an informative book. It made me interested in learning about finance and managing money in a better way. If you want to learn about finance, I highly recommend this book. ...more
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