Don't Believe Everything You Think by
Joseph Nguyen
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
I got a lot out of this book. I have been my own journey working on living life as a stoic. Putting my energy into the things I have power to control and letting go of the rest.
However, I got an insight reading this book. For me (YMMV) I tend to overthink everything and it's easy for me to get anxious. It's hard for me to let things go. The simple lesson here helped me out, Ill put it here for free. Thinking is Suffering. If you don't think, you don't suffer. Of course, this idea can be taken too far, and god knows that we need more thinking in our public discourse. But for me, a person who ruminates and thinks and overthinks and always in my head, this gave me a path to clarity. If I let go, I can find peace. The second insight, which could be considered a trite cliche, I know. Is that chasing fame, money, pleasure is a longing for something else, something that we already have: joy, love, fulfillment, inner-peace, we don't need external factors to get that, who we are and what we have is enough.
This helped people with my mindset and my personality, I'm always worried and anxious about something, about doing a good job at work, about being a good dad, good husband a good person. Worried that I'm not good enough if I don't make enough money, that I need people to like me and approve of me in order to feel good about myself. All that is in vain, you already have all the ingredients to have a life full of peace and free of suffering.
I am still a realist, an inquisitive skeptic, but this book helped me control my anxiety, because I understand that over-thinking is the root cause. After reading this book I have decided to choose inner peace, I have decided not to suffer for things that are not happening. Understanding that suffering is all in my head.
I liked this book and I recommend it to people who like me, worry a lot.
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