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readbykaylinn's review against another edition
5.0
My therapist recommended this & I devoured it in one night. Took so many notes on it and plan on implementing so many aspects of this into my daily life. Time to unhook from my anxious thoughts.
imjustadow's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
this is the only "self help" book that ever really felt like it acknowledged how difficult living really is and offered effective strategies for living with life anyway. highly recommend to anyone who feels like they are struggling with themselves and where they are in life
cdjdhj's review against another edition
5.0
The book is billed as "A guide to ACT, a mindfulness-based program for reducing stress, overcoming fear, and creating a rich and meaningful life." I was skeptical when I began this book, but as I read and put into practice some of the concepts Australian author Russ Harris explains, I found them very helpful in dealing with psychological struggles and negative emotional patterns. Since we all experience with such things from time to time (they seem to be part of the human condition), this book could be helpful to virtually everyone. Highly readable. Highly recommended.
bulsy's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
After reading Oliver Burkeman's books, someone suggested this to me; ACT is cemented as my preferred method of therapy (and also the one I'm currently undergoing, with some success).
Like Oliver Burkeman, who takes great inspiration from the stoics, Russ Harris essentially tells you that you cannot and will never change the world around you; you can only change your actions, which might impact everything else, but that's not the point.
The point, like Tim Urban's in his fantastic blog post "Life is a Picture, But You Live in a Pixel", is that there is no happiness in attaining goals, there is no happiness at all, because in chasing for it you're looking at a goalpost that will just keep moving, in chasing for it, you miss out on appreciating your current experience.
The book is great, and I really do recommend it if whatever I've just rambled about resonates with you even a little bit; even if you don't agree, the worst that can happen is you learn something new! It's also filled with practical exercises, which made the methodology feel that much more tangible.
Like Oliver Burkeman, who takes great inspiration from the stoics, Russ Harris essentially tells you that you cannot and will never change the world around you; you can only change your actions, which might impact everything else, but that's not the point.
The point, like Tim Urban's in his fantastic blog post "Life is a Picture, But You Live in a Pixel", is that there is no happiness in attaining goals, there is no happiness at all, because in chasing for it you're looking at a goalpost that will just keep moving, in chasing for it, you miss out on appreciating your current experience.
The book is great, and I really do recommend it if whatever I've just rambled about resonates with you even a little bit; even if you don't agree, the worst that can happen is you learn something new! It's also filled with practical exercises, which made the methodology feel that much more tangible.
xtinaluvalot's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
tau's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.0
Very hard to review, because I immedately found the author unbearable. I'm writing this review a couple of weeks after finishing the book and can't remember learning anything from it, it was mostly repetition with a lot of arrogance sprinkled in.
I really disliked the general vibe of dismissing anything coming from the body-intelligence as idiotic. The ego is, in fact, not always the best judge of all situations. This is particularly obvious in the case of people with trauma, who can have a really distorted view of how they should be treated (including by themselves). I don't think mocking and calling the part of you that generates most of your thoughts a dumbass is very constructive. Where's the love, the care? There is a suggestion to thank your brain for thoughts and that's a small step in the right direction, but nowhere near enough.
He also early on mocks the idea of controlling your thoughts, and then gives half a dozen tools for controlling your thoughts. In my experience it can actually be super helpful to minfully direct your attention towards things that make you feel good, and as far as I can tell this is the only thing he's actually opposed to. Don't be annoyed at the loudly chewing person on the bus, watch the trees outside the window instead, dive into them with your mind so that the chewing becomes irrelevant, that sort of thing.
I really disliked the general vibe of dismissing anything coming from the body-intelligence as idiotic. The ego is, in fact, not always the best judge of all situations. This is particularly obvious in the case of people with trauma, who can have a really distorted view of how they should be treated (including by themselves). I don't think mocking and calling the part of you that generates most of your thoughts a dumbass is very constructive. Where's the love, the care? There is a suggestion to thank your brain for thoughts and that's a small step in the right direction, but nowhere near enough.
He also early on mocks the idea of controlling your thoughts, and then gives half a dozen tools for controlling your thoughts. In my experience it can actually be super helpful to minfully direct your attention towards things that make you feel good, and as far as I can tell this is the only thing he's actually opposed to. Don't be annoyed at the loudly chewing person on the bus, watch the trees outside the window instead, dive into them with your mind so that the chewing becomes irrelevant, that sort of thing.