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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This book was absolutely essential to my own meditation practice. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to start out in learning about mindfulness.
In summation, god would not want to hang out with me and I am committed to being miserable (and here I thought I was just mentally ill!)
In all seriousness, one of my biggest issues with this book is how presumptuous the tone is. Like “just” do this, “just” do that… annoying tbh. The other issue I had is that it felt contradictory almost (going from, “it’s integral you let go of every experience because it doesn’t matter” to “you could die at any moment so you need to value every moment like it does matter!”) and that pissed me off. I also do not think that energy is infinite. I think that people who are (clinically.) depressed or anxious have increased difficulty accessing the energy that Singer talks about. But idk guess that’s just me.
I don’t like that Singer’s definition of the soul is that which observes or feels … like the “I” in “I feel,” so that you’re not your feelings, but rather the observer of your feelings. He spent so much time defining what we ARENT that I still don’t have any idea what Singer would define his own soul as. And are all souls different? Or are we all the same, just experiencing different things? Ugh.
Is this book anti-capitalist? Like how can you do any kind of job with this kind of thinking? But it’s also very individualistic. Like little to no concern for any kind of community.
I found the discussion of Dao in Ch 18 was interesting, because we do exert a lot of energy worrying about or exploring extremes, when it would take less energy to walk the middle. I like the idea of relaxing my shoulders and being open, kind of like letting waves roll over me. But the waves are everyday events that would worry me.
In all seriousness, one of my biggest issues with this book is how presumptuous the tone is. Like “just” do this, “just” do that… annoying tbh. The other issue I had is that it felt contradictory almost (going from, “it’s integral you let go of every experience because it doesn’t matter” to “you could die at any moment so you need to value every moment like it does matter!”) and that pissed me off. I also do not think that energy is infinite. I think that people who are (clinically.) depressed or anxious have increased difficulty accessing the energy that Singer talks about. But idk guess that’s just me.
I don’t like that Singer’s definition of the soul is that which observes or feels … like the “I” in “I feel,” so that you’re not your feelings, but rather the observer of your feelings. He spent so much time defining what we ARENT that I still don’t have any idea what Singer would define his own soul as. And are all souls different? Or are we all the same, just experiencing different things? Ugh.
Is this book anti-capitalist? Like how can you do any kind of job with this kind of thinking? But it’s also very individualistic. Like little to no concern for any kind of community.
I found the discussion of Dao in Ch 18 was interesting, because we do exert a lot of energy worrying about or exploring extremes, when it would take less energy to walk the middle. I like the idea of relaxing my shoulders and being open, kind of like letting waves roll over me. But the waves are everyday events that would worry me.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
The first part of the book deserved five stars. It felt very profound, and I would reread the first half of the book again down the road. But the second half of the book felt very repetitive while simultaneously not saying much of anything. Perhaps I just wasn’t ready to understand it, but I felt like four out of the last five chapters said the exact same thing.
The book definitely made me want to start a regular practice of meditation, and for that reason alone I enjoyed the book. If I manage to make meditation a regular practice, I will likely reread this one again to see if I get more out of it.
The book definitely made me want to start a regular practice of meditation, and for that reason alone I enjoyed the book. If I manage to make meditation a regular practice, I will likely reread this one again to see if I get more out of it.
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
All I can say is I needed this book right now. It had some good reminders for me.
This book beautifully explains how to heal, how to take control of your own mind, to notice your feelings, and how to simply find happiness within yourself.
“If you want to be free, you must first accept that there is pain in your heart. You have stored it there. And you’ve done everything you can think of to keep it there, deep inside, so that you never have to feel it. There is also tremendous joy, beauty, love and peace within you. On the other side of pain is ecstasy. On the other side is freedom.”
“If you want to be free, you must first accept that there is pain in your heart. You have stored it there. And you’ve done everything you can think of to keep it there, deep inside, so that you never have to feel it. There is also tremendous joy, beauty, love and peace within you. On the other side of pain is ecstasy. On the other side is freedom.”