Book 2, Post 2

For book 2 I completed How to Grow an Unshakeable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness by Rick Hanson. Reflecting back on my first post I chose this book originally because I thought this book would provide me skills and opportunities in any setting to try to be more calm and happy. Having read similar books to this one I was also drawn by the general idea of mindfulness and well-being. The book was a simple read and I have a few critiques, however, overwhelmingly I have a positive review of the book.

To begin with what I did like, the structure of the book worked well for me. Every chapter began with a little anecdote of the author from their own life, like in the chapter on grit the author began by retelling a snowshoe hiking experience they had. It was then followed by a deep discussion into the topic complemented with scientific discussions on psychology and the brain. In addition each chapter would have multiple applications and real life examples. The chapters would then conclude with a summary of key points. The introduction also provided this useful chart as a roadmap to each skill and concept the author was going to discuss about:

To highlight one of my biggest takeaways, chapter six discussion of confidence was interesting to me. One of the points made in this chapter described “first” and “second” “darts” from the Buddha. Essentially first darts are an unavoidable physical or emotional discomfort and the second darts are the additional stress we put on ourselves. For example, spilling your coffee sometimes just happens and afterwards it can ruin your day as you continually think about and stress over the coffee stain on your clothes. A key to finding confidence in yourself and calmness, the author points out, is trying to reduce the tension by riding out the experience, letting go of it, and letting in positive thoughts.
 

 

Not necessarily an alteration but something to note about this book is it is very dense. Each chapter and strategy can be a deep skill that you can develop and practice for many months in different scenarios. Therefore it was quite difficult to take in all the information in one go. However, in the introduction the author does comment on this fact and explains how you should keep this book handy to come back to it or use each chapter one at a time. So even though I thought it was dense, the author establishes credibility by telling the readers and myself what to expect and how to combat such a rich text.
 

 

Overall I would give this book a 7.9/10 and recommend giving it a read.