Hello! During the first months of 2019 I read 3 personal development books that I want to share with you – maybe you’ll be inspired to read them! One of them is about being more organized (from different points of view), while the other two books are about human psychology.
§ “The Organized Mind” by D. Levitin
What attracted me to buy this book was its subtitle – “Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload”. And the fact that Levitin is a cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist.
The book aims to explain how some people are very good at managing complex information flows, whether it’s about organizing their time, homes or lives. It provides many examples and also many academic explanations.
I was quite disappointed by the book, as a result I did not finish it. However, I took out 2 useful principles:
- “offload information from your brain to the environment” (e.g. to make sure you take the umbrella just put it on your shoes, so you cannot forget it)
- organize stuff into categories (e.g. having scissors in only one place instead of having them in the office and in the kitchen)
§ “When the Body Says No” by Maté 
This book explores the link between human emotions and the physical illnesses developed – arthritis, cancer, diabetes, and others. Its main idea is that the human body does react (says NO) when the psychological state is not balanced. Thus the subtitle “The Cost of Hidden Stress”.
The book is based on medical research and the author’s experience as doctor. It provides a wide variety of examples of diseases that are potentially caused or worsened by stress, trauma and other negative emotions.
I did not read it from cover to cover, as I was interested in the general topic and not into specific details. All examples provided in the book acted as cautionary tales and reminded me to listen more to my body and trust the messages it sends.
§ “Reinventing Your Life” by J. Young and J. Klosko
The subtitle of this book is “The Breakthrough Program to End Negative Behavior and Feel Great Again” – it reminds me of Donald Trump 🙂
Jokes aside, this book explains 11 behavioural patterns (also called “lifetraps”). It aims to help readers recognize, understand and change these thought patterns using a self-help program. Examples of such patterns are the Abandonment lifetrap (“Please don’t leave me!”) or the Entitlement lifetrap (“I can have whatever I want”).
I picked up this book because I wanted to find out more about thought patterns, and I got most of my answers reading it. Each lifetrap is explained using real cases, making it very easy to understand. I did not try the self-help program, so I cannot say whether it works or not.
This was, in a nutshell, my reading experience in the realm of personal development and psychology. What were the most interesting/useful books you read from the psychology / self-development area?
‘Till next time … happy reading!
Georgiana
Book covers from Goodreads.com. Post cover image from Kathrin Honesta.
Readers' High Tea 