I was recently provided with multiple books from the series I have discussed in previous posts known as “the skinny on”.  These books are small books around 200 pages which are full of cartoons and quotes and messages on concepts.  I have read through a few of the ones I have been provided with, and am looking forward to discussing material in them here.  I continue to enjoy these books.  They are all written by Jim Randel, an attorney and entrepreneur who has studied topics of financial literacy and personal achievement for thirty years.

The Skinny On: Time Management – And Other Life Challenges

One of them is about the topic of time management.  It is called “the skinny on: time management and other life challenges“.  Why is time management important?  Some people let their time slip away and some are disappointed if ten minutes of it goes to something that doesn’t further their cause.  Time management and prioritization separates those two.  When you think about time management, you start to value everything you do more.  It gets you thinking about what is worth your time and what is not.  Not everything can be worth your time.

On a separate note from what is in the book, I would mention that people make time for what they care about.  All the excuses people make are an indirect message about what matters to them.  When someone cancels on you to do something else that they “have” to do, know that no one has to do anything, and they are making a decision about what is more important to them.

In one part of this book, there is a part where the author a weekly time usage of his daughter, and it is used to assess whether she has enough time in her schedule to complete her goal of getting a 3.5 GPA for that quarter.  We can do the same for our weekly hourly usage.  The author finds out that he used something like 15% of his waking time watching sports.  This is the kind of information we can also figure out by cataloging  our usage of hours over a week.  You might find that you spend 10% of your waking time doing something you thought you used 1% of your waking time on, and that realization quickly results in you changing your routine.

One other tidbit I want to add from a section about procrastination in this book is about breaking big projects up into manageable pieces.  It really does make you able to start a project that you have left undone.  You write one small thing you can do for it, and then you realize that you can continue the project just fine, and it is not such a big deal(although the whole project is).

The Skinny On: Networking – Maximizing The Power Of Numbers

This book discusses a topic that is always of interest to me.  Networking is an item that should always be in our minds.  Those who always have it in the back of their mind are always meeting new people and connecting them to others.  Those who don’t keep this concept in the back of their minds have no idea about how many connections they are not making and building upon.

One section of this book says “Networking is about accessing people who can help you.  Everyone you have ever met can potentially help you.”  I have seen this to be the case in many ways.  Someone you meet might not be the person you need for financial information, but they might turn out to be the best person to help you regarding nutritional habits.  When I realized that most people have something valuable to you to provide, I realized that it didn’t make sense to put them down for their lack of knowledge in some single category.  Putting others down is not usually beneficial anyway, but that is a separate point.

Another section of this book contains discussion about an example where the author made a large chunk of profit through a connection he made between one businessperson and a wealthy individual.  His one hour of connecting them was very profitable, and it would not have worked had he backed down in the networking sense.  A message to take away from this is to not back away or down from others, as they may be wanting us to set them straight or connect them with someone or do a deal with them.  Backing away from people leads to them backing away from us, and then the linkage does not exist.  Who you know and what you know are both important, and you can’t have a substantial level of those “who you know” unless you approach and contact them.

The Skinny On: The Art Of Persuasion – How To Move Minds

The last The Skinny On book I shall discuss here is about persuasion.  This is a topic that many people love to think about and ponder regarding how they can possess more of it.  The movie Inception is partially so popular because many viewers can see themselves wanting to plant an idea in someone else’s head without them knowing about it.  There are other reasons for the movie’s popularity, but I am sure a substantial amount of viewers thought about this.

In this book, Mr. Randel hits on many topics related to persuasion that I was glad to see.  In one part, he discusses how related persuasion and manipulation are, and says that there is a fine line between them.  He then talks about how Machiavelli said rulers need to use manipulation and duplicity to achieve and maintain power.  While Machiavelli’s thoughts may have been valid and continue to be valid in some respects, the author does bring up that today’s world is much more connected through word-of-mouth and other speedy communication platforms, so a manipulation that is made public is soon heard of by multitudes of people, and the person is no longer trusted the same way again.

One very important point he brings up here is that preparation time is a huge factor in being persuasive.  This makes complete sense to me.  When you want to persuade someone of something, directly saying your thoughts is not so full of impact, as they could probably have those thoughts as well.  What you need to do is to package together layers of evidence until your message becomes so compelling that the person would have a hard time disagreeing.  This takes preparation because the layers and evidence is not readily produced by our brains.  We have to think through some of the refutations, and why they are not soundly-based.  It is after this process that we have a strong message.

A last tidbit from one of the rules in this book is that persuasion is about integrity.  When you are a person of integrity, it is not a struggle at all to persuade people of one item or another, because they know you have a reputation that your sayings are based on, and to give up that reputation would be to give up so much of who you are.  People see some folks as being awkwardly capable at convincing others of one concept or another, but you have to also think about the integrity a person has built up.  It can take a long time, or many interactions, before someone feels that you have this integrity, but once you do, you don’t have to struggle so much to be convincing.

Ending Notes

I appreciate the opportunity to have been provided with these creations, along with others, to read and discuss and learn from.  Some of the other “the skinny on” books I have been provided with this opportunity are about direct sales, real estate investing, the housing crisis, and credit cards.  Out of these four, the one on direct sales probably most applies to something I look to do, so I have also read through that.  I enjoy the books in this series as they are quick to read, enjoyable due to their wording and many comics/pictures, and there are also relevant messages about how the real world works.  Jim Randel is a solid individual and his breadth of works shows it.

I have some Ebooks by some other site-writers that I shall review for you here. They are by Celestine from Personal Excellence, Diggy from Upgrade Reality, Marelisa from The Abundance Blog, and Daniel Richard from Simple Living. Each one has a different focus, and each one was created from a different person’s perspective.  You can click on the images to get to where the Ebooks are presented.

Before I present them, I would mention that Ebooks seems to be getting more and more popular as Ebooks readers are becoming more prevalent.  The upcoming digital generation is quite supportive of digital media.  Books have their advantages, and Ebooks have their own advantages.  I am quite sure there are some great programs out there to use to be able to read Ebooks with a lot of functionality, allowing you to take notes on the sides of pages or highlight sections.  This is cool.  On to the reviews~

I start off these reviews with that of Personal Excellence Book by Celestine Chua from Personal Excellence.  This might be the largest Ebook I have acquired, at 774 pages.  It is a compendium of much of the wonderful articles and series’ over at Personal Excellence.  The Ebook is broken up into 8 categories, which is always a plus, with each category  having multiple sections in it.

I could see Celestine building up this wonderful package from the ground up, through her articles containing personal experience and personal learning.  She has put herself out there more than most do, and that takes courage.  It is much easier to not do this, but she chose to release inside information like that about moving on from heartbreak, which many feel, or about an experience with disappointment.  She has said much about herself, and this is in the articles, so you can connect with them as a person.

The Ebook contains many wonderful quotes near the end, which is a great concluding item to the package of messages before it.  The quotes are from many people and books and sources.  There are also pictures throughout the Ebook that give it more life.

The next Ebook I review here is Upgrade Reality by Diggy(Dirk de Bruin) from the site Upgrade Reality.  This Ebook has a great color scheme and design and set of font choices.  It is quite pleasing to look at.  Blue is a great color.

From the beginning, Diggy talks to you about taking what you have and either working with it or expanding upon it.  He then leads you through messages in various categories like Confidence & Self Esteem and Body & Mind.  He has quotes spread throughout the Ebook that connect with the message at that part, and includes direct messages from himself that are somewhat in bold.

In this Ebook, Diggy explains much of what he has done, and allows you to feel as though you are able to do the same for yourself.  The tone of the messages is casual and conversational, and so it has that feel that many desire of being talked to directly.  Also, there are a lot of nice summary sections at the end of messages.

You really do have the opportunity to upgrade the reality you are living in.

The third Ebook I am reviewing here is How to Live Your Best Life by Marelisa Fabrega from The Abundance Blog.  In this 27-chapter Ebook that is broken up into 7 parts, Marelisa goes through ways and methods to work through your life issues, satisfy you needs, surpass your fears and limiting beliefs, and conquer your goals.

There are a lot of cool sections with a red background on the sides of pages to bring attention to important points or messages, like one that contains many message about donating and giving back to others.  These red sections are somewhat like calls to action.

There are also many exercises(30 in total) that you are able to do to actively find out more about yourself and further your efforts.  I know that people who put effort and energy somewhere get all the benefits of it, and so when you do these exercises for your activities or fears or visualizing or commitment, you will improve in those categories.  Find me the person who doesn’t improve where they spend their time and I will show you an invisible fish.  I just made that up but you get what I am saying.

Lastly, throughout this Ebook, there are pieces and bits about different people who have been successful, and we all know that just like the best person to learn how to tie shoes from is someone who has already done it, it is best to look at these people and what they do every so often.

The final Ebook I will be reviewing here is Doing With LESS by Daniel Richard who writes at Simple Living.  This Ebook is about living a minimalist and stress-free lifestyle.  The design of the Ebook is also minimalist, with thin title fonts, light coloring, and plenty of spacing.  Style matching the message is always a plus.

The Ebook is broken up into eight parts that go into doing with less in various categories of your life, like with spending, work, stuff, and noise in your days.  For example, one topic that is discussed is having freedom from stuff, which is quite empowering when you do it properly.  If you have material possessions holding back your ability, it only makes sense to adjust how many you have or how you deal with them.  The items we have are to assist us, right?

Daniel includes a lot about how to start into a more minimalistic lifestyle, going from where you are currently to where you can be with less.  This is valuable because most who would read the material would not start from a state of already having a minimalistic lifestyle.

Similar to how David Allen has said that having less clutter in our minds opens up our mental RAM to be able to better process actions we want to do, the material that Daniel provides here also handles the physical and social components of this cleaning or clearing out of clutter.

One last good feature about this book and its message is that it leaves you with a peaceful feeling.  You feel like you can handle what it informs you about because it is presented lightly and calmly.  It’s much easier to get along with someone talking with you in a relaxed fashion than someone yelling at you, and this Ebook follows suit.

Concluding Message

I appreciate all these site-writers for providing me with the opportunity to review their Ebooks.  I always like to support folks who are creating, because I know that for every person who is creating, for example, an Ebook, there are an abundance of others who thought about it and didn’t.  Creators make up the world around us.

I received two books many months ago that I mentioned that I would review and never got around to. I thought I’d point out some good items from each of the books as I normally do. These two books are by Carol Tuttle, and they are called It’s Just My Nature and Remembering Wholeness.  The latter is reported to be a best-selling book.

Think X Instead Of Y

One section in Remembering Wholeness that is useful is one that talks about what to think instead of thinking something else we normally do.  One example is that, instead of thinking “Other people use me”, you would want to think “I am attracting people who are thoughtful and considerate of me.”  I can attest to the value of this type of thinking.  It is not about positive thinking, in my view, as it is more about setting yourself up for some good actions.  When you feel like everyone is using you, you have very little motivation to want to team up with others, and so that damages your conversational ability, or interest in working with others, or so on.

Thoughts Don’t Get Enough Credit

If one person has thoughts that lead them to feel that others are to be avoided, then their actions will then be about avoiding others.  If I feel like others are thoughtful and considerate of me, I am more likely to treat them the same way, leading to real opportunities showing up.  These opportunities don’t show up when you are closed off, which occurs when your thoughts logically tell you to be closed off.

I once had an article about realistic optimism, and had to stress the word “realistic”, because optimism tends to get associated with “blind optimism”, and I’m pretty sure no one would recommend that.  Being optimistic against the odds doesn’t help.  Being optimistic where the odds are not so well-known, and where success could have a large impact, can be very useful.

Two Person Example

Let’s take two people for an example.  Let’s say there are two businesspersons who are almost finished creating their own product.  One of them thinks more things like “I will do everything I choose to do well enough” and “Things always work out for me”(both taken from the book), and the other thinks things like “I can never do anything right” and “If something bad is going to happen it is probably going to happen to me.”  Which one is more likely to not finish their product and get it through the launch cycle?  If there is an obvious answer here, then it is valuable to focus a bit on the thoughts you have as you go through the day.

If you wake up and think that others are going to use you to your detriment, and then check your e-mail, and see a message from someone who wants something from you, which is not that rare, you might end up with a complete morning of enjoyment where you feel like everyone you interact with will want to use something you have.  As you can see, the thoughts you have can lead to huge changes in how much motivation you have and effort you are willing to put out.

What Is Natural To You?

The other book I was able to look at was It’s Just My Nature.  A big part of this book is about the types of people who are out there.  They are categorized into four types here, labeled from one to four.  For example, the type 3 person in this book is described as being about action and being reactive, and saying things like “Let’s get to work and get it done!”  There are certainly people who I can see who fit into this category.  I am not saying that people are easily able to be separated, but if you think about people you know, there are some you are more likely to see as the type that go straight to action to solve an issue.

Since we do seem to categorize and label almost everything in our environment, putting people into categories seems just about as logical, and so this nomenclature makes some sense.  One of the other types described in the book is a type which is more about fun and bringing a jovial nature to a setting, and this type of person brings more ideas to a setting.

Personalities Are Fairly Stationary

What I would say in relation to these type categorizations is that I have noticed that certain people are way more likely to behave in certain ways than others, so it is worth getting a sense of this.  If there is someone who has always been your person-of-action to go to, it is likely they will continue to be that way, and so it is worth continuing to deal with them.  On the other hand, if there is someone who is of a much more casual demeanor, who you are hoping will turn into a person-of-action, this is not so likely, and your time would be better spent in action with others who have already shown themselves to fit well with that.

This is where the title of the book comes in a bit more handy.  You can benefit from imagining that you ask each person why they are a certain way, and then imagine them saying back “it’s just my nature”.  You want to stick with the people where that answer from them would make you say something like “you are lucky”, and you want to spend less time with those who would disappoint you with such an answer, making you feel like it isn’t so good that they aren’t changing.

People don’t change that much, from what I have seen.  The sooner you team up with those who fit with you, the sooner you will forge ahead.

I was recently provided with a new book to read and review, and it is called Making Ideas Happen, and it was written by Scott Belsky. I like its title and cover design. Regarding the cover design, there is a jigsaw texture throughout it, and I would describe it more, but you can see it in the image.

The book does a lot to discuss ideas and their execution. One good thing about a book such as this is that it reminds you of one idea or another that you have yet to implement, and makes you think about why you have not done so, with time passing by. Scientists and entrepreneurs and public figures have become our role models by taking an idea or two all the way through to execution. There is no reason we can’t do the same.

Taking An Idea To Completion

A section of the book about execution has one part about completion, which discusses what Seth Godin does to do well. Godin mentions that every time we are about to release something we have produced, or ship it, “the lizard brain speaks up” and makes us doubt what we are doing, making shipping the good idea not occur.

This is quite important. Between two people, one who is a perfectionist, and one who ignores that internal resistance to releasing their creation, the latter will have the most success. If Jay-Z was nervous enough about releasing his lyrics to the world that he chose to not produce so many songs, he would not be the superstar he is today. The same is true with the person who has an efficiency idea at a computer company. A bunch of ideas are what I would call “lost ideas”, as they are held by the people who had them, and the world won’t get to see them implemented or even mentioned.

Taking whatever you are doing to completion is the main goal. I once read a quote that said that 49 out of 50 things that are started aren’t completed. That might be a high estimate, but it does make you think of how many things you start and then stop part-way through because of fear of the results or outcome.

Team Accomplishment

There is a great message in the section called “Harnessing The Forces Around You” that says “If you work in isolation as a Dreamer, your ideas will swiftly come and go without accountability and stimulation from others.” I agree with this. Idea implementation doesn’t work well at all if we remain in a social vacuum. Whatever our idea is, in some regard, it involves others, so not including them along the way, or in the final creation, disregards their presence. It is like planting a tree and ignoring the need for nutrient-rich soil, ample sunlight, adequate watering, and so on. Others are always a part of the equation, so they should always be a part of your equation.

Sharing Idea Ownership

One other section of the book discusses sharing ownership of your ideas. It mentions that “people only obsess about ideas when they feel a sense of ownership.” Only the smartest and internally strongest individuals are the ones who give away some of the control of some of their ideas. It takes a smart person to realize that an idea is way more likely to be implemented when multiple people are also on board, and that the best way to get others on board is to give them some ownership of it or position of power related to it. Most are too selfish to give away any control, and so ideas are squandered in that way as well.

The ideas you have are the only ones you have to work with. Make one or two of them happen, and you can really impress others, or have a large impact.

I was recently provided with a review copy of “The Skinny On Willpower: How To Develop Self Discipline“(affiliate link), written by Jim Randel , as well as a second copy which I will give away to one of you readers.  This book series is part of a series of “The Skinny On” books that summarize concepts in a small book format with stick-figure cartoons spread throughout the book to make points more quickly.  There are multiple “The Skinny On” books, and they have an appeal in that they are quick and to the point.  I see some of the cartoons in the book representing multiple paragraphs with what is being explained in them.

Willpower Versus Planning

One of the messages in the book regards how “the more you plan, the less willpower you need to accomplish your goal”.  There is valid material to take from this.  If you want to get a goal to work out, your setting up of steps along the way makes it look like a flight of stairs you can walk up one at a time, rather than a leap you have to do to jump from where you are to where you want to be.  Planning is one of those underrepresented activities because it has very little short-term gain.  Items that lack short-term gain are avoided by the majority of people, which is why they are a tool for the successful.

Computer Programming Example

When you plan an activity, you have branch and break points.  If your plan is to learn PHP programming so you can edit and modify certain programs, a plan that includes steps along the way will get you much further than a to-do item “learn PHP”.  Steps let you tell other people about where you are, what the next item is, what is holding you back, and so on.  If you tell people you are on step 3 of a 10-step process, they will be less likely to detract from your motivation than if you keep telling them your goal is to learn PHP programming, because there are no middle steps involved.  You will either have the result or not be there yet, and so the not being there yet will be more difficult to handle.  I point this out because we work best in a social context, and others want to see or hear about progress on your part before they help or motivate you further.

Once You Are Rolling, The Problem Of Starting Is Solved

The reason that most of helpful discussion is about willpower and motivation is because once you get started and going, your habits will keep you moving until you reach a point that is stable and fulfilling to you.  There is little discussion about habits in comparison to willpower and starting the process because habits are not a problem for people to maintain once they are in place.  We run on auto-pilot when we have habits going, and so we then have that goal “in our sights”, and the only problem that might be visible is getting there sooner than later, but that is a more tractable item to deal with.

Time Can Be Your Friend

One more point from the book is that “when you develop willpower, time is on your side if you improve just a little every day.”  Regarding this concept, it is valuable to remember that time is either on your side, or appears to you to be working against you.  If you have this latter viewpoint that time is running out, it is indeed running out, and you will soon have to make a decision and new plans.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but time works out the way you view it.  If, on the other hand, you view time as though you keep growing the more it passes by, you are in a state where you don’t end up anxious for nothing.

The Giveaway

I am going to give a copy of this book away randomly to one reader who comments, or tweets about this post, or stumbles the article, or links to this post, or something similar; basically, as long as you let me know somehow that you want to be in the running, you will be in the running to get a copy of this book.  I’ll make the deadline this Friday, August 21, at 12 PM Eastern time.

As I have continued reading Ecotherapy: Healing With Nature In Mind, much of which I have done in a natural setting to better connect with the message of the book, a fair amount of discussion about relationships has been noticed.  These involve how people’s relationships are affected by their time spent in natural settings like parks and along the beach.  Time in these locations is paramount to any sort of correction scheme that doesn’t account for them.

In one essay called “The Path Of Happiness” by George W. Burns, he points out how many couples develop their relationships in nature, such as by strolling together at the beach, or having a picnic by a stream.  He also mentions that continuation of these experiences is required for healthy maintenance of the relationship.

To this message, I would add that it is relevant for others as well.  Any person’s development will be lacking in some aspect if they don’t take part in these natural activities.  You might end up in a cycle of watching TV shows that is actually rooted in an empty feeling you get when you think of time you should have spent running on a mountain trail.

He followed up this point by saying:

The pleasure of walking beside a babbling stream may help cool the heat of anger by creating experiences of serenity.

We sometimes need to look around our environment to find a local location that we can head to which has natural elements that our minds respond positively to.  The value is often waiting for us.

There are multiple points that I took note of as I read my provided review copy of Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind, by Linda Buzzell and Craig Chalquist.  The book contains a collection of 32 articles related to how nature and natural settings provide a form of therapy, and how they can be used to assist in healing people who have lost that connection with Earth.  They are written by scholars, authors, psychologists, professors, journalists, and therapists, among others.

The book reads quite smoothly for one that has so many essays from so many different authors, and that would likely be due to the work of the two editors, Linda Buzzell and Craig Chalquist.  A person could pick up the book and then randomly skip to the beginning of one of the 5-12 page essays, read it, and then come back later to read another one of choice.  This type of book structure is a large benefit, because the book reads well as a regular book from cover to cover, but also can be understood as well when read by going back and forth from one essay to another.  In total, there are five subcategory sections to the book, with each containing about six essays.  Here I will discuss some points from various sections of the book, and elaborate on them with my own points:

Where Is Your Time Spent?

Linda Buzzell also contributed one of the first section’s essays, which is called Asking Different Questions: Therapy For The Human Animal, where she pointed out that she would ask clients about how much of their day was spent behind a screen or in an otherwise unnatural setting as compared with human-to-human interaction or time in a natural setting.  The idea behind this is that individuals can need therapy due to the disconnect they have with the natural settings that their mind is yearning for.  There is efficiency and productivity, but if there is a hole in someones mind that can only be filled by running through a park trail, becoming more efficient or productive won’t fill that hole.  You will want to check to see if you are in this situation.

What nature serves to do is to open up your mind.  It provides a multitude of stimuli, which has an inverse effect as it is relaxing.  One of the large advantages for those that have a large house with a large backyard and much greenery is that the setting serves to provide the people living inside with bigger thinking and risk-taking ability.  The openness translates to a feeling of success and boldness.  For those that don’t have such a large backyard, spending a fair amount of time in park or beach settings can have a similar effect, allowing you to focus less on small issues you run across, and focus more on the larger items you want to tackle.

The Disconnect With Nature Is The Cause Of Much Anguish

In one of the essays called The Waking-Up Syndrome, Sarah Anne Edwards discusses about how “anxiety, depression, and relationship difficulties” are increasing as human and natural habitats deteriorate.  The essay stresses the importance of our local and perceived global environments on our regular day-to-day thinking.  We commonly feel mood changes based on rain, clouds, or sun oustide, and these cause short-term effects on our actions, but also feel long-term effects based on the direction our environment is headed.  This relates to both how viewing a screen for most of the day turns that into our new regular environment, and how the industrialization of local areas resulting in reduced natural space affects our image of the location we are in.

Closing Notes

Here I have introduced some topics from the book.  I will likely connect a follow-up article to this one, with more information from the book.  On an unrelated note, the Google PageRank of Timeless Information has increased from a 3 to a 4.

We each have the ability to transform the environment around us by making small steps.  When these steps are disconnected in time, and separated by units of inactivity, we have ups and downs created by our own loss of focus.  On the other hand, when we go from action step to action step, without deviating from the path by giving up or backing down, the dots representing our steps connect until they flow from one to the next one.  This is how I view the meaning of “flow” in Tara Meyer-Robson’s book The Flow: 40 Days to Total Life Transformation.  Here I discuss some selected points from this well-designed self-help personal growth book:

Multiple Paths Are Available

One point made in the book instantly jumped out to me as something I wanted to bring up.

You can get to where you want to go any way that you want to

This line is potent in the way that it connects a previous idea we hear often, that we can get to where we want to go, and adds a point about how we can do that in any way we choose.  What does this mean to me?  Let’s say there is a person who wants to make it as a full-time comedian.  We commonly think that there is a structural way to go about the procedure.  This might involve going from trying out for smaller comedy clubs to medium-sized ones, and then pitching big clubs or TV shows for guest spots of some sort.  While this structure is not inherently bad or incorrect, we have to be more open in our thinking.

Rising Comedian Example

A want-to-be comedian could go down some completely unknown path.  He could start down the path of doing speaking engagements in front of audiences for various matters, and then tossing in humor as much as people would let him.  Another way might be to start playing pranks on people in public and recording the pranks in order to become famous to video-clip watchers, followed by branching out into comedy positions.  Although I didn’t bring up any off-the-wall concepts here, there are certainly some of those available as well, and those are not to be avoided as options in succeeding.

Life Is Much Like A Choose Your Own Adventure Book

Let’s say someone is looking to become an accountant.  There is no requirement that they have to be a regular accountant.  They can reach for a goal of doing accounting privately for a small set of well-funded individuals that like to talk about their finances while playing golf.  It is okay to be very specific in your interests, because the more specific you are, the closer you will get to something that is highly sustainable for you.  However, as Tara lets you know in the book, a consequence of going for an interest of your own will be that

Each person that you encounter will be the expert, telling you “from experience” that you must do it this way, or that they have “tried everything” and this was the “only thing that worked” for them

and so on.  The way to deal with this is to stick to your own flow.  They certainly didn’t try everything or they would have found a successful way.  They are actually saying that they gave up before they found what works.

You And Your Desires Are Closer Than You Think

On that point of the flow, Tara breaks the book down into four parts, each with different focal points.  The first part of the book contains flow principles, like that “You Are Connected To Your Wishes Right Now”.  I can agree with this one completely, as the only thing disconnecting you from your wishes is something you are doing.  If you see some sort of barrier between you and your goals or desires, it is there because you helped place it there.

Only Weak Individuals Aren’t In Control

Part two contains various statements to agree or disagree with, and these responses are tabulated to learn more about how you can customize your action plan to flow into into a transformed life of your desire.  Notice that all of these parts contain the underlying theme that you are in control of your presence and external representation, so there is no allowance of a victim mentality.

Build A Mental Foundation Based On Focus

The next part of The Flow contains messages about stations(like radio stations) that you want to tune into in your thoughts to get to your desires.  The whole world only exists based on the conditions you carry in your mind as you walk around through the day, and these station sections focus on building a foundation there.  If you wake up in the morning and smell a rose, and then get a positive e-mail, and then go exercise, it is hard for the day to go poorly after that.  In the same way, tuning into stations that set your mind into a ready-to-go setting makes it hard for something to throw off your focus.

Use More Of Your Senses To Absorb More From Your Environment

The book closes with a section with responses to provide about how you deal with your various senses through the day, and this is followed up by items to do to make use of each sense.  It is wise to do this, as we often leave most of our senses unused when we could easily be bringing them into play, like by listening to baroque music while studying or putting fresh mint on a morning omelet.

An Image Representing My View Of Flow

As pointed out at the beginning, gaps in this flow make us seem more unstable or out of touch with our interests.  Tara’s book provides a way to get in tune with our thoughts in order to transform our daily presence.