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In five minutes or
less, read about five new books that can smooth your way through life. We often get gifts in our life, but
rarely in the order we want them. This past 12 months have been a roller
coaster of traumatic and joyful times for me, so I must be seeking an
accelerated course in learning some deep life lessons. Sound familiar?
Whether I am flattened against a jagged wall of pain or floating on a
cushion cloud of fun, I look to a book for insights about how I got
there. If you are making major changes in your life, the following books
may be helpful to you, too, in moving faster from fear to fun. 1. Fear Do some seemingly ordinary
experiences engulf and paralyze you? Author Peter Levine writes,
"Why are animals in the wild, though threatened routinely, rarely
traumatized?" For a hopeful, detailed approach to understanding how
to overcome the traumas in your life, read his Waking the Tiger:
Healing Trauma; The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experience,
written with contributor, Ann Frederick. One chapter was especially
helpful: "How Biology Becomes Pathology: Freezing, The Stage is
Set." 2. Focus Author of best-selling Tongue Fu!,
Sam Horn, in her newest book, ConZentrate, offers "read
bites" of self-contained suggestions for giving prime time
attention to what is most important to you, moment by moment. Learn ways
to make your mind "mind" in the midst of conflicting calls for
your attention. This author is a generous and ever-gracious walking
example of her message. 3. Follow Make your ideas so enticing they
become "contagious" and people are inspired to tell others. A
former Yahoo! marketing guru and author of Permission Marketing,
Seth Godin has used the central idea of his newest book to convince
almost 26,000 people to buy it before it even hits the bookstores. His
book, Unleashing the Ideavirus, was already as high as #6 on the
Amazon bestseller list in mid September. Godin gave away extensive
previews of his book to prove its value, and people were sufficiently
attracted to put their money down for the whole book. As a long-time fan
of Godin, I agree with his view that contagious ideas will always be
more enticing than traditional advertising. 4. Foment How do a "valuable few"
people disproportionately influence a situation so occasional
occurrences turns into full-blown social epidemics? That's the subject
of an engrossing book by Malcolm Gladwell called The Tipping Point:
How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Read it to learn how
you might inspire others to act, perhaps fomenting change and even
creating a trend. This book is complementary to Unleashing the
Ideavirus. I am writing a book that will take
off from where Godin and Caldwell began. It will offer a complete method
plus 100 supportive tips to making both yourself and your message
memorable and to becoming become a trusted "Personal Magnet"
who attracts support for that message. 5. Fun Make more good things "happen" to you, with insights from "Create Your Own Luck," the free online newsletter that is the forerunner to a book with the same title due out in October by pithy and prolific Azriela Jaffe. |
