December Read/2

Title: The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It
Author: McGonigal, Kelly, Ph.D.
Call Number: 153.8 M146W 2012
Book Description from amazon.com:
Informed by the latest research and combining cutting-edge insights from psychology, economics, neuroscience, and medicine, The Willpower Instinct explains exactly what willpower is, how it works, and why it matters. For example, readers will learn:

• Willpower is a mind-body response, not a virtue. It is a biological function that can be improved through mindfulness, exercise, nutrition, and sleep.
• Willpower is not an unlimited resource. Too much self-control can actually be bad for your health.
• Temptation and stress hijack the brain's systems of self-control, but the brain can be trained for greater willpower
• Guilt and shame over your setbacks lead to giving in again, but self-forgiveness and self-compassion boost self-control.
• Giving up control is sometimes the only way to gain self-control.
• Willpower failures are contagious—you can catch the desire to overspend or overeat from your friends­­—but you can also catch self-control from the right role models.

In the groundbreaking tradition of Getting Things Done, The Willpower Instinct combines life-changing prescriptive advice and complementary exercises to help readers with goals ranging from losing weight to more patient parenting, less procrastination, better health, and greater productivity at work.
My Read:
It took me weeks to finish this book. It's not that my reading speed was slow; it's that I got more than one book at hand these past few weeks. What I got the most from this book came from page 206. It says: E-mail check-ins keep a goal alive. The following page is a story about how email check-ins helped a student keep her word even though she sent the emails to another student who is a stranger to her. The email check-ins program turned into a true buddy system of support. They kept the weekly check-ins going for some time, despite the fact that they had no relationship outside of the class. By the time they stopped, the changes were a part of her life, and she no longer needed the extra accountability and support (page 207).
Another helpful tip I got from this book is the title of chapter three: Too Tired to Resist: Why Self-Control Is Like a Muscle. Our will is always on testing mode; discomfort and illness weaken our will muscle. Bad weather could be a good excuse not to get out to walk or jog. I had a bad day and I deserved a good piece of cheesecake. Lots of thoughts and feelings take us away from the rational mind and we do things we regret later.
To me, the difficult part for my walking routine was to put on my sneakers and pushed that door to get out. Once I was out I was out. Willpower is, to me, having a conversation with the self. And sometimes, silence the talk also helps. Willing the will, it's not that hard.

December Read

Title: The 100 Simple Secrets of the Best Half of Life
Author: Niven, David, Ph.D
Call Number: 158.1 N734O 2005
Book Description from amazon:

Practical advice on how to thrive in the second half of your life, based on scientific studies. The sixth book in the bestselling 100 Simple Secrets series.

What do people who relish the second half of their lives do differently than those who dread getting older? Sociologists, therapists and psychiatrists have spent entire careers investigating the ins and outs of successful aging, yet their findings are inaccessible to ordinary people, hidden in obscure journals to be shared with other experts.

Now the international bestselling author of The 100 Simple Secrets series has collected the most current and significant data from more than a thousand of the best scientific studies on the second half of life. These findings have been boiled down to one hundred essential ways to find and maintain joy, health, and satisfaction every day of your life. Each one is accompanied by a true story showing the results in action.

The Baby Boomers are hitting retirement age. This upbeat, light approach will appeal to the enormous market of citizens grappling with the effects of becoming 'senior', looking to discover the positive benefits of aging beyond discount tickets at the movie theatre. Books about aging well continue to sell year in and year out. The Simple Secrets approach will stand out among the heavier self-help/psychology titles and will without a doubt become an affordable impulse and gifty mainstay in this category.

My Read:

Chapter 4-Try Something New

Chapter 5-You Still Are Who You Were

Chapter 11-Have Time for Thoughts

Chapter 17-Keep Your Fears in Line

Chapter 20-Believe You Can

Chapter 21-See the Real Pay in Work

Chapter 29- See Beyond You

Chapter 36-Never Give up

Chapter 60-Remember to Care for Yourself When caring for Others

Chapter 65-Let Old Secrets Stay Secrets

Chapter 81-Seek Meaning

Chapter 91-Redefine Career

Chapter 96-View Your Life as a Choice

Chapter 100-Do it Now

Page 25-Express yourself in what you do, do something that reflects you.

Page 36-If you sit around, you have time to think about your problems.

Page 38-Be decisive. The task is to make the best decision we can and then stop questioning it.

November Read/2

Title: The Second Book of the Tao
Author: Mitchell, Stephen
Call Number: 299.51482 M682S 2009
Book Description from amazon.com:
The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao. Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu's disciple Chuang- tzu and Confucius's grandson Tzu-ssu, The Second Book of the Tao collects the freshest, most profound teachings from these two great students of the Tao to offer Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with east or west, but everything to do with truth. With his own illuminating commentary alongside each adapta­tion, at once explicating and complementing the text, Mitchell makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless. 
My Read:
Notes from the book--
Page 12-Nothing is absolute.
Page 13-Mind can only create the qualities of good and bad by comparing. Remove the comparison, and there go the qualities. The pivot of the Tao is the mind free of its thoughts.
Page 15-It's all a question of perspective. The fastest thing in the universe isn't light; it's mind.
Page 49-In dealing with people, you're always dealing with yourself.
Page 56-Don't believe what you think. The Master's mind is like a mirror; it responds but doesn't store, contains nothing, excludes nothing and reflects things exactly as they are. Thus she has what she wants and wants only what she has.
Page 61-What happened is always the best thing that could have happened, because it's the thing that did happen.
Page 63-Wisdom is the art of cloudlessness.
Page 71- What is most valuable can't be taught; it can only be learned.
Page 79-Besides, entrepreneurship is less exciting than the adventure of discovering what is enough. How fine life becomes when what you want is exactly what you have.
Page 90-You can't reach for the positive and not create the negative by the very act of your reaching.
Page 94-You can't talk about the Tao with a person who thinks he knows something; he is bounded by his own beliefs. The Tao is vast and fathomless. You can understand only by stepping beyond the limits of yourself.
Page 96-Walk through life as though you didn't exist. When nothing is left to argue with and there is nothing to oppose. You will find yourself at peace and in harmony with all things.
-------Personally, I like the saying of "The Master's mind is like a mirror..." Encountering and interacting with people on a daily basis I found it hard to be at peace when the other party was in bad mood. The teachings in this book help me to be more aware and alert at dealing with people.