Book Review

This book has the kind of title I'd typically shy away from, but I'm out of good book recommendations.

Book Notes

This book is built around "9 Secrets" that purportedly should make you happy.

Want Nothing

Biological Happiness

I've already written about everything contained here Biological Happiness. We all have negative thoughts.

This is secret #1, though: be happy first. Don't put it at the end of a sequence of events (work hard, achieve greatness, have all the things, then be happy).

Do It For You

Don't use extrinsic motivation. It's fleeting and it makes you disinterested in the THING you actually are doing. People who perform a task for a reward tend to do a much worse job at applying their creative brain. They produce inferior results and have a worse time while doing it.

Criticism doesn't touch the man who performs only for his own purposes.

Buddha says you don't have to accept your criticism. Their criticism lay with them. You need not accept it.

Opinions of yourself and others

Low opinion of yourself and low opinion of others equals cynical. Low opinion of yourself and high opinion of others equals insecure. Hi opinion of yourself and low opinion of others equals arrogant. I opinion of yourself and high opinion of others equals confident.

The Buddha said you can search the world for someone more deserving of your love and affection when yourself and you will not find them.

Control Reactions, Not Emotions

You cannot control your emotions, not really. The only thing you can do is control your reaction to those emotions.

More vs Enough

Keeping Up with the Joneses was a cartoon strip? They literally had a chapter on the Mexican Fisherman.

Death