People say that a book is worth reading even if you pick up just one important idea from it. I extracted 4 ideas that resonated with it from these 101 short and succinct chapters, so I wager that you will surely find something that appeals to you here.
  1. Young children don’t need alarm clocks to wake them up. They wake up because they crave the sense of aliveness offered by a day full of opportunities to make a difference.
This spoke to me because my son happened to wake up at the ungodly hour of 7.15am because I had told him about my plan to visit Bird Paradise. He was all excited and prepared for the trip. He drew a map on how we were supposed to get there, brought along his three penguin toys, and packed a bagful of enthusiasm. I will do well to learn from his infectious spirit.
  1. Focus on your point of leverage
Many books talk about the same thing - focus on the things we can control in regard to an undesirable situation and respond to it. However, this was the first time I came across this concept being expressed in such an easy roll-off-the-tongue kinda way: point of leverage. I think it may be a high impact phrase when I use it at the right timing.
  1. How do you know you’re anxious?
As a teacher, my occupational hazard is to ask students Why all the time. But this book brought up a useful point - getting people to describe their sensations and develop a heightened awareness of their body. I will remember to ask this How question in the future.
  1. Let your children know they are the perfect vessel that holds it all
I thought the above analogy is a great way to dissociate ourselves from the problems and obstacles plaguing our minds. We aren’t the content of our lives, especially because life is unpredictable and keeps throwing us curveballs. We are the entity that holds all this content. I think it’s great advice. Not that I’m having money troubles, but as a young father of two, money is perpetually on my mind. So, this line You are not your money problems; you are that which holds your money problems. gave me a lot of comfort.
I hope you benefited from my humble book review!
Definitely a good book to know about our children! Great points! Great summary!
I had gone through Emotional Intelligence 2.0. That's also a very good read in case we want to understand the emotional quotient of adults as well.
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Thank you for reading!
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