Book Review.

A few weeks ago I started reading "Solve For Happy" by Mo Gawdat. About a year ago I saw him on Diary Of a CEO and I instantly liked the way he spoke and what we speaks about, so I gave his book a shot.

I am not the biggest fan of the topic of "happiness" for the sake of it, but his formula and how he breaks down the reasons of how to tweak ourselves to be more conscious about topics such as self talk, expectations, time, control, knowledge, etc, is outstanding.

A few of the takeaways from his book are:

• Being conscious of our own self-talk is the first step to be happier. You can't be completely happy if the voice in your head has power over you. How to control and eventually quiet the voice will make life with yourself more bearable.

• Being a slave of time. Feeling rushed and stresses running around the clock is a recipe for disaster. Truth is if you're addicted to time, no amount of it will ever be enough, and you'll always feel behind.

• Letting go of control and expectations, find power in what you can control and do not have expectations. These two together will drop the bar lower and give you strength and the control you need, one's own.

• Emotions are projected onto assuming, predicting, exaggerating and expecting. Being aware of our emotions will allow you to see events for what they are, not what you make them to be, which is what labels them as bad or good. Things just are, plain and simple. This stoic approach again takes off the pressure of wanting to project what we want onto what we can't control. This is why most people complaint.

• Being in the now. Right now, everything is okay. Being anxious or depressed only means you are not anchored to the present. Worrying about the past and the present is what causes stress. Be present and you'll find yourself at peace.

I found the book full of examples that really help you put into perspective our mind and the ways we can help ourselves have a better relationship with ourselves and consequentially with others too.

Solve for Happy - Mo Gawdat

Karam Zarkitou