It couldnt happen to me. Richards a 39 year old happily married man with two wonderful children, a house in the suburbs and a station-wagon. He buys clothes from the medium rack and has beige carpets in his house. He is Mr Average. Why did the slow fuse of unmanaged stress smoulder for so long before finally igniting the depression that was more whimper than bang? This is a raw and revealing look at how he succumbed to the demands of modern day metropolitan life; how he burnt out, slid into a severe clinical depression and lost all ability to function and feel basic emotions. It is also a tale of how he came through it, recovering himself and discovering a whole wonderful new way to live. It is funny, shocking, sad, desperate, enlightening, inspirational and informative. It is also completely true. This book is for anyone feeling stressed, worried they are burning out or who is currently suffering from depression and wants honest, practical advice on ways to cope and change their lives positively. In other words anyone, drawing breath in the 21st Century. This book has been declared a finalist in the International Book Awards
Like many people, Gail Marie Mitchell battled with anxiety and depression for many years, finding it exhausting, stressful and demoralising at times.Realising that this approach to her condition was futile, Gail chose a different approach: acceptance.Taking control in this way removed some of the pressure and enabled Gail to focus on developing coping strategies, creating the tips and tools that are included in this empathetic and practical book.Gail focuses on the positive aspects of her condition, showing how a person living with mental illness is so much more than the label that society puts on them. She found acceptance empowering, enabling her to live her life to the full. Perhaps not the life she had planned, but one that is happy and fulfilling and that she loves. She is Loving the Life Less Lived.By sharing her experiences and describing what she learnt from them as well as the resulting coping strategies, Gail has created an essential companion for anyone dealing with mental illness and their family and friends.
A Life Less Lived traces a unique relationship that develops between an old vagabond and a young girl. Once drawn to this old man, the girl soon realizes there is more to him than meets the eyes and then unfolds a saga of loyalties lived to the hilt, of betrayals and love lost… But is everything lost? Is there no hope left? What is it that is making this girl reach out and help this man despite initial opposition from her family? Is there a karmic connection or is there some other connect? Will this girl make him face up his past and rekindle an interest in his present? Will she be able to make him hope for a future? The uniqueness of the book lies in the very interesting plots and sub-plots and the way they are interwoven to culminate into an endearing ending. A love story, a social thriller, a soul-stirring experience that will take you on an emotional journey and leave you with a tear in the eyes and a smile on the lips.
Stuffocation is a movement manifesto for “experiential” living, a call to arms to stop accumulating stuff and start accumulating experiences, and a road map for a new way forward with the potential to transform our lives. Reject materialism. Embrace experientialism. Live more with less. Stuffocation is one of the most pressing problems of the twenty-first century. We have more stuff than we could ever need, and it isn’t making us happier. It’s bad for the planet. It’s cluttering up our homes. It’s making us stressed—and it might even be killing us. A rising number of us are already turning our backs on all-you-can-get consumption. We are choosing access over ownership, and taking our business to companies like Zipcar, Spotify, and Netflix. Fed up with materialism, we are ready for a new way forward. Trend forecaster James Wallman traces our obsession with stuff back to the original Mad Men, who first created desire through advertising. He interviews anthropologists studying the clutter crisis, economists searching for new ways of measuring progress, and psychologists who link stuffocation to declining well-being. And he introduces us to the innovators who are already living more consciously and with more meaning by choosing experience over stuff. Experientialism does not mean giving up all of our possessions. It is a solution that is less extreme but equally fundamental. It’s about transforming what we value. Stuffocation is a paradigm-shifting look at our habits and an inspiring call for living more with less. It’s the one important book you won’t be able to live without. Praise for Stuffocation “The revelations come fast and furious as he asserts that acquiring ‘stuff’ is often just an easy way to ignore the tougher questions of life, dodging ‘why am I here?’ and ‘how should I live?’ for ‘will that go with the top I bought last week?’ Tart and often funny . . . [Stuffocation] will be an eye-opener for those long ago persuaded that more is better. A scintillating read that will provoke conversation (or at least closet cleaning).”—Booklist “James Wallman deftly hits upon a major insight for our times: that acquiring ‘stuff’ and ‘things’ is not nearly as meaningful as collecting experiences. Some of the happiest days of my life were when I had nothing and lived on a houseboat. Without stuff to tie me down, I felt completely free.”—Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS and author of the New York Times bestseller Start Something That Matters “A must-read . . . We think that more stuff will make us happier, but as the book nicely shows, we’re just plain wrong. A great mix of stories and science, Stuffocation reveals the downside of more, and what we can do about it.”—Jonah Berger, author of the New York Times bestseller Contagious “Wallman offers a deeply important message by weaving contemporary social science into very engaging stories. Reading the book is such a pleasure that you hardly recognize you’re being told that you should change how you live your life.”—Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice “With a sociologist’s eye and a storyteller’s ear, Wallman takes us on a tour of today’s experience economy from the perspective not of businesses, nor even of consumers per se, but of everyday people.”—B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, authors of The Experience Economy
The Borskys are a Jewish family living in the world of an immigrant Chicago neighborhood in the 1940's. As the parents deal with all the problems of life in a new and strange culture, circumstances send the family into a tailspin. Life will never be the same for them again, as the novel follows the twists and turns that their lives take, set against the turbulent times of postwar America. All the while, Evelyn faces her growing up years, as the novel unflinchingly takes her from childhood to young womanhood, from high school to young marriage and beyond.
The best-selling phenomenon from Japan that shows us a minimalist life is a happy life. Fumio Sasaki is not an enlightened minimalism expert or organizing guru like Marie Kondo—he’s just a regular guy who was stressed out and constantly comparing himself to others, until one day he decided to change his life by saying goodbye to everything he didn’t absolutely need. The effects were remarkable: Sasaki gained true freedom, new focus, and a real sense of gratitude for everything around him. In Goodbye, Things Sasaki modestly shares his personal minimalist experience, offering specific tips on the minimizing process and revealing how the new minimalist movement can not only transform your space but truly enrich your life. The benefits of a minimalist life can be realized by anyone, and Sasaki’s humble vision of true happiness will open your eyes to minimalism’s potential.
"In Living with less, Joshua will guide you through biblical teachings on possessions and his own personal experience with minimalism--living with only the essential ... This book will challenge you to spend your hours, energy, and resources in ways that draw you closer to the heart of Jesus."--Page 4 of cover.
The New Yorker staff writer and Filterworld author Kyle Chayka examines the deep roots-and untapped possibilities-of our newfound, all-consuming drive to reduce. “Less is more”: Everywhere we hear the mantra. Marie Kondo and other decluttering gurus promise that shedding our stuff will solve our problems. We commit to cleanse diets and strive for inbox zero. Amid the frantic pace and distraction of everyday life, we covet silence-and airy, Instagrammable spaces in which to enjoy it. The popular term for this brand of upscale austerity, “minimalism,” has mostly come to stand for things to buy and consume. But minimalism has richer, deeper, and altogether more valuable gifts to offer. In The Longing for Less, one of our sharpest cultural critics delves beneath the glossy surface of minimalist trends, seeking better ways to claim the time and space we crave. Kyle Chayka's search leads him to the philosophical and spiritual origins of minimalism, and to the stories of artists such as Agnes Martin and Donald Judd; composers such as John Cage and Julius Eastman; architects and designers; visionaries and misfits. As Chayka looks anew at their extraordinary lives and explores the places where they worked-from Manhattan lofts to the Texas high desert and the back alleys of Kyoto-he reminds us that what we most require is presence, not absence. The result is an elegant synthesis of our minimalist desires and our profound emotional needs. With a new afterword by the author.
From Flow, a beautiful, mindful guide to having less stuff. Less stress. Less distraction. Less everything. In less comes the freedom of letting go. This thoughtful and surprising book shows us how to get there, by paring down not just the jumble of things around us, but the clutter in our heads, too. And to help, interact with special paper goodies, including a one-thought-a-day diary, a foldout tiny house to let you imagine the pleasures of living in a small and cozy space, and art posters that depict a beautiful picture of what it means to do less, not more. Paper goodies from The Big Book of Less include: 2 journals A dot journal poster 4 art posters 1 foldout tiny house with 20 accessories And even more hidden treasures Decluttering your life and mind makes room for more—more listening, more focus, more wisdom, more time. More life.
Less Fear, More Life—a Practical Guide These days there’s so much fear in the air, you can almost taste it—along with all the varieties of anxiety, anger, and addiction that grow out of it. How can you navigate your way through the fear and confusion, and find your way to peace? In Fear Less, acclaimed teacher and award-winning author Dean Sluyter shows how to use simple meditative techniques and subtle tweaks of body, mind, and breath to open your life to deep, relaxed confidence. Drawing on ancient enlightenment teachings as well as contemporary research, he lays out practical, easy-to-follow steps for addressing such issues as: • letting go of compulsive overthinking • loosening the bonds of addiction (including smartphone addiction) • overcoming the fear of death • finding meditative stillness in the thick of activity
