One book which I strongly recommend to give away as a gift to anyone you care and love this holiday season, is “A Short Guide to a Happy Life” by Anna Quindlen.
Some of you may brush aside this deceptively simple book or rather booklet; saying that there is not much or anything new or even original to it. It is all about “you should get a life, and appreciate it.” Yes, I agree, this 50-page booklet maybe be silly fluff to some people. You can even call it trite and cliched, with its well-worn stock platitudes, such as “life is a journey, not a destination” and “live life while you have the chance, for it will be over all too soon.
The point is life is indeed simple. It is we who insist on making it complicated, to quote Confucius. Life is made of fleeting moments. We all know how to say, life is short, so we better enjoy the moment, while it lasts. But honestly, how many of us actually know how live the present moment?
Most of us are always complaining and whining about almost everything that crosses our path. We are not happy with this or angry with that. Then we have folks who criticize that “A Short Guide to a Happy Life” by Anna Quindlen has nothing profound.
I don’t claim that this book is thought-provoking, but I dare say it is a good guide which is full of wisdom, for those who are still groping in the dark about life and living. And complaining.
The common phrase like “life is a journey, and not a destination” is indeed cliched. But many of us are unaware that, we have chosen to live a cliched life, as well. We always say to ourselves, “wait for that one fine day, then I will do this or do that”. We are always waiting for the destination called “one fine day”. You might never even make it to your so-called “one fine day”. Yes, tomorrow may never come.
Just live and enjoy each passing moment. That’s all we have. The past is over and the future is yet to come. I remember the dialogue “We are the sum of all the moments of our lives” from my all-time favorite movie “Before Sunrise”.
The problem is we are stuck with our habits, same old ways of thinking and do the same stuff every day. Then we complain life is boring and full of cliches. But we never question ourselves why are we where we are today. Is it something to do with our thinking and the way we see life?
Life is a mirror. It reflects exactly what we have inside us. We decide everything, and life just responds to it. We are in charge of our own life via our thoughts. The power of thought is the key to our life. As they say, if we want to change our life for the better, we need to change our thoughts or thinking.
This short life guide booklet will set you thinking about your life in a new way. Anna Quindlen’s simple and remarkable insight about the awareness of our mortality, will empower you. She makes you see that the constant pursuit of things are not really important, after all.
Ask yourself this:”Do you think you’d care so very much about your job, your sport car or luxurious mansion, if one afternoon you found down with a deadly disease ?”
Ponder of this:”There will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul”.
So, get a life and live passionately every day, rather than merely to exist through your days. Get “A Short Guide to a Happy Life” and you will change your perspective on life. You will live life more meaningfully, smile more often, have no time for regrets, find time to slow down and relax, you will try to make your dreams come true and stop to say life is a cliche.
Here are four a short guide to a happy life quotes by Anna Quindlen:
“All of us want to do well. But if we do not do good, too, then doing well will never be enough.”
“Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. That’s what I have to say. The second is only a part of the first.”
“Think of life as a terminal illness, because, if you do, you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived.”
“When you leave college, there are thousands of people out there with the same degree you have; when you get a job, there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life.”
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