Choose the Life You Want by Tal Ben Shahar Fabulous book

 Choose the Life You Want by Tal Ben Shahar

Fabulous book

Harvard Professor Tal Ben Shahar is one of the authorities on Positive Psychology.

Author of a few extraordinary works, he had a course at Harvard that became the most popular ever.

1,400 students joined and that represents one in five, an exceptional percentage.

You can check the lectures on YouTube.

Some of the themes presented to his students are mentioned in this outstanding book.

Examples, stories and references cover an extremely wide spectrum.

We hear about Nikita Khrushchev and the teacher from the classic Dead Poets Society.

Robin Williams in the title role steps on a desk in a memorable scene.

He then invites his pupils to do the same.

- Look around you

- This is a very unusual point of view

Tal Ben Shahar invites the readers to do the same.

You need to try different perspectives.

There are many personal experiences.

One that comes to mind is his crossing of a bridge in Singapore, where he realized how fascinating everything is.

The message being:

- We need to see the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Learn from failure is one leitmotif that I recognized from the Harvard lectures.

When I heard the professor saying:

- I wish you fail more

I was flabbergasted.

How can he wish a thing like that?

That is mean!

But then he explained:

- Learn to fail or fail to learn

Those who do not fail, do not try and then they have no chance to learn.

From the business world, he gives this example

- One employee of a big company made a hugely expensive mistake, that cost over a million dollars.

He went to his boss- I think a famous figure, but I do not have his name now- and said:

- I know what I did, I expect you to fire me and I understand it.

- Are you joking? I just invested over a million in your education and you think I am going to waste that.

Go on with your job, but if you do the same mistake again I will let you go.

Some quotes from the book will speak better that whatever I have to say about them.

„Be mindful of the wonder Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. —RACHEL CARSON

Take a step back Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way—this is not easy...Aristotle

research by Daniel Gilbert demonstrates that people who shop on an empty stomach will buy more than will people who shop when they are satiated. Hungry shoppers overestimate how much they could eat, as they are feeling “hot” for food.”

IN THE MOVIE PAY IT FORWARD, a schoolteacher assigns his class the task of finding a way to bring about positive change in the world. Trevor, one of the students, decides to do three good deeds for others—three acts of randomkindness—and in return ask them to do three good deeds for three other people, who will be asked in return to do the same for others, and so on. If every person who has just been helped pays this help forward to three others, then within twenty-one rounds, everyone on earth would have been helped. The movie follows Trevor and shows how his acts create a positive ripple effect that touches numerous people whom he never meets in profound and meaningful ways.”