Success. Health. Wealth. A positive attitude plays a leading role in each. Attitudes are contagious, bad as well as good. This book presents a number of ways to lift your mood and de-stress your day. It also gives you inspiration to come up with a few ideas of your own. Throughout the book are also a number of inspirational quotes, including my favorite from Eleanor Roosevelt, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent” and another from Will Rogers “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
The book presents a total of 80 techniques. These ideas are all taken from various genres of today’s anti-stress movement. Some of the ideas are new age-ish like aroma-therapy and affirmations, some are taken from health and fitness theories like deep breathing and good old fashioned exercise, some from psychology like time out’s and ‘silent scream’, and even some from religion like ‘count your blessings’ and ‘give it to God’.
Admittedly I think most of the ideas in this book are too simplistic even for an eighth grader but there are a few worth mentioning.
Number 13 called ‘No Double Standards’ which is really simple but the best things usually are. It says to deal with yourself, in the times you’re feeling down about yourself, as if you were dealing with your best friend or a loved one. We rarely are as supportive of ourselves as we are of friends and family.
Number 26 called ‘Grab your eyebrows’ which says to literally reach up and feel your eyebrows then to push them towards your ears with your thumb and index finger. The physical action tells your body to relax at the same time that you are making a mental effort to relax. It is quite effective and helps prevent frown lines.
Number 78 called ‘Danger! Keep out!” talks about not only identifying negative behaviors but also defining when and how you get yourself into them so you can plan ways to prevent it in the future.
Of course there are more that are meaningful to us all, like making affirmations, asking for help, looking at things from another perspective and avoiding negative people.
There are also a number of the techniques that are funny or could be funny if taken out of context.
Number 4 says that when you are speaking negatively about yourself or to yourself to put your hand up like a traffic cop and exclaim “stop!”
Number 6 says to rewrite history when you’re feeling down by re-doing your resume.
Number 8 says to visualize petting your brain.
Number 12 encourages you to think of a happy moment then touch yourself.
Humor aside, the idea behind all of the techniques is sound. Doctors, scientists and spiritualists have all shown us that having a positive mental attitude produces positive effects on ourselves as well as on the world around us. The trick is to keep or get back to the positive when things go badly or we get stressed out. This book gives 80 ways to try to do that, presented in a cute way with a healthy touch of humor.
