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Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder

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Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder
by Arianna Huffington
Format:  Audiobook

One evening in 2007, Arianna Huffington dropped to the floor in her home office.  The fall resulted in a horrible cut over her eye and a broken cheekbone.  After months of medical tests, it was determined that Arianna was suffering from exhaustion.  At the time, Huffington was working 18 hour days as the co-founder of The Huffington Post, writing books, appearing at speaking engagements and writing as a syndicated columnist.  Arianna had always thought to herself that these were all indicators of success.  By all accounts she was a successful woman.  But as she recovered from her injuries, Arianna took a step back and began to realize that society’s definition of success was killing her.

Huffington compares society’s drive to the legs of a three-legged stool.  Striving for money and power comprise two of the legs, but without the third leg, or “third metric” the stool will topple over.  As Arianna describes it, we all need a third leg, or “Third Metric” composed of our well-being, our ability to draw on our intuition and inner wisdom, our sense of wonder, and our capacity for compassion and giving.

In sharing her story, Huffington encourages us to disconnect from our devices more frequently, get more sleep, cherish the people we are with, enjoy exercise and adventure, and most importantly be kind to one another and ourselves.   Thrive is filled with scientific findings, the personal stories of athletes, quotes from famous philosophers, poets, and entrepreneurs, and Arianna’s own personal stories.  We must all strive to remember the things that truly sustain us, prioritize the people in our lives who really matter, and be aware that we are actually living.

Find Thrive in the catalog.

Atomic Habits: An Easy Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

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Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones  by James Clear
Format:  Book, ebook, Digital Audiobook, Book on CD
Who it’s for:  Adults

In Atomic Habits, James Clear teaches his readers how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master a system of reaching your goals by changing the way you think about your progress.  If you focus each day on working just 1% toward reaching your goal, and you repeat that process each day, you are cumulatively closer to reaching your goal as opposed to being farther from it.

Clear encourages his readers to follow his four laws of creating a good habit.  They are: Make it Obvious, Make it Attractive, Make it Easy and Make it Satisfying.  Once good habits are formed, these come together to create a system for a person, that will allow him or her to obtain their goals successfully.

I listened to this book in digital audiobook form.  The book is narrated by the author and includes true stories of the accomplishments of athletes, artists, entertainers and businesspeople which emphasize the successes of Clear’s way of re-thinking habit changing behavior.  I thought that Clear’s “system” approach whereby a person aims to create good habits in order to stay motivated and on track, was a new way of thinking about attaining our goals. This is a very interesting book.

Find it in the catalog

 

 

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do

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13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults, Teens

Let’s say you’re trying to get your body into good physical shape, you might go to the gym and have a long, heavy work out and feel like you’re moving in the right direction.  However, if you eat a box of donuts on the way home from the gym then you’ve just erased all your hard work!

The same thing can happen with our mental health.  There are many very positive things we can do for ourselves like practicing mindfulness, gratitude, or yoga but author Amy Morin points out that we might be sabotaging our best efforts with some bad mental habits.

Do I stress about things I can’t control?  Do I try to please everyone? Do I resent other people’s success? These are just three out of the thirteen bad mental habits that can drag us down and undermine our happiness.

Check this book out and give your mental health a workout. We can’t always change our circumstances but we do have control over our attitude and that can make all the difference!

Find it in the catalog

An Invisible Thread, The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny

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An Invisible Thread, The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny
By: Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski
Format: Book, Hoopla
Who it’s for: Adults

An Invisible Thread is a true story written by Laura Schroff, in which she recounts the unexpected friendship that she made with an eleven year old boy on the busy streets of New York.  As a person who usually reads historical fiction, I chose to read this book because a patron told me how great it was as she placed it in the book return.  She said it with such feeling, I had to grab the book and read it myself.

In 1986, Laura Schroff was a busy advertising executive living in Manhattan.  Maurice Mazyck was an undernourished, homeless boy living two blocks away.  This book is a personal memoir of Laura’s life with the story of Maurice’s life intertwined.  It is also the story of a relationship that has spanned over thirty years because a woman was not afraid to reach out to a young stranger.

I like this book because Laura Schroff doesn’t sugarcoat anything.  There are parts of the book where you want to cry for Laura, for Maurice, and for the bad things that life throws their way.  But Laura’s story also reveals that life can be good when you show compassion towards others and never stop believing in them.

Find it in the catalog.

The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work

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The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work by Christine Carter
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

When we’re trying to figure out how to feel less overwhelmed by life, digging through the sheer amount of advice out there can be even more overwhelming! Fortunately, Christine Carter has taken dozens of de-stressing tactics for a test drive, and she reports back on the ones that really work in The Sweet Spot. Dr. Carter discusses practical strategies for increasing positive emotions, developing better habits, and forging stronger connections with loved ones. She also shares examples of how she implemented these strategies in her life. To help you kick-start the process of finding your own groove, she offers “easiest thing” tips at the end of each chapter. Adopting even one or two of the many practices suggested in The Sweet Spot will help you make positive changes in your life. Find it in the catalog.