10 Books That Dramatically Changed My Life.

 When I left my job, I couldn’t fully explain why. All I knew was I didn’t want it anymore. I didn’t have enough words to express what I was feeling. It was only when I got addicted to reading again and started hoarding books that I bumped into all the right words to name what I was going through. I was relieved that there are actually people who experienced what I have been going through and that no matter how alone I felt, I was never really alone. Someone has successfully put into a book the blow by blow account of those hard-to-explain phenomena called spiritual awakening.

 I thought I wanted to travel. I’ve always wanted to run as far away, go to where I will not be haunted and start a new life again. I was wrong. Later on I realized that it was actually my thoughts that I have always been terrified of. Wanting so much gave me anxiety I couldn’t get rid of. I needed to learn how to calm down. I needed to learn to control my thoughts and make it shift to see the positive side of things.

These books made it easier for me to let go of things I can’t control and be excited for the best ones that are yet to come. And now, no matter how broke I will become, I will never scrimp on books. 

10. A Thousand New Beginnings

Solo female travel blogger, Kristin Addis, left her stable job as an Investment Banker and a boyfriend behind to travel Southeast Asia. During that one year, she has experienced thousand new beginnings, started new friendships and got to know the world outside. This is actually a collection of her diary and blog entries during the time when she found out that exploring the world alone makes a huge difference.

9. It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be.

At first glance the book looks like a compilation of easy-to-understand motivational statements, ideas and advises. It encourages out-of-the-box thinking to succeed in life, career and business. During those days that I tend to forget what I want in this life, I take a look at this book and I will surely be motivated again.

8. The Alchemist

I remember having this book maybe some eight years ago but I gave it as a gift to my friend when I started reading other Coelho books and got terribly bored by them. I wanted to steal this book from my favorite coffee shop  but I somehow felt guilty so I just stole an old magazine instead with the help of a college friend.

Maybe if I had stolen this book and read it earlier, I would have been clear in what I want my life to look like. Regrets. But actually, no. The timing is just right. I wouldn’t have understood it then like how I do now. This is for the daydreamers. “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

7. Reasons To Stay Alive

When my life lost meaning, I questioned every single second why I’m alive. This book just gave me more reasons to be thankful that I am and helped me stop asking the world why I am still here. My story is not supposed to end yet. Life is indeed beautiful.

6. Mastering Your Mean Girl

That book that reminded me that no matter what, I should make my inner bitch shut up and I shouldn’t think twice about flexing my self-love muscle. That I shouldn’t do things that aren’t aligned with my truth.

5. What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding

I love fiction and chic lit soooooo much. But when I challenged myself to read at least one non-fiction book per week, I fell in love with autobiographies and memoirs. This book is one of those page-turners that made me laugh but knocked me some sense. It is okay not to marry early. It is okay not to do what others are doing. It is never okay to have somebody just to be able to say that we have somebody. It is never okay to settle.

4. What I Know For Sure

I found myself crying while reading this book. Oprah’s written words have the power to touch my heart in such a way that it felt like she was beside me and was personally assuring me that it is normal to have ups and downs in this life in a voice that has warmed my the cockles of my heart. This is one of those books that put a stop to my panic attacks.

3. Simplicite

A book written by a French woman who has been living in Japan for 30 years. She fell in love with the simplicity of Japanese life that she never left and started applying this wellness approach in her daily living. From minimalism to self-care to naming every little changes a person who has left her country and learned a different way of life. This book has the power to influence a lifestyle that invites slow living.

2. GirlBoss

A book that has inspired me to the bits of my bones. She is the perfect example of creating something from scratch and making it billion times bigger through determination and hardwork. She doesn’t have a University Degree but she employs those who have MBAs. Her tips, cleverness and no BS approach to life is so on point. Everything about women empowering is in this book.

1. Becoming Myself

A book written by a Psychiatrist about his path to becoming himself. He wrote the book at 85 when at 32, I couldn’t remember that happened to me two years ago. His openness and vulnerability after all those years of helping his patients gave him more understanding of himself. Though written by a doctor, the book is surprisingly easy to understand, very honest and made me want to understand more about human behavior and more about myself.

Dopamine Detox Book

 Dopamine Detox by Thibaut Meurisse, In the times you live in, there are multiple distractions that keep you from being more productive.

Table of Contents

• What is dopamine?
• What’s in the book “Dopamine Detox”?
• What happens when you have a dopamine addiction?
• Whats good about the book, “Dopamine Detox”?

You must know how these distractions work on your mind, what are the ways to get over them and why Dopamine detox is relevant to you.

What is dopamine?

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced in the brain and has multiple functions in the body. It is an essential “feel-good hormone”  but over stimulation of dopamine is not good either.

While dopamine and serotonin are both neuro-transmitter chemicals, they are different in a way. Thibaut says that dopamine is that neurotransmitter which makes you excited and act, do something in anticipation of pleasurable activities or rewards. 

Dopamine makes you crave for sugary cakes, click on the social media notification, or look forward to any other activities that give you a pleasant feeling. Serotonin has more long lasting effect as it makes you feel happy or gives a feeling of well-being after the reward.

What’s in the book “Dopamine Detox”?

The book presents several theories of what happens when you have over stimulation of dopamine. So, you will read about what is dopamine and what role it plays in your life. After this the author explains what is the problem caused by dopamine rush and why you should practice a detox. He explains a three step method for having a successful dopamine detox routine. 

Procrastination is common when there is an excess of dopamine and the mind seeks immediate validation. Setting priorities, thinking of long term goals and taking decisions that are aligned to these goals, seem difficult.

In between the 72 pages of this book, the author talks about ways you can workcome procrastination and actually do the work. He explains the psychology behind instant gratification and how users are manipulated. Lastly, he explains how to not have a dopamine relapse and live a fruitful life.

This book is a very useful read for most people in today’s technology driven times. Especially when there is a false sense of busyness yet little time left for real work.

What happens when you have a dopamine addiction?

Some of the results from excess dopamine that the author talks about are …

Whenever there is a social media notification on your smartphone, you can’t resist clicking and spend long time going over other content as well.

You seek instant gratification of social media likes and comments or any other instant highs.

Causes lack of patience and unable to think of long term goals.

Binge on sweets, cold drink beverages, movies, chatting on social media or doing too much exercise. 

Seek instant replies to messages.

Expect fast results.

Cognitive biases

Adopt incorrect mindsets.

Fear of missing out.

Restlessness and anxiety.

Unable to concentrate and feel distracted.

What’s good about the book, “Dopamine Detox”?

Examples are given wherever the author thinks necessary. Some of the examples were shocking and enlightening. One such example is that Steve Jobs, the former Apple CEO kept his children away from using phones and tablets, as much as possible, even though he sold them for a living.

Another example that impressed me was that Amazon, the e-commerce giant, was created in 1994 but had it’s first profitable year only in 2003 after witnessing a 149 million dollars loss in the previous year.

Additionally, I think the perspectives and theories penned by the author are wise. For instance, he says that for success, one needs to think long term and keep patience. He supports these insights with examples. What’s more important is the book gives actionable steps and tricks that are practical and work on your mindset.

After reading this book review of “Dopamine Detox”, you know what is the book is about, there is a right amount of dopamine stimulation and there are ways of training your mind to avoid excess.

Her Story

She has a bookshelf for a heart,

And ink runs through her veins,

She’ll write you into her story,

With the typewriter in her brain,

Her bookshelf’s getting crowded,

With all the stories that she’s penned,

Of the people who flicked through her pages,

But closed the book before the end,

And there’s one pushed to the very back,

That sits collecting dust,

With its title in her finest writing,

“The One’s Who Lost My Trust”,

There’s books she’s scared to open,

And books she doesn’t close,

Stories of every person she’s met,

Stretched out in endless rows,

Some people have only a sentence,

While others once held a main part,

Thousands of inky footprints,

That they’ve left across her heart,

You might wonder why she does this,

Why write of people she once knew?

But she hopes one day she’ll mean enough,

For someone to write about her too.

This is what you shall do

This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks,

stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have

patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men,

go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers families,

read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school

or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest 

fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every 

motion and joint of your body.

IDENTITY

I have many sides but which one is the

                      original?

I go by many different names but which 

                       one is mine?

I hear so many voices my own was lost in

               the echo’s years ago

My memories feel like that of a stranger’s

 I can’t seem to remember people I’m

                 supposed to know

I feel like I’m going crazy yet to others it’s

                    all just a show

My heart is going numb from all the pain

                   it feels constantly

And it seems that the more I’m searching,

 The more I’m losing myself entirely.

The Night

It’s been a while since words have found me,

   the time between – you’ll come and go;

   I’d grown to love the sun around me,

   I’ve been a stranger to my woe.

It’s been so long since there was silence,

   all around me, your voice had rung;

   like a bird who sings, to greet the morning,

   to tell you that the day has come.

It’s been some time since I’ve felt lonely,

    like a book that is, no longer read;

    the darkness lingers on, without you,

    it fills my empty heart with dread.

It seems an age ago, since you have left me,

    time has filled me, with words unsaid;

    as the sadness seeps into me slowly,

    and I am left to face the night ahead.