Books that can change your life Rotating Header Image

Personal Development

The Art of Meditation

Feb 26th, 2009
by Olivier Roland.
5 comments

L'art de la méditation - Matthieu Ricard

 

The Art of Meditation

One Sentence Summary: Meditation, apart from numerous proven beneficial effects, allows us to develop our comprehension of the way our mind works, to better comprehend reality, to be less of a prisoner to our emotions and to be freer, thus attaining an abundance of true happiness; this book takes us by the hand to teach us in a simple way different methods for learning how to meditate and progressively arrive at becoming better versions of ourselves.

By Matthieu Ricard, 2008, 150 pages.

This book has not yet been translated into English, but like all of Matthieu Ricard’s books have been up to now (see for exemple The Monk and the Philosopher or Happiness), it is just a question of time before it is available in English. Here you are getting a fore-taste before it premieres :)

Note: I have just finished the 10 books in the Productivity & Effectiveness category of my crazy personal MBA challenge and I have learned several concepts and several techniques, methods and tricks for developing my productivity, my creativity, my ability to manage complex projects, etc, and integrated several concepts which I have not stopped thinking about, and which are changing my view of many things in the world (I am going to write an article next summarizing these concepts). However, as one reader pointed out – a little clumsily – in a comment about my article 10 Pearls of wisdom taken from my reading and my experience as an entrepreneur, being highly productive without seeking to be happier and finding real meaning in your life is obviously not a solution. It seems to me, actually, necessary to accompany research on performance and efficiency with finding your way and the significance that it brings to your life: “Science without conscience only ruins the soul.” If not we will become as absurd as the eating machine in Modern Times; we will be at the center of a system that is performing but has no soul, turning round and round, and exploding one day because it’s out of balance.

.

Les Temps Modernes - Machine à manger automatique

It seems to me then that the need for spirituality, whether religious or not, is a fundamental need with us humans – and it astounds me therefore that it does not feature in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, since it must eventually be used in personal accomplishment. There are several ways to seek and find meaning in your life, trying to be happier and feeling like a greater being on the inside. Meditation is one. I have chosen to experience this path because:

 

  • It can be practiced independently of any religion – I am 150% atheist – alternatively, it can be completely integrated – all religions practice forms of meditation.
  • It can be practiced for about 15 to 30 minutes a day, without requiring any special considerations or costly equipment – all you need is a quiet place and a little time. This allows us to integrate it completely within the constraints of our lives and makes it accessible to everyone.
  • You can practice it to fulfill many objectives; to relax, to improve your self confidence, to find meaning in your life, to communicate with your god, the universe, etc. Therefore each of us can try to find what we are looking for.
  • Many scientific studies, like this one (Harvard University), this one (University of Montreal) or this one (see also the conferences of the Mind & Life Institute or all these other studies) – have discovered or proven the many benefits of practicing meditation, such as:
    • Considerable reduction in stress
    • Reduction in anxiety, tendency towards anger and tendencies towards depression
    • Noticeable reinforcement of the immune system
    • Reinforcement of positive emotions and powers of attention
    • A reduction in artery pressure among those with high blood pressure
    • Etc.

Meditation is however a subject about which I know nothing, and which I have never practiced. How do I find my way through the jungle of books on the subject? By doing research on Amazon, I discovered this book by Matthieu Ricard. Matthieu Ricard is well known to the Buddhist community – he is a Buddhist monk and the French interpreter for the Dalaï-lama – he has the added advantage of being educated in the sciences – he has a doctorate in cellular genetics – and of writing in a very simple, accessible and measured way in his books. I have had occasion to look through his book , The Quantum and the Lotus and found it to be very relevant and interesting. I therefore ordered The Art of Meditation, which I am reviewing for you today, as well as Meditation for Dummies because the “For Dummies” collection is good for getting started in a subject – and this one is no exception, it’s excellent ;)

Summary and Book Review:

(more…)

Lead the Field

Oct 26th, 2008
by Olivier Roland.
5 comments

image

Lead the field - Earl Nightingale

One-Sentence Summary : To succeed in life you can’t just count on luck and circumstances; you must find hidden nuggets inside yourself rather than trapsing around the world in vain looking for them, have goals and desires and define them clearly, have an attitude that sets you up for success and love yourself, use your brain as a resource for reflection every day, understand that our rewards in life always correspond to the services we deliver, learn without ceasing and continue to grow, develop your vocabulary and mastery of language, leave the flock to act on your own, understand your value and the value of several tens of millions of euros, clearly define the amount of money you want to earn, economize or invest and save for your retirement, have a personal library that is rich and relevant, do your best every day and, one by one, accomplish the tasks that will lead you to be successful in your goals, specialize in something; then you will be in the top 5% of humanity who find themselves at the top of the success pyramid — whatever that is.

By Earl Nightingale, 102 pages, published in 2007 (book) and in 1986 (audio cassette)

Summary and Book Report:

I am not going to write a biography – even a short one – for all the authors in my PMBA challenge, but Earl Nightingale seems to be a rather interesting personality, and atypical enough to warrant an exception:

Earl Nightingale is a famous orator in the United States, and an example of what self education can do for someone who starts out with plenty of things going against him. Born in 1921, raised by his mother who was left alone with his two brothers, he grew up in a poor Los Angeles suburb in the middle of the depression. Wishing to understand why some people are poor and miserable and others are not, and not finding anyone in his acquaintance who could answer, he began his quest for answers and knowledge in the local library, which would lead him particularly to a study of philosophy, psychology and the great religions for decades. After the war, during which he survived, with 12 marines, an attack on the battleship USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor (1103 dead out of 1511 crew members), he worked in radio and created one of the first audio books, The Strangest Secret, which is a best seller and sold more than a million copies. He went on to found, with Lloyd Conant, the Nightingale-Conant Corporation, the first company to offer audio cassettes about personal development. He died in 1989.

Lead the field is a collection of advice about personal development, originally only offered in audio format. Fortunately, a book offering an exact transcription was recently published, which allowed me to read it and to offer you a review of it today – it is a lot harder for me to understand spoken English than written, and while audio books have undeniable advantages, such as being able to do other things while you read them, and use the time in transit or traveling for self improvement, I much prefer a good book when it comes to soaking up knowledge, reflecting and taking notes. I love to write post-it notes which I stick on the paragraphs that speak to me – difficult to do that with an audio CD.

In this book, which is enthusiastic and brimming with energy, Earl Nightingale insists on the fact that success in life is not due to luck and circumstances, but to principles based on good sense and habits that are easy to acquire on the condition that you practice them every day. I will paint you a panoramic, chapter by chapter:

(more…)

Personal Development for Smart People

Oct 23rd, 2008
by Olivier Roland.
7 comments

image

The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth 

Personal Developpement for Smart People - Steve Pavlina

One Sentence Summary: Being happy means being in perfect harmony with the universal principals of Truth, Love and Power, and their derivatives, Unity, Authority, Courage and Intelligence; this book guides us to be better versions of ourselves by showing us the theory and practice of each of these principles.

By Steve Pavlina, 250 pages, published in 2008.

Summary and Book Report:

(Note : This book is not part of the  PMBA challenge)

Do you know Steve Pavlina? Video game programmer who was somewhat successful in the shareware domain – these are programs that you can try for 30 days before you purchase them – in 2004 he launched his  blog about personal development with the ambition of becoming an important player in this sector, even though he had no references, no related degree, and had not written any books on the subject. But for 10 years he had read about 50 books a year on personal development and, feeding off this gigantic body of accumulated knowledge, he began to make connections between seemingly disparate concepts, and to innovate by testing and making mistakes. After two years, his blog was bringing in about $1,000 a day in advertising and affiliation revenue without him having ever spent a single penny on publicity or marketing!

I am myself a fan of Steve Pavlina and have read most of his blogs, which recommend hundreds of articles on a wide variety of subjects, of which some are pure jewels sparkling in the middle of a pile of gold nuggets – don’t miss his best-ofs in the left-hand column, which are all must-read (they are really worth their weight in peanuts – as we say in France).

So Steve Pavlina published his first book about personal development, which is named after his blog Personal Development for Smart People. I am one of 400 happy bloggers who received a free advance copy, and I read it as quickly as possible, slipping it between the books for my challenge.

First of all, even though there are numerous passages from his blog, this book is clearly not a compilation of his best articles: Steve goes much further by recommending a personal development system, which I would go so far as to call a philosophical system, in as much as it is coherent, profound and universal, and, at the same time, practical and progressive. I will paint you a picture.

(more…)