Wherever You Go, There You Are

The art of desensitizing ourselves to all that brings us down, how uplifting, huh?  The “self-help books” are somewhat of genre that surprises me our students have turned to as favorites.  I don’t think I was that stressed at 19-20.  Well, the book Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn (wonder if any relation to Howard Zinn, the re-telling of history buff who was responsible for NYU’s Portraits program) was actually a good and helpful read.  As a life-coach, yes I think I have plugged this once or twice before, I am always looking for new ways to think through the process of how we think and how to clear our minds for meeting our goals.  Kabat-Zinn has years of experience through his work at the “stress clinic” in MA.  The overview of the Buddhist preparation for one’s day and the steps on how to approach “cleansing the mind” are all appropriate and helpful.  Biographies and self-help are two categories that usually surprise me that someone would be so inclined to rank so highly.  Oh well.  The book is fairly detailed and if you want to start your own “On Walden Pond” experience, which he refers to quite often in the book, this is the one for you.   I guess I don’t do a great job of cycling these books in an order that might make sense, though I would say Gregor’s family from The Metamorphosis probably could have benefitted from reading this book.  They certainly would have noticed poor Grete’s beauty long before, and probably would not have fretted with Gregor’s drastic change.  For me, the book was fine, but it would not be on a top 200 list for me.  For those who need the ten step program, go get it.  I think I paid $0.28 for this book on half.com.