Which books are you reading for your personal growth?

Thanks for the suggestion, please be kind enough to cite a few of his books.

Okay, let me try to cite his book Authentic Happiness. He says that material things, including money, physical wellbeing, other people added up together makes up less that 15% of a person's level of happiness. The rest is upto the person's views on their past, their present and the future.

On the topic of the past, if a person remembers the past as being a time where they were happy with what they achieved, proud of the difficulties they have overcome then they will be content. If a person remembers the past as being resentful and shameful, then this person is likely to see their memories and get angry over them. Seligman suggests techniques to learn to forgive the grievances of the past, and to build more daily gratifications so that we will amplify more positive memories rather than bad ones.

Future: if a person is optimistic about the future then they will have a positive outlook on what is installed for them in the coming days, they will experience very little worry and anxiety about what is yet to come. Seligman suggests techniques to learn optimism, to try and change the way you talk to yourself when adversity comes your way so that you will not have a depressing and hopeless view of the future

Present:Find gratifications-things to do that mean something to you, rather than constantly indulging yourself with pleasures that just take away the time you have. Find meaning in what you do in your daily life.

How many posts do I have to do to get the enthusiast rank?

I have read, at the least, a thousand books, probably multiples of that. I have matured as I read those books and some of them helped me do that. In time I could also criticize the lameness of many books I'd read before.

Why are you all looking for one sentence mottoes for how to live? Sort of like balloons to aerate your mind? Or one-book sets of rules?

Or how many posts you need to be enthusiastic?

Get a grip. Don't look for easy answers. Look around you and observe. Listen to yourself, and as that self is sometimes confused, keep tuning in. Don't just read someone's printed words and kneel.

250

Thanks for the info, Jamesw84!

To just tell you, today dad got 6 more wonderful books for me:
1.I moved your cheese
2.Men are from Mars....
3.Say yes to your potential by Skip Ross
4.Why men don't listen? by Allan Pease (the same man who writes on Body language)
5.21 success secrets of self made millionaires, Brian Tracy
6. How to fire up ....or something like that


Now, know what I have dropped See You At the Top for Skip Ross's book, actually SYATT is the hindi version that I was reading and wasn't properly getting it.


Daddy is so good, I love him for these books.

The Seligman books are quite old and most book stores dont have them in stock, so youd have to order them from online sites or bookstores.

Personal growth ..... now THAT is a topic that with a long reading list. Kind of like signing up for a class and on the 1st day you see the list of books your professor advises for additional reading.
The Dance of Anger AND The Dance of Intimacy. I am STILL banging away at these 2 books. You know how you can just tell when a book is meant for you to read??? Because reading it is so darned annoying or painful or difficult and you have to just keep trying & trying EVEN IF ONLY 1 PAGE PER DAY or a few paragraphs. The same thing
with movies. If I start crying or become very very sad about it, then
I need to re watch it several times until I can identify what it is that is "speaking to me" from that movie, book, etc. This practice has proven
to be very helpful while battling with my own personal demons. Also I
am such a "motherer" that I need constant reruns of The Language of Letting Go and one that essentially got me going was Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled and My Mother, My Self

Mr Sammlers Planet

Hmm, I haven't read that one...

There are always two sides to everything,now the other side of this multi-billionaire industry is that it is producing the so-called selp-help victims. I'll dig more into this phenomenon.



Btw, our book club this month listed a self-improvement book called 'How to become a witch in 14 days' bylined 'control anyone anytime'

Bleh! What the heck!

I see this is apparently a post based on the principle
of "let's make fun of all of the idiots who actually read self help
books Could have(perhaps) been more forthcoming when posting your query; but then that may have greatly interfered with enjoyment
of belittling others. Oh well, to each: his or her own. Personally,
mine is a lifelong pursuit of improving my own comprehension about
some of the decisions I make or behaviors of mine that either make
no sense at all; or worse yet, are based upon ancient decisions I made
as a 10 year old kid ... based upon instincts of self preservation which made sound sense then / but in my life today I find these ancient
decisions surprise me and are useless to me. Then I must take into account that while this behavior made great sense when I was a
child... it is useless to me as an adult. In fact it may even cripple me
in some ways - unless I find a way to grow past that childhood decision, invariably based on a fear of something or everything. So I take whatever I like or need from a book or a conversation or any other source ... and leave the rest. ALL of these things have been helpful to me. I was a very socially deformed human being by the time of my
25th birthday. Now at the age of 55 - I appreciate every bit of help I have had, regardless from whence it came. It's been a very interesting 30 years precisely because I AM open to new ideas. Life would be very dull indeed if I were not. All I need to do is take a look at my 2 sisters
to see where I would be & what I would be like today. This never fails
to make me extremely grateful for the life I've lived. A grateful person is rarely ever a sad, miserable person, in my experience.

Interesting, what books are you reading now,btw?

I personally believe that reading self help books are the beginning of a want for self improvement and therefore change. I used to not read them, because 1) I thought I was perfect the way i am, 2) i took the God route: God created me this way, so therefore I just take things as is; 3) i was super lazy.

but recently, i've made special efforts to find books to read, esp self help books. after all, what does it hurt to read about other people's successes. =)

spidergal, "see you at the top" sounds like a great book. i will definitely check that one out the next time i'm in the book store.

and the book i've just finished is "Secrets of a Millionaire Mind". it's a great book!

any more suggestions?

Hi Werthen,
Hope to read a review of the book you have just r ead? how h as it influenced you?

Oh, I must get hold of that one! The beastly side of my nature could certainly do with a bit development! Grrrr! Hiss! Snarl! Watch out, everyone!

Recommended read for to-be-spouses.:
Why men don't listen and women can't read maps? By Allan Pease.

Personality Plus by Florence Littauer.







Thanks.....

Success starts with personal growth.

Does anyone know HOMELESS - a novel written by a French writer HECTOR MALOT . That story really made me emotional when I read it in my childhood

You're right, very emotional story (Sans Famille)...

Anything by...
Anything by Wayne Dyer.

Fun 'not self help' books, but fun stories that inspire growth, self reflection and change:

Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

anything by Richard Bach

The celestine has a movie out now too...