Sick Souls, Healthy Minds - John Kaag
Book: Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life by John Kaag
Back Story:
I am a sick souled individual. For most of my adult life I have been in a state of depression, with satisfaction only ever being fleeting. From a young age I viewed life as disappointing and believed it had failed to deliver on all its promise. Yet I remained a romantic. Such that, I believed I would find a cure for my melancholy in love. Last year, I found that love.
As time went on however, the melancholy returned. Thus, I believed my last hope for salvation had disappointed me too. I could no longer numb my own emotions, or quieten unwanted thoughts.
My mind too, was sick. I turned to Open Arms @openarmspeers and any literature that promised an antidote. In doing so I found this book.
Key Lessons and Advice:
Kaag reworks the words of William James, the founder of Pragmatism. In doing so, he presents the philosophy of James in such a way that the contemporary man can apply it to his own life. The key lesson for me was the message of free will over our minds, thoughts, and thus, emotions.
Free will to live life HOW we want to is well accepted. Free will to choose how we think and feel about life, much less so.
We can’t choose to feel happy, nor wish away depression, but we can choose the lens through which we see the world. We can choose which thoughts and feelings we pay attention to and those we don’t. Ultimately we choose the thoughts which we allow to define us and how we live life. Result: After nine months of therapy that is ongoing, melancholy still comes and goes, I just seek to no longer listen to it.
Instead I take a moment to focus on what is around me and put, what are only temporary feelings, into perspective. Indeed, the day I wrote this review I woke up sad. Instead of succumbing, I drink in the view from my new balcony, in my new home with a woman I love, and thus find the motivation to write the words you are reading now.
I finish happy and satisfied. It is only morning, and I have not yet had breakfast. Photos: Choosing romance and the perspective it delivered
