Book of the Month – December 2020 : 21 Letters on Life and its Challenges

21 Letters on Life and Its Challenges
Great Gift – may well be Handy’s last published work

Wisdom in 21 Letters
One word describes the essence of this excellent book ‘wisdom’. It’s a result of an accumulation of decades of experience and reflection. It’s a book that all ambitious people – young and old – should read as it will help them understand how we as individuals grow, learn and adapt to our changing circumstances. The one insight from this book that I wish I’d known at the start of my career – and life – is that “learning is experience understood in tranquillity”.

Wonderful
I write as a long term admirer of Handy’s work and having read almost all of his previous works.
Charles Handy, in both style and content, comes across as an immensely kind, wise and likeable sage. He’s just a joy to read. He has such foresight and if you read the books he wrote decades ago you will think he owned a crystal ball.
This book does refer back to some of that earlier work but is equally readable and useful to someone who has never read his earlier work.
And it’s simply wonderful. As a 57 year old, I found it useful, relevant and most of all deeply moving. But I so wish it had been written 30 or 40 years ago. I am going to buy it for my all three of my daughters and whoever they marry. In a world full of platitudinous crap, I honestly think that these lessons will, if absorbed, lead them to have happier, fuller lives. It’s not rocket science, but its honest, wise and deeply sincere.
This may well be Handy’s last published work. If so, it will be a fitting and worthy bookend to a lifetime of valuable thinking.

Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset

“Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.” 
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology Of Success
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After Life?

Conversation Between Two Babies In the Womb of a Mother, two babies side by side in one sac on the uterus.

In a mother’s womb were two babies.

One asked the other, “Do you believe in life after delivery?”

The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

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So, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Habit 2 – Begin with the End in Mind

Focus time and energy on things that can be controlled.

So, what do you want to be when you grow up? That question may appear a little trite, but think about it for a moment. Are you–right now–who you want to be, what you dreamed you’d be, doing what you always wanted to do? Be honest. Sometimes people find themselves achieving victories that are empty–successes that have come at the expense of things that were far more valuable to them. If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take gets you to the wrong place faster. 

80th Birthday
Your most important work is always ahead of you, never behind you. - Stephen Covey

Talking to the elephant in the room

Yes, we’re all doing stuff from our home offices. I don’t know what your office is like, but mine’s quite nice. I like it. Until I noticed a strange smell yesterday. Didn’t know what it was, so I had to look around the room a lot, then suddenly realised …

… there was an elephant in the room.

How the hell did I miss that?

I mean it’s huge!

How could you spend days, weeks, months, working in the home office and miss it?

How long has it been there? And what does it represent?

I didn’t know, so I asked it. Here’s how the conversation went.

Mental Health and Self Discovery – Documentary

Chasing the Present

( Recommended by Craig C)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10663414/

A materially successful young man, riddled with anxiety embarks on a world-wide journey of self-inquiry. From the streets of NY, to the stillness of the Ganges, and deep into the jungles of Peru, he immerses himself in meditation, self-inquiry, and plant medicine whilst conversing with top experts like Russell Brand, Alex Grey, Graham Hancock, Joseph Goldstein, Rupert Spira, Sri Prem baba, Zelda Hall, and more to find the root cause of the problem and learn how to finally find freedom from his crippling anxiety. He finds answers to why a person who seemingly has it all can continue to suffer from debilitating panic attacks, whilst recognizing the beauty and power that lies within each of us, if we are willing to go there. Let your journey begin with Chasing the Present.