WELL BEING WITHOUT THE WOO WOO
Most of us would love to ramp up our physical and mental well being with proven self-care regimens if only we had the time. Apparently we do. As this book shows, it only takes 5 minutes a day to adopt healthier behaviors and “recharge” for personal wellness.
Incorporating small, intentional behaviors into our routines can have big pay offs to your personal well being, according to the authors Lynne Everatt and Addie Greco-Sanchez.
It’s actually doing the recharge exercises that counts, rather than just passively reading about them. “This is hands-on book requiring reader participation,” they write. “Reading the book without doing the exercises is like connecting your phone to a charger than isn’t plugged to the wall.”
Written in short, practical, evidence-based chapters, each recharge takes only a few minutes to read and put into practice. And it’s funny too, with laugh out loud lines such as “Science tells us that it’s possible to redirect mental traffic away from the toll roads of worry and sadness to more productive pathways.”
Because I tend to get stuck on those worry roads, constantly rewinding “the obsessive, anguished replays of your life’s worst moments, the horror stories of your past, and the dystopian visions of your future,” I particularly enjoyed the chapter on visualizing your trident, imaging yourself performing at your highest level, creating your best possible self. Unlike the woo-woo advice that gives positive thinking a bad name, this chapter gives sound, easy-to-implement strategies backed by empirical evidence.
The simplest of the 5-Minute Recharges is simply being curious— or Verycurious, as this chapter is called. Apparently turning your attention outward and cultivating wonder in the world around you, can put you on the fast track to well being, make you more successful (think SpaceX CEO Elon Musk who became so curious he taught himself rocket science) and even extend your lifespan.
Other chapters deal with da Vinci’s genius strategies, the importance of a good night’s sleep, getting drunk on gratitude and how to lengthen your telomeres (Google it) to ward off age-related cognitive decline.
Personally, this book has gotten me all charged up to start incorporating better habits into my daily routine. Here’s hoping it can do the same for you.