Books with category 🕶 Lifestyle
Displaying 6 books

Four Thousand Weeks

2021

by Oliver Burkeman

The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks. Nobody needs telling there isn't enough time. We're obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we're deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and "life hacks" to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon.

Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on "getting everything done," Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we've come to think about time aren't inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we've made as individuals and as a society--and that we could do things differently.

Breath

2020

by James Nestor

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art is not just a book about breathing; it is a journey into the scientific, cultural, spiritual, and evolutionary history of this most fundamental practice. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat Pray Love, describes it as a long overdue look at the importance of this simple act.

Journalist James Nestor takes readers around the world to uncover the mysteries of breath. From ancient burial sites and secret Soviet facilities to New Jersey choir schools and the streets of São Paulo, Nestor seeks out those who are uncovering the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices such as Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo.

As it turns out, the way we breathe affects everything from athletic performance to the health of our internal organs. Nestor's exploration reveals that slight adjustments to our breathing can have profound impacts on our health, including halting snoring, asthma, autoimmune diseases, and even correcting scoliotic spines.

With insights drawn from medical texts spanning thousands of years and cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath challenges the conventional wisdom about the biological function that we thought we knew so well. After reading this book, you might just find yourself breathing in a whole new way.

Don't Overthink It

2020

by Anne Bogel

We've all been there: stuck in a cycle of what-ifs, plagued by indecision, paralyzed by the fear of getting it wrong. Nobody wants to live a life of constant overthinking, but it doesn't feel like something we can choose to stop doing. It feels like something we're wired to do, something we just can't escape. But is it? Anne Bogel's answer is no. Not only can you overcome negative thought patterns that are repetitive, unhealthy, and unhelpful, you can replace them with positive thought patterns that will bring more peace, joy, and love into your life.

In Don't Overthink It, you'll find actionable strategies that can make an immediate and lasting difference in how you deal with questions both small--Should I buy these flowers?--and large--What am I doing with my life? More than a book about making good decisions, Don't Overthink It offers you a framework for making choices you'll be comfortable with, using an appropriate amount of energy, freeing you to focus on all the other stuff that matters in life.

The Proposal

When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn't the hard part—they've only been dating for five months, and he can't even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans...

At the game with his sister, Carlos Ibarra comes to Nik's rescue and rushes her away from a camera crew. He's even there for her when the video goes viral and Nik's social media blows up—in a bad way. Nik knows that in the wilds of LA, a handsome doctor like Carlos can't be looking for anything serious, so she embarks on an epic rebound with him, filled with food, fun, and fantastic sex. But when their glorified hookups start breaking the rules, one of them has to be smart enough to put on the brakes.

Bella Figura

2018

by Kamin Mohammadi

Bella Figura: How to Live, Love, and Eat the Italian Way is one woman's story of finding beauty, and herself. Beyond being a captivating narrative, it serves as a practical guide to living a better life, the Italian way. Kamin Mohammadi, a magazine editor in London, was ostensibly living the dream. Yet, heartbreak and loneliness compounded with the stress of her demanding career were detrimental to her physical and mental well-being.

Fortune smiled upon her in the form of a redundancy package and the offer of a friend's apartment in Florence, prompting Kamin to take a transformative leap. In Italy, she quickly noticed the stark contrast in lifestyle: her new Italian neighbors prioritized enjoyment, indulging in leisurely meals and drinks, embracing a slower pace of life. This narrative is peppered with delightful encounters, from the local bartender who doubles as a love advisor, to the plumbers who not only fix her heating but also teach her the art of making pasta al pomodoro.

This book is an homage to the Italian mantra of savoring the beauty of every day—a philosophy that has been cherished by generations. It's a tale of finding love and self-love in the most unexpected of places, and an intimate portrayal of a year spent embracing the Italian way of life.

Strong As a Mother

2018

by Kate Rope

Expert, practical advice for complete mental and physical maternal health Kate Rope's Strong as a Mother is a practical and compassionate guide to preparing for a smooth start to motherhood. This book is your key to becoming the Sanest Mommy on the Block.

It will prepare you with humor and grace for what lies ahead, provide the tools you need to take care of yourself, offer permission to struggle at times, and give professional advice on how to move through it when you do. This book will become a cherished resource, offering you the same care and support that you are working so hard to provide to your child.

It will help you prioritize your emotional health, set boundaries and ask for help, make choices about feeding and childcare that feel good to you, get good sleep, create a strong relationship with your partner, and make self-care an everyday priority. Trust your instincts and actually enjoy the hardest job you will ever love. This book is here to take care of you.

Are you sure you want to delete this?