I’m in danger of being over-evangelical about this book, but I have absolutely loved it and more importantly the frame of mind it’s put me in! :)

Which is: that life shouldn’t and doesn’t have to be a struggle – doing what makes you happy can not only be enough but be the ‘right’ path; it was an eye-opening thing to see in black and white. I always half-believed, half-hoped, but now it actually seems like the sensible thing to pursue! Doing what makes you happy is a good, not irresponsible, way to try and live your life.

I love the advice on figuring out what you ‘should’ be doing, listening to your inner/essential self and making your ‘social self’ serve that rather than the other way around. Again: if it makes you happy, it really can’t be that bad!

And finally, lots of advice on coping with change, particularly if you’re leading a life that isn’t really what you want and now you need to figure out how to get on that shiny path you’ve just learned to identify. And not just the airy-fairy planning stages, either. I was surprised to see so much on planning and doing, as well as how not to mess up success when you find it.

In more prosiac terms, I was a bit dubious about picking up this book, fearful that it was going to tell me that my whole life was rubbish and I had to change everything right now to ever smile again! Really, it wasn’t like that. Although the emphasis does seem to be more on big changes, it also helped me realise that I actually like a large part of my life, but can still use the advice to try changing some smaller things.

Sure, I’ve been figuring out that the thought of travelling the world, painting as I go, makes my heart sing – even when my head throws up dozens of barriers and dangers – but I feel no more inclined after reading the book to jack in my job and abandon my IT degree! Actually, I feel more settled now in accepting that the dream is ‘valid’, that wanting it – despite the ‘social self’ objections – is cool, even if I still want to wait a while before actively pursuing it.

Definitely recommended, although with the caveat attached to any of my recommendations: nothing works for everybody, and you take what you want particularly from this kind of book.

This has been interesting, to say the least. I’m not really in touch with my “inner self” (I’m a member of the “I’d love to work hard to reach my dreams, if I only had any dreams!” club), so it was useful to do the exercises and find ways to listen to the not-so-rational part of myself. The second part of the book, describing the path through change, wasn’t as useful, but I’m sure it would come handy at times of difficulties and sudden changes. I find this is not really a book to read and be done with it – I’m guessing I’d reap bigger rewards if I reread it every now and then, doing all the exercises again.

All in all, highly recommended.