Slowing Down to the Speed of Life: How to Create a More Peaceful, Simpler Life from the Inside Out Book

This is the book for you if you've ever had the urge to tell off your boss, quit your job, hurl your Palm Pilot into the trash, and move to a farm. Written by bestselling stress consultant and psychotherapist Dr. Richard Carlson Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, it advocates the cultivation of a personal mindfulness and "thought navigation" to foster a sense of mental calmness and increased creativity and productivity.

With sage tips reminiscent of those in Jon Kabat-Zinn's Wherever You Go, There You Are, Carlson recommends a "Psychology of Mind" approach that involves being fully present in each situation and not letting the attitudes of others ruin your day. This way, your thoughts become more organized--wiser, if you will--and you get more work done without even trying. This time management trick is what he says will improve your life--not a cell phone or an electronic scheduler or a personal assistant. Carlson's advice can be taken to heart, as he's used these techniques to improve his own life. While he was working on his Ph.D., he rose at 4 a.m. and "gulped down ten or fifteen cups of coffee" each day just to get all his work done, and would bristle if family emergencies took him away from his studying.

Not only does Carlson promise to help boost one's productivity, but he says that relationships and intimacy will improve as well. He maintains that disagreements--at home or at work--are less likely to blow up into full-fledged arguments if you're being calm and levelheaded. "A mind operating at the speed of life can see things as they really are," he writes. "Slowing down gives you needed perspective during times of transition and stress. When you operate at the speed of life and your child desires privacy, you'll probably remember that almost all teenagers go through phases of wanting space from their parents....Rather than take it personally, you'll be able to see the bigger picture. If your mind is moving too quickly, events as well as your own thoughts about events become much larger than they really are."

For anyone fed up with life's chaos, Slowing Down to the Speed of Life should prove to be an immensely helpful mental health manual. --Erica Jorgensen