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Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now . Dr. Gordon Livingston, psychiatrist, imparts his 30 pearls of wisdom in this short. Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now [ Gordon Livingston, Elizabeth Edwards] on bahana-line.com *FREE* shipping on.
Only bad things happen quickly. Forgiveness is a form of letting go, but they are not the same thing. The statute of limitations has expired on most of our childhood traumas. Livingston illuminates these and twenty-four other truths in a series of carefully hewn, perfectly calibrated essays, many of which focus on our closest relationships and the things that we do to impede or, less frequently, enhance them.
Again and again, these essays underscore that "we are what we do," and that while there may be no escaping who we are, we have the capacity to face loss, misfortune, and regret and to move beyond them--that it is not too late.
Full of things we may know but have not articulated to ourselves, Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart offers solace, guidance, and hope to everyone ready to become the person they'd most like to be. Read more Read less. Kindle Cloud Reader Read instantly in your browser. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1.
Forty Tales from the Afterlives. The War of Art. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Product details File Size: April 29, Language: Related Video Shorts 0 Upload your video. Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. Read reviews that mention soon old old and too late late smart gordon livingston common sense mental health reading this book feelings follow secure prisons little book highly recommend scott peck ever read already know childhood traumas expired childhood well written limitations has expired statute of limitations easy read.
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. At first I was inspired, except maybe the part where the author suggests that joining the military and going off to war is right of passage.
But as the chapters wear on they become darker, more cynical, and by the end complaints without solutions. There's an ongoing theme of risktaking that while applicable to things like getting outside of a comfort zone should not include stupid risks or the ol' "we're all gonna die some day might as well not be afraid of nothin'" way of thinking.
Don't be scared of child predators, instead, consentrate on global warming.
He lost me at change the work with hope but love is just a temporary insanity. The author seems the type of man who has nothing left to lose, so risk to him is easy.
I'd say the core of the book goes back to discern our legitimate painful despair and then get on with living almost as a matter of choice. Published 2 days ago. Livingston says we should try to nurture in our character and seek in our friends and lovers is kindness. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the events but how you deal with and move forward through those events.
Like he can't wait to die, so long as the way he dies has meaning. Some chapters discuss his personal life without offering any connection to anything particularly useful to the reader other than instilling a sense of hopeless non-control over our lives or others. Tragedy tends to turn sufferers altruistic and I'm not sure the author is as self aware as he seems to think he is. I mean I'd never get married after reading this book since it insists that the chances of two people coexisting peacefully together for a long period of time is roughly the equivalent of successfully navigating an asteroid field.
Don't read this in one or two sittings, even though you could. Read a chapter a day and reflect on what it means and how you can apply it to your life. The lessons seem easy but most are not. The author has many black and white judgements which probably should be more gray but his many points are well taken. Some things he points out are painful, some will make you laugh, others will make you sad, but all can make you think. I will put this on my shelf and re-read in months, as I want to be reminded of its valuable lessons.
There is something in this book for everyone.
You'll need to wade through and past certain lessons that aren't applicable to you at this time or state of your life. The book is a mix of lessons of a practicing psychiatrist, lessons from his own life which were particularly moving and insightful and lessons he is trying to pass along to the reader - so the book does at times read like a "hodge-podge" as stated by another reviewer. You won't find that the "30 True Things You Need to Know Now" come with a 3-step playbook on how to fix or succeed but the insights are valuable.
The following chapters were particularly useful for me: We are responsible for most of what happens to us Chapter 6: As much as we try, we do not control how we feel or what we think.
Efforts to do so are uniformly frustrating as we struggle against unwanted thoughts and emotions in ways that only exacerbate them But any change requires that we try new things, risking always the possibility that we might fail. The trick is knowing which one to ask. One of the common fantasies entertained by those seeking change in their lives is that it can be rapidly achieved. This is why I love running because it reminds me in a very physical way that change takes work and nothing comes easy. I expect difficulty, challenges, and a slow slog.
When you grow to love the toil, then change will come much more easily. One of the things that makes us human is the ability to contemplate the future. If we are to bear the awful weight of time with grace or acceptance, we have to come to terms with the losses that life inevitably imposes upon us. Primary among these is the loss of our younger selves. This would have troubled me in my late twenties, but as I approach my mid-thirties, there are more important and worthwhile things to care about.
As long as we measure others and ourselves by what we have and how we look, life is inevitably a discouraging experience, characterized by greed, envy, and a desire to be someone else. Though a straight line appears to be the shortest distance between two points, life has a way of confounding geometry. Often it is the dalliances and the detours that define us. There are no maps to guide our most important searches; we must rely on hope, chance, intuition, and a willingness to be surprised.
This quote reminds me of my sister, who has traveled wide and far across the world, living a nomadic and adventurous existence. She has really embraced a life full of surprises.
The process of learning consists not so much in accumulating answers as in figuring out how to formulate the right questions. Just stupid people who ask questions. One of the things that define us is what we worry about. Life is full of uncertainty and random catastrophe.
It is easy, therefore, to justify almost any anxiety. The list of fears that people carry with them is long and varied, and a function of the information with which we are bombarded. I worry a lot less about unimportant things by being able to let go quickly.
The things I worry about, I try my best to process them into tasks I can work on. Forgiveness is a form of letting go, but they are not the same thing. The statute of limitations has expired on most of our childhood traumas. Gordon Livingston has been through many kinds of hell and come back with wisdom and kindness that are to be revered.
To read him is to trust him and to learn, for his life has been touched by fire, and his motives are absolutely pure. Be prepared to cry your heart out and learn about coping, about strength, and about hope. On Mourning the Death of My Son. His next book, How to Love, will be published by Hachette Australia in