happiness – Marlo Yonocruz

Book notes: The Gift by Edith Eger

The Gift by Edith Eger book summary review and key ideas.

Get the audiobook on Audible 👇 (affiliate link)

The Gift: 12 Lessons to Save Your Life by Dr. Edith Eva Eger

Synopsis:

“This practical and inspirational guide to healing from the award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of The Choice shows us how to stop destructive patterns and imprisoning thoughts to find freedom and enjoy life.

Edith Eger’s powerful first book, The Choice, told the story of her survival in the concentration camps, her escape, healing, and journey to freedom. Oprah Winfrey says, “I will be forever changed by Dr. Eger’s story”. Thousands of people around the world have written to Eger to tell her how The Choice moved them and inspired them to confront their own past and try to heal their pain; and to ask her to write another, more “how-to” book. Now, in The Gift, Eger expands on her message of healing and provides a hands-on guide that gently encourages us to change the thoughts and behaviors that may be keeping us imprisoned in the past.

Filled with empathy, insight, and humor, The Gift captures the vulnerability and common challenges we all face and provides encouragement and advice for breaking out of our personal prisons to find healing and enjoy life.” -Audible

~If you enjoy my summary, please consider buying me a coffee via my Ko-Fi link (click the button below) or support this blog in one of several ways! 📖 🎓

I appreciate every donation as it goes directly to the maintenance costs of my blog and creation of new content. 😊

Book notes: Get to Be Happy by Ted Larkins

Get to Be Happy by Ted Larkins book summary review and key ideas.

Get the audiobook on Audible 👇 (affiliate link)

Get to Be Happy: Stories and Secrets to Loving the Sh*t Out Of Life by Ted Larkins

Synopsis:

“The secret to my happiness started during my high school days (yes, drugs were involved) and continued through hitchhiking across the country, through the suicide of my girlfriend, through bartending in many cities around the country, and then a move to Japan. I lived there for nine years, helping start a $500 million business, including a LARKINS (my last name) line of product, finding enlightenment and meditating in Zen temples in the mountains of Hiroshima, meeting Mother Teresa in Calcutta, partying with Bon Jovi, experiencing the death of my business partner and then the loss of my daughter, and all the life lessons that come with the following statement: I get to do this!” -Audible

~If you enjoy my summary, please consider buying me a coffee via my Ko-Fi link (click the button below) or support this blog in one of several ways! 📖 🎓

I appreciate every donation as it goes directly to the maintenance costs of my blog and creation of new content. 😊

Book notes: Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk

Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk book summary review and key ideas.

Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk

Executive Summary:

Join YBC Scholars to get access unlimited access to all Executive Summaries

Get the executive summary points when you subscribe today.

These include:

1-2 line quick summary
Categories & themes
Best quotes
Most important key ideas
Action items & main takeaways

$3.00 / month

Synopsis:

“Do you have a hobby you wish you could indulge in all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take that passion and make a living doing what you love. In Crush It! Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, Gary Vaynerchuk shows you how to use the power of the Internet to turn your real interests into real businesses. Gary spent years building his family business from a local wine shop into a national industry leader. Then one day he turned on a video camera, and by using the secrets revealed here, transformed his entire life and earning potential by building his personal brand.

By the end of this book, listeners will have learned how to harness the power of the Internet to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Step by step, Crush It! is the ultimate driver’s manual for modern business.” -Audible

~If you enjoy my summary, please consider buying me a coffee via my Ko-Fi link! (click the button below – no transaction fees) or become a recurring donor as a YBC Scholar! 📖 🎓

I appreciate every donation as it goes directly to the maintenance costs of my blog and creation of new content. 😊

Book notes: Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat

Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat book summary review and key ideas.

Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Happy by Mo Gawdat

Synopsis:

“Mo Gawdat is a remarkable thinker and the Chief Business Officer at Google’s [X], an elite team of engineers that comprise Google’s futuristic “dream factory.” Applying his superior skills of logic and problem solving to the issue of happiness, he proposes an algorithm based on an understanding of how the brain takes in and processes joy and sadness. Then he solves for happy.

In 2001 Mo Gawdat realized that despite his incredible success, he was desperately unhappy. A lifelong learner, he attacked the problem as an engineer would: examining all the provable facts and scrupulously applying logic. Eventually, his countless hours of research and science proved successful, and he discovered the equation for permanent happiness.

Book notes: The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga

The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga book summary review and key ideas.

The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life, and Achieve Real Happiness by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga

Synopsis:

“The Courage to Be Disliked, already an enormous best seller in Asia with more than 3.5 million copies sold, demonstrates how to unlock the power within yourself to be the person you truly want to be.

Using the theories of Alfred Adler, one of the three giants of 20th-century psychology, The Courage to Be Disliked follows an illuminating conversation between a philosopher and a young man. The philosopher explains to his pupil how each of us is able to determine our own life, free from the shackles of past experiences, doubts, and the expectations of others. It’s a way of thinking that is deeply liberating, allowing us to develop the courage to change and to ignore the limitations that we and other people have placed on us. The result is a book that is both highly accessible and profound in its importance. Millions have already read and benefited from its wisdom. This truly life-changing audiobook will help you declutter your mind of harmful thoughts and attitudes, helping you to make a lasting change, achieve real happiness, and find success.” -Audible

Why I Spent Almost $120 on Acai Bowls Last Month

Why I don’t think this is going overboard.

For anyone who checks out my foodie Instagram account (@yolocruzfoodz) and story, or has talked with me in the past couple of months, you probably know that I’ve become mildly obsessed with acai bowls.

“Mildly” being up for interpretation.

This point was underscored when I took a look at my July spending towards this recent obsession (I track all of my spending categories via my budgets feature on Mint).

While my fascination with acai bowls began in late May / early June, this was the first month I knew it was becoming an actual obsession.

July Acai Spending Breakdown:

Vitality Bowls x1 = $11.50
Berry Brand x4 = $36.00
Paradise Bowls x3 = $27.50
Nekter Juice Bar x1 = $9.35
Sambazon Organic Acai-Superfruit Packs x2 = $33.60

Total: $117.95

Continue reading “Why I Spent Almost $120 on Acai Bowls Last Month”

TOTD: What Makes Us So Unhappy?

Thought for the day

Key idea: The easiest way to make ourselves unhappy is to compare ourselves with other people. Therefore, to increase happiness, we have to stop this.

Easier said than done, given how social media encourages us to show our “best sides” and the “highlight reel” of our lives.

I reality, many times we’re just trying to impress people we don’t even like. And we can’t help but be envious of those around us who seem happy and successful.

But more often than not, those who seem to have perfect lives on the outside might be struggling with the same insecurities as us.

Some of my favorite books on this topic:

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

Thoughts? Do you agree? Disagree? What else makes us unhappy?

TOTD: People Who Get Offended Easily

“Those who get offended easily should be offended more often”

Counter-cultural idea: Nobody can offend you, it’s your choice to be offended. When we get offended easily, it’s a sign that we’re either taking something personally or taking things too seriously.

I have to remind myself that when someone says something “offensive” to me or about me, it reveals more about them and their faults rather than myself.

A perfect example: check out the comments section on my original Facebook post. Someone who saw my video got offended by what I was saying and took it down a different rabbit hole.

He interpreted it as being complacent when there is an injustice happening (such as bigotry, racism, etc). This was definitely NOT the spirit or intention of the video.

In my observation, he was noticeably annoyed by the idea and was probably looking to start a fight and demonstrate his intellectual prowess and moral high ground. He also tagged his friend for backup, which seemed to be intended to try and “win” this argument.

While it would have been easy for me to take it personally and attack back, I rewatched my video and took my own advice. I understood where he was coming from, and even though he diverged from the spirit of the idea, I knew this wasn’t a battle I needed to try and “win”.

Instead, I chose to end the discussion with acceptance, empathy, and gratitude for him and his beliefs.

To be completely honest, when I first started reading the thread and the attacks, my heart rate increased as an involuntary “fight or flight” reaction took place in my mind/body. However, I took a second to listen, understand, and calmly formulate my best response.

And in retrospect, I thought it was ironic and hilarious that someone got offended by my video about not getting offended and how you control your own emotional response to things.

We should learn from those who can laugh at themselves easily and not take things personally. These people are almost always much happier.

Even for me, this is a work in progress. And this was such a beautifully-timed challenge for me to face and apply my own advice.

Let me know your thoughts! Do you agree? Disagree?

Originally posted on 7/26/18 on Facebook here.