Book Review: 《改造生命的自我形象整容術》

Here are my take-aways:

Why You Want to Be an Obedient Servant?

1. Being angry, sad or worried is like being an “obedient servant” and following all demands from the “master”. Those bad things demand me to be angry, be sad or be worried. Do you really want to that “obedient servant”?
2. How to react to bad things? Consider them as a phone call from salesmen/candidates that we don’t want to pick up at all. Ignore them.

Nothing/Nobody Can Create “My Own Emotions” But I.

1. Happiness (and any kinds of emotion) is a thing created by myself, so none of happiness results from a condition (achieving some goals). Stop waiting for something good happened so as to being happy. We can be happy by finding something interesting from simple, ordinary stuff!
2. Being an active creator, who acts, behaves, does everything based on my own anticipations, rather than being a passive accepter, who passively accepts what happened to me.

Are You a Grown-up or a Baby?

1. Are you like babies, groan, self-pity and wait for others to solve problems for you, just as those babies, crying for being hungry and waiting for their dear parents to feed foods?
2. A grown-up is who is brave to take responsibilities and admit mistakes. Don’t you feel angry with those people who don’t take responsibilities? So, stop being that person who avoids any responsibility and mistake by not making decisions.

Feeling Empty? Feeling Lonely?

1. Keep a goal to achieve, a challenge to overcome ahead of me. No having a goal that is interesting and meaningful to me is like, not thinking about destination and sitting stilly on a bike. No wonder we feel lost and empty.
2. Why did I let the decision (whether or not catch up with someone) taken by others, and feel lonely and say that I don’t have accompany? I can make an decision which is, text someone and meet the guys!

Worry too much?

1. Worries are useless after making decisions and only useful before making decisions. Isn’t it useless to feel worried with the result after “buying a lottery” (a decision already made)?
2. If I’ve made a decision to do (to “finish my thesis on time” or “make a presentation tomorrow”), why do I emotionally resist against that decision and worry? Why not make the opposite decision then?

Feeling Anxious Because…

1. There are so many tasks waiting for me to do!However, even if there are these many tasks, they can only come to me one by one. So, stop trying to finish a “mission impossible”, stop trying to finish all the task at the same time. Focus on the current task!
2. Enter your own “decompression room” whenever feel anxious or bad.

My Decompression Room

Being Low Self-Esteem?

1. Why I always appreciate God’s Masterpieces (e.g. the blue sky), but can’t appreciate his greatest one, i.e. Human being, that is ME?
2. When I lack self-esteem/self-confidence on something, which means I forgot to appreciate my uniqueness and compare myself with others.
3. Be smart to make a right conclusion on facts:
   I wasn’t able to achieve a goal -> I won't able to achieve that goal in the future? Is this a right conclusion? It is a Wrong inference!!
4. Lack of self-esteem, surrendering a belief “I cannot do it” is that we fell into a trap which was made and designed by our own hands!

Courage is

1. Do it resolutely without worrying results.
2. Taking a wrong step out is better than standing at the origin.
3. Be willing to take a bit of pain (possible failure) in order to get what I want.
4. Practice to boldly take an action/make a decision on small stuff, not to wait for a big crisis to be a hero.

Why Try to Do Something Impossible?

1. Are we try to live in the past? (Regret what we have/haven’t done)
2. Are we try to live in the future? (Worry about what will happen?)