I received a complementary copy of this book for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.
Media mogul Arianna Huffington’s life was just too busy. A health crises causes her to reevaluate her priorities. “Doctors’ waiting rooms, it turns out, were good places for me to ask myself a lot of questions about the kind of life I was leading,” Huffington writes in the introduction of her new book, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder. Huffington learns that life is not just about money and power, and she shares with us her new insights.
I like how Huffington tells stories in Thrive from her own life, including a few lessons she learned from her Greek upbringing. She also backs up her conclusions with a multitude of quotes from experts ranging from Albert Einstein to Steve Jobs. Her goal, she writes, is to “convince even the most skeptical reader that the current way we lead our lives is not working and that there are scientifically proven ways we can live our lives differently.” Huffington emphasizes four pillars of personal growth – well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving – each with its own section in this well researched book.
From the “Well Being” chapter I again was reminded of the benefits of meditation, and I liked Huffington’s suggestions of different smart phone and computer tools, such as selfcontrolapp.com, to help in minimizing distractions. In the “Wisdom” section the author stresses the value of listening to our intuition, and gives us some time saving tips. The “Wonder” chapter tells of the value of coincidences and living in the moment. “Giving” emphasizes the importance of service. These are some of Huffington’s lessons that made an impression on me – there are many more in the book’s 200+ pages.
“We cannot thrive and lead the lives we want (as opposed to the lives we’ve settled for) without learning to go inward,” Huffington concludes. Thrive gives readers a multitude of suggestions to aid in their own inward journeys.
