books 2010: The Rhythm of Life, by Matthew Kelly
Full title: The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion & Purpose.
From the title it sounds as though this book is going to be full of nothing but self-help feel-good bullshit, and it was, but a lot of it was actually decent.
I'm going to start with all the things I hated first, to get it out of the way. In the first third of the book, Kelly hardly mentions God at all, and when he does it's very non-denominational, but by the time we're halfway through the book it's like he's forgotten to be PC and we're hearing Bible stories and casual mentions about the power of Jesus to help us. This is NOT billed as a Christian book on the cover blurb, so I was a little shocked, but Kelly doesn't really go overboard with it--it's more like he just assumes that all his readers will have the same belief system he has. It got on my nerves, but most of what he says really can be applied to any belief system--for example he goes on and on about prayer, but just substitute "meditation" or whatever and it's applicable. No excuses, Kelly definitely should have tried harder on this front to make his book work for a wider audience, but whatever.
Other issues were that Kelly uses a LOT of cliches throughout the book, and although you can tell he means it earnestly, sometimes it comes off sounding hollow. I mean, yes, follow your dreams, but how many times have we been told to follow our dreams? He also uses many examples from the lives of famous successful people. When it's someone not as obvious, like the manager of the Beatles, it was interesting, but pulling out these stories from Mother Teresa's or da Vinci's or St. Francis's lives didn't feel as compelling to me. Even though I might not have read the story before, it felt like I had read the story before, you know? Also, again with the lack of diversity--most of the examples are from the lives of white Western Christian people. He'll toss Gandhi or Mandela onto a list but he didn't really go outside his immediate comfort zone to explore a successful person from a different culture. There were also a few things he says that are just blatantly erroneous. For example: "History also teaches us that the Roman Empire gave way to a wonderful period in history: the Middle Ages. Culturally, socially, politically, economically, and spiritually, the Middle Ages were a vibrant and vital time of growth, discovery, and progress" (285). Um, what? There's so much wrong with that statement that I'm just going to give him the benefit of the doubt here and assume he meant to say the Renaissance, but still. Had his editor just given up by this point?
All that aside, Kelly does have some valuable points to make in this book. He genuinely wants all people to be able to become their best selves and find happiness and peace. Kelly believes that people are happiest when we're working towards becoming the best versions of ourselves; he acknowledges that fun and pleasure are part of enjoying life, but what you really need to do are to take responsibility, work hard, and believe in what you're doing in order to find happiness. Everything we do is a choice, so choose to follow your dreams and believe in yourself. All those examples from the lives of famous people illustrate that what they have in common is they believe that nothing is impossible and that they can achieve their dreams. The techniques that Kelly advocates for success are simple: understand that you have basic needs (not just food, water, shelter, but also love, healthy relationships, healthy food, exercise, intellectual stimulation, and spiritual growth). Acknowledge that these needs are legitimate, and make sure they are fulfilled, every day. Take time to pray (or meditate, or have quiet time to yourself in the garden, or whatever) because it recharges your spirit; take one day a week to rest, and beyond that, work hard and never give up on your goal, never forget for a moment what it is you want to accomplish. It's a system that makes sense to me, which is why I kept reading. Recommended if you're interested in a life plan like this (and can either sympathize with or set aside the Christian stuff).
From the title it sounds as though this book is going to be full of nothing but self-help feel-good bullshit, and it was, but a lot of it was actually decent.
I'm going to start with all the things I hated first, to get it out of the way. In the first third of the book, Kelly hardly mentions God at all, and when he does it's very non-denominational, but by the time we're halfway through the book it's like he's forgotten to be PC and we're hearing Bible stories and casual mentions about the power of Jesus to help us. This is NOT billed as a Christian book on the cover blurb, so I was a little shocked, but Kelly doesn't really go overboard with it--it's more like he just assumes that all his readers will have the same belief system he has. It got on my nerves, but most of what he says really can be applied to any belief system--for example he goes on and on about prayer, but just substitute "meditation" or whatever and it's applicable. No excuses, Kelly definitely should have tried harder on this front to make his book work for a wider audience, but whatever.
Other issues were that Kelly uses a LOT of cliches throughout the book, and although you can tell he means it earnestly, sometimes it comes off sounding hollow. I mean, yes, follow your dreams, but how many times have we been told to follow our dreams? He also uses many examples from the lives of famous successful people. When it's someone not as obvious, like the manager of the Beatles, it was interesting, but pulling out these stories from Mother Teresa's or da Vinci's or St. Francis's lives didn't feel as compelling to me. Even though I might not have read the story before, it felt like I had read the story before, you know? Also, again with the lack of diversity--most of the examples are from the lives of white Western Christian people. He'll toss Gandhi or Mandela onto a list but he didn't really go outside his immediate comfort zone to explore a successful person from a different culture. There were also a few things he says that are just blatantly erroneous. For example: "History also teaches us that the Roman Empire gave way to a wonderful period in history: the Middle Ages. Culturally, socially, politically, economically, and spiritually, the Middle Ages were a vibrant and vital time of growth, discovery, and progress" (285). Um, what? There's so much wrong with that statement that I'm just going to give him the benefit of the doubt here and assume he meant to say the Renaissance, but still. Had his editor just given up by this point?
All that aside, Kelly does have some valuable points to make in this book. He genuinely wants all people to be able to become their best selves and find happiness and peace. Kelly believes that people are happiest when we're working towards becoming the best versions of ourselves; he acknowledges that fun and pleasure are part of enjoying life, but what you really need to do are to take responsibility, work hard, and believe in what you're doing in order to find happiness. Everything we do is a choice, so choose to follow your dreams and believe in yourself. All those examples from the lives of famous people illustrate that what they have in common is they believe that nothing is impossible and that they can achieve their dreams. The techniques that Kelly advocates for success are simple: understand that you have basic needs (not just food, water, shelter, but also love, healthy relationships, healthy food, exercise, intellectual stimulation, and spiritual growth). Acknowledge that these needs are legitimate, and make sure they are fulfilled, every day. Take time to pray (or meditate, or have quiet time to yourself in the garden, or whatever) because it recharges your spirit; take one day a week to rest, and beyond that, work hard and never give up on your goal, never forget for a moment what it is you want to accomplish. It's a system that makes sense to me, which is why I kept reading. Recommended if you're interested in a life plan like this (and can either sympathize with or set aside the Christian stuff).