“This, then, is what it means to possess an undefeated mind: not just to rebound quickly from adversity or to face it calmly, even confidently, without being pulled down by depression or anxiety, but also to get up day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade — even over the course of an entire lifetime — and attack the obstacles in front of us again and again and again until they fall, or we do.
An undefeated mind isn’t one that never feels discouraged or despairing; it’s one that continues on in spite of it. Even when we can’t find a smile to save us, even when we’re tired beyond all endurance, possessing an undefeated mind means never forgetting that defeat comes not from failing but from giving up.” ~ Alex Lickerman
The Undefeated Mind: On The Science Of Constructing An Indestructible Self. I’ve read quite a number of self-development books, we all have but I can tell you that this one is a masterpiece. It is an invaluable asset because I just can’t stop learning from it. It’s a book that’s worth reading again, and again and again!
To get an idea of what I mean here is a summary from Goodreads below.
“Legions of self-help authors rightly urge personal development as the key to happiness, but they typically fail to focus on its most important objective: hardiness. Though that which doesn’t kill us can make us stronger, as Nietzsche tells us, few authors today offer any insight into just how to springboard from adversity to strength.
It doesn’t just happen automatically; it takes practice. New scientific research suggests that resilience isn’t something with which only a fortunate few of us have been born, but rather something we can all take specific action to develop. To build strength out of adversity, we need a catalyst. What we need, according to Dr. Alex Lickerman, is wisdom—wisdom that adversity has the potential to teach us.
Lickerman’s underlying premise is that our ability to control what happens to us in life may be limited, but our ability to surmount the suffering life brings us is not. The Undefeated Mind distills the wisdom we need to create true resilience into nine core principles, including:
—A new definition of victory and its relevance to happiness
—The concept of the changing of poison into medicine
—A way to view prayer as a vow we make to ourselves.
—A method of setting expectations that enhances our ability to endure disappointment and minimizes the likelihood of quitting
—An approach to taking personal responsibility and moral action that enhances resilience
—A process for managing pain—both physical and emotional—that enables us to push through obstacles that might otherwise prevent us from attaining our goals
—A method of leveraging our relationships with others that helps us manifest our strongest selves
Through stories of patients who have used these principles to overcome suffering caused by unemployment, unwanted weight gain, addiction, rejection, chronic pain, retirement, illness, loss, and even death, Dr. Lickerman shows how we too can make these principles function within our own lives, enabling us to develop for ourselves the resilience we need to achieve indestructible happiness. At its core, The Undefeated Mind urges us to stop hoping for easy lives and focus instead on cultivating the inner strength we need to enjoy the difficult lives we all have”
Pick up this book and read it, then you will agree with me that it is a rare combination of physiological and philosophical postulate to the approach of self-development.
Click here to get this book.
