Shift Happens! An inspiring, entertaining and enlightening read that also made me laugh. A tonic for the soul
Years back, I was set for a career in lecturing and digging up ancient Rome. That went on hold for sports journalism, and then also personal training. So I went from a reader to a runner. The longer the runs, the shorter the books became. Sports websites have now almost replaced Caesar. Sorry, Jules.
However, I’ll become temporarily sofa-bound for a gripping book, and this week I found one, sitting on my own shelf.
A relative gave me a copy of “Shift Happens!” last summer and it remained a colourful ornament until a few days off work and an urge to find a few answers to life led me to pick it up. I didn’t put it down until I had read it. My plans evaporated, but never has a distraction been so productive.
Aside from the tongue-in-cheek title, any psychologist who says: “think less, live more,” forget self-improvement, make time to laugh, and who writes pithy four-page essays is always going to win with me.
That sounds flippant but far from it. Dr. Robert Holden’s book is inspiring, entertaining and enlightening. It shows how simple it can be to “shift” all the stuff that holds you back and start being happy.
There are countless anecdotes and nuggets of advice I could repeat to explain his thinking but two quick examples spring to mind. “Fear” can be the acronym “fantasy envisaged as real” and the phrase OPPORTUNITYISNOWHERE. Do you read: “opportunity is nowhere” or “opportunity is now here”? I confess I was the former.
Aside from this, the book has a powerful way of addressing every one of our imagined failings and those of the people around us. There is even a story about how “some of the best gifts come badly wrapped” as he avoided opening a tax rebate envelope for a month, thinking it was a tax bill. Bizarrely, after reading the book, a similar thing happened to me.
I won’t betray any more revelations about this guide to personal alchemy, only suggest that you read it with an open mind. You never know. And, deep down, don’t we all want to be happy?
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