Now that I have a become a big fan (here and here) of Robert Sapolsky, I had to read his most famous book - Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers : The acclaimed guide to stress, stress-related diseases, and coping. Sapolsky has a very special gift, its not easy to write about the "science of stress" and make the reader feel like he is reading Catcher in the rye. I cannot think of a better book to start this new year with. His insights are going to help me till my last breath (I better heed else I have to face an expedited journey to the last breath!!).
I have thing about the final chapter of any book I read. Besides the thrill of finishing the book, what the final chapter epitomize probably remains the most significant part of the book at-least in my perspective. The kicker with this book was Sapolsky quotes my favorite serenity prayer, the first lines of which I usually find solace and from one my favorite teacher (and here).
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference." - Reinhold Niegnhur.
(More on that prayer some other time and how it's often misinterpreted.)
One of the weirdest thing before finishing this book was I was stressed like hell last weekend. Yes, there was that late night Avatar factor, bone chilling cold making me flirt with SAD et al but amidst all this I was focusing intensely not being stressed since this booked opened an avalanche of life ruining "factors" that stress can bring in gleefully. This was very interesting since today I am more serene and it reminds me on that famous testosterone experiment. It's funny how life forces us in a hard way to experience things which once while reading was fascinating but not so fascinating when experiencing oneself. Knowing the science behind the crappy anxiety inside me didn't help much initially but it was a tremendous serenity booster after some introspection. Most of the stuff that ruins us psychologically is caused by figment of our own imagination, beginning a relay race ruining our health, body, family and ad infinitum. So whenever I start to hypothesizing in excess, I usually think of this famous Mark Twain quote
"I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."
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