“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it.

They only gain positive or negative value the moment they enter our mind.” Haig’s fans may enjoy this one, but others should take a pass.Ī handful of pearls amid a pile of empty oyster shells.Īll right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.

It is yes to having space you need to live” “External events are neutral. And that sometimes all you need to do in order to rise up again is to keep moving forward.” Many aphorisms sound right, if hardly groundbreaking-e.g., a quick route to happiness is making someone else happy “No is a good word. His father said to him, “If we keep going in a straight line we’ll get out of here.” He was correct, a bit of wisdom Haig turned to during his depression when he focused on moving forward: “It is important to remember the bottom of the valley never has the clearest view. On being lost, Haig recounts an episode with his father when they got turned around in a forest in France. Much is left unsaid and left up to readers to dissect. Most chapters are only a few sentences long, the longest running for three pages. The author’s words are instigations, hopeful first steps toward illumination. This makes some of the material worthy of a second look, even when it feels runic or contrary to experience. Years ago, Haig experienced an extended period of suicidal depression, so he comes at many of these topics-pain, hope, self-worth, contentment-from a hard-won perspective. Like many collections of this sort-terse snippets of advice, from the everyday to the cosmic-some parts will hit home with surprising insight, some will feel like old hat, and others will come across as disposable or incomprehensible. Bestselling author Haig offers a book’s worth of apothegms to serve as guides to issues ranging from disquietude to self-acceptance.

The comfort book review