Previously self-helping books are not of my interests. I rarely paid my attention to any book of such type. I neither had any intention to pour my thoughts and feelings onto a book review. I rather prefer to keep it myself.

“To hold the sun” by Chas Watkins

“To hold the sun” is the first self-helping book I’ve ever read. I like neither the book cover nor the title. It would definitely fail me if I were sort of person who judges books by their covers. Though the content is positively worth reading, it might attract even more readers if the book possessed aesthetically pleasing cover that is capable of reflecting inner values it wants to convey.

In a nutshell, the book is a self-narrative book of a typical uninspiring white-collar worker who is being stuck of reality where he has to to pay bills and house rent on a daily basis, and thus desires an escape to a new place. This unstimulating character got an unexpected trip to Roatan, a largest island of Honduras where he will meet a special person who has given strong impact on his life that he would never think of. It is a clique beginning for a self-helping book but what comes in later make the book worth reading. The book barely portrays the main character throughout the course of further conversations between him and the special person he meets. To resolve life problems of him is the ultimate goal of those conversations. There are many things to be named, including how our brains works scientifically, how to trick the brain in order to live a life to its fullest, or how mediation can help. Those conversations are compelling to follow and I was even able to feel I am the main character at different times during reading the book.

There is many parts of the book I vote. One of the best parts is when the special person elaborates his idea that the reality ain’t the reality. Indeed the reality is built by innermost feelings and thoughts of individuals by which we can have different opinions towards a same object we observe. We can only live life to its fullest only if we understand how our brains and the reality intersect.

I found the book not plainly a self-helping book but also a self-realising. There are many parts of the books I’ve already known or read beforehand but I rarely notice them. Years ago I have started to learn such things and one of habits that I often do is to remind of myself that happiness is NOW, not tomorrow, and I really enjoy how I’ve started to change. I highly recommend the book to anyone who is questing for not only motivations but also profound changes to his or her life.