Not a bad book but got quite tired of the style. First of all, there's the choice of words of a sophomore. Second, there's the eternal lists. All the examples are lists of at least four things.
It's not a bad book, there's some ideas in there that are applicable and not intuitive enough to necessarily come up with yourself, but it could have been a lot better if it had been condensed into a third of its volume.
Interesting observation: you are not responsible for everything that happens, but you are responsible for how you react. These two often get mixed in people's mind and it's good to mentally separate them.
Like physical pain, our psychological pain is an indication of something out of equilibrium, some limitation that has been exceeded. And like our physical pain, our psychological pain is not necessarily always bad or even undesirable. In some cases, experiencing emotional or psychological pain can be healthy or necessary. Just like stubbing our toe teaches us to walk into fewer tables, the emotional pain of rejection or failure teaches us how to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
A more intersting question, a question that most people never consider, is, "What pain do you want in your life? What are you willing to struggle for?" Because that seems to be a greater determinant of how our lives turn out.
Imagine that somebody puts a gun to your head and tells you that you have to run 26.2 miles in under five hours, or else he'll kill you and your entire family.
That would suck.
Now imagine that you bought nice shoes and running gear, trained religiously for months, and completed your first marathon with all of your closest family and friends chering you on at the finish line.
Exact same 26.2 miles. Exact same person running them. Exact same pain coursing through your exact same legs.
Often the only difference between a problem being painful or being powerful is a sense that we chose it, and that we are responsible for it.
Fault is past tense, responsibility is present tense.
