Seeking Serenity

February 1, 2015

Enayati, columnist for CNN and stress/technology correspondent for PBX MediaShift, believes that people can take advantage of stress as a pathway to better physical and psychological health through neutralizing its toxic aspects and reframing its advantages via controlled perception. She demonstrates, using examples and stories, how readers can develop resilience, find community and belonging, exercise kindness, and practice more of the building blocks of serene living. The author employs the discipline of mindfulness, thoughts from multiple writers, cultural patterns, and exercises to illustrate her ten rules. VERDICT Enayati's work, while not earth-shattering, provides a positive, inexpensive avenue to inner peace.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2015
Not all stress is bad, according to expert Enayati. Athletes use stress to break records; actors use stress to enhance their performances. Stress becomes dangerous when it is a constant companion. Enayati proposes 10 rules for combating stress and attaining serenity, organized into three sections: Your World, Your Mind, and Your Body. While the advice to be resilient, creative, free, happy, giving, kind, healthy, uncluttered, present, and connected isn't exactly new, the author presents strong evidence for the power of these qualities to provide relief and backs her assertions with documented examples. Each chapter ends with concrete suggestions on how to practice these rules. In most cases, mindfulness, meditation, and journaling play important roles in the process. For example, to be happy, Enayati recommends keeping a gratitude journal and giving focused time to at least three people each week. Slightly more scholarly and wide ranging than most self-help books, this thoughtful work will give readers some valuable ammunition in the battle against stress.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)