Calm: Calm the Mind, Change the World

I just finished reading my second book of 2017. This book is the Calm book.

Title: Calm

Author(s): Michael Action Smith

ISBN: 978-0-06-243917-8

Publisher: Harper Design

Year: 2015

Page Count: 224

Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZb3TQ_URpU

Also read: "Night Walks" essay by Charles Dickens

Try it at: https://www.calm.com/

Calm is an introductory guide to mindfulness and meditation. Calm is a phone app for guided and non-guided mediations available on all the major platforms. The book is well crafted and very visual. It's a quick read and can be completed in an about 2 hours. One of the big points to the book was going over your day to find the good parts. It makes a strong point of keeping a daily journal to record these things. I like the idea because it can be completed in 5 minutes or less and these can be saved and looked back upon to give you a snapshot of that period.

The journal has three main points to fill in answers after each question. The journal is setup as follows:

1. What made you feel calm today?

2. What are you grateful for?

3. What were three highlights of today?

This will all fit onto a single page. I also think you should add the date onto the page somewhere.

There have been studies done that show just a little amount of writing each day can relieve stress. (See more at http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/writing-about-emotions-may-ease-stress-and-trauma)

Other points of the book that I liked and thought were worth mentioning:

Get a good amount of sleep each night 7 - 7 1/2 hours.

Turn devices off 1 hour before bed. If using an eBook device, try a blue filter app on it to relax your eyes.

Slow down and take in surroundings. Sights, smells, tastes, etc.

Try a different route to work. This engages the mind instead of taking the same way every day.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I've used the Calm app before (as well as Headspace) on my phones and would like to try to get in 10 minutes or so of daily meditation. There is so many things to take in now that slowing down for a fraction of the day would benefit everyone.

Verdict: 4/5 literary report points

As always, happy reading!