Calm: Educate yourself in the art of remaining calm, and learn how to defend yourself from panic and fury. (The School…

I expected this book to talk about ways to get calm, such as meditation, quiet time, religion, etc. This book is anything but about these topics. The author spends most of the time discussing modern topics that cause us to lose our cool, be it relationships, work, bureaucracy, family, etc. By focusing on the root causes of what causes us to anger or internally stew, the author helps us think about approaches that allow us to avoid letting those everyday events get under our skin. The book really helps us realize that many of the things that anger us truly are not worth getting angry over. This approach (and acknowledging our imperfections in terms of losing cool) is far more likely to allow us to gain a level of calmness than 15 minutes of daily meditation. I highly recommend this book.

This is the second School of Life book I've read and I'm sure I'll read more. "Calm" has an undertone that reassures the reader that it's okay to be human, that we're all struggling and it's not easy for anyone. In western cultures, it's becoming increasingly difficult to remain sane and human. It's bad enough that this is damaging to our psyche and worse that it often leads us to hurt the people we love. "Calm" shows us a way out. It won't cure our madness, but it will help.

This book has truly revolutionized how I manage my emotions. Towards the end of undergrad, I became highly stressed and depressed, knowing that the end of an era was drawing near. I was actively hurting my relationships with the people who loved and cared about me the most, recognized this, and decided to make a positive change to better myself and my relationships during this difficult time. Calm facilitated this personal shift, and I have transformed into a much kinder, more understanding, and gentler person than I ever thought I could be. If you are open to trying new perspectives on life and would like to invest emotional and mental energy into altering yours to obtain *calm*, then I highly recommend this book.As to the book's readability, I find it to be akin to a very simple philosophical text (philosophy minor here). A few words and phrases might be cumbersome for, say, a middle schooler to comprehend, but overall the phraseology is tastefully lucid and the concepts are extremely straightforward. There is no need to spend hours pondering a single chapter to grasp its meaning. Additionally, there are photographs scattered throughout to supposedly contribute to your sense of calm while reading. Indeed, some are quite intriguing and relaxing to just stare at.I talked to my therapist about this book, and she loved the concepts presented so much that she bought and read it more quickly than I did! We particularly think that the chapters on the Weakness of Strength (i.e., every strength that attracts you to a person initially inevitably has a corresponding weakness, and whenever someone annoys us, we should attempt to trace that weakness back to one of their strengths) and In Defence of Teaching (i.e., in all of our communications, we are either teaching someone or being taught something, be it emotional states or directions; we ought not to become frustrated while teaching or being taught, because perhaps we simply need to teach or be taught differently) are the most helpful and applicable chapters. My therapist commented that many women who come in to see them are extremely frustrated with their husbands for not "understanding them" or remembering to do the "little things". Well, no student (husband) is going to want to listen or learn from a nagging, angered teacher (wife) - it does not provide a conducive learning environment. If these concepts sound like tools you could use to bring more calm and peace into your life, purchase this book. I cannot recommend it enough.

The writer clearly has one of those emotional/irrational personality types that makes it difficult for one to lay out their thoughts in a way that is logical and concise. This is not to say that I disagree with the author's points, but the author spends so much time artfully beating around the bush that it is often very difficult to even identify the point the author is trying to make. Its one of those books that's 95% ramble and 5% information. I also found very little in terms of usefulness in building calmness. So while others clearly have found usefulness in this book, as a highly driven but impatient and sometimes strong-tempered manager, this book just wasn't for me.

I haven't even finished because every few sentences I have to stop and reevaluate my life choices. This is so brilliant.ly done, and I love that I can hear the author's voice in my head as I read from the School of Life videos. It's such a soothing voice.

I am not sure this made me calm but it did make me think greatly about how we live and I found it to be useful. Calmness is a great coversation to have with anyone especially our children.

Different ways of approaching anxiety and anger that are very practical, yet insightful.

I enjoyed this book. Working one by one, reading the school of life books right now. They bring peace of mind (and read quickly). I wouldn’t mind longer versions, but I just read some Alain de botton and authors like Sam Harris to keep my mind in the same realm of philosophy and living a life of well-being. These are books I’ve already suggested to friends and would even make great gifts. I appreciate the topics.

As ever, The School of Life present a thought-provoking and intelligent book that has been a pleasure to read. Full of ideas to reflect upon and introduce into our world for a calmer life. Something to aspire to.Thank you again to an organisation I am very glad exists.

Some useful tips and ways of thinking

Increíble, otra forma de ver los problemas a los que nos enfrentamos, con un significado más profundo y satisfactorio, es una lectura obligada, que nos enseña por qué actuamos de cierta forma, por que lo hacen otras personas, a ser más empáticos con otros y con uno mismo.

May it be through lowering our expectations or taking some minutes in order to examine our emotions; this book is an excellent base for living a more stoic, calmer and better life. However, this does NOT mean that your life cannot be exciting, adventurous and passionate. It is simply about reacting calmer to the bad and catastrophic things happening to our human lifes. This book delivers good tools for being calmer, I recommend it for everyone who is even a little bit interested. The content sometimes is similar to articles from TSOL's "brain" called "The Book Of Life". thebookoflife.org

It's a great and fast book that focuses all the attention into the realm of self awareness, compassion and understanding of the context that causes our most agitated and exhausting periods of anxiety. It goes straight into the real problem and the understanding of the requirements for a real way to perceive calm.