At Last A Life and Beyond by Paul David
A little while back I read Paul’s first book ‘At Last A Life – Anxiety and Panic Free‘, and was instantly soothed by his sage advice on how to manage and be with anxiety. It blew my mind at the time and I knew it was a keeper and the best book on anxiety I had ever read. But when I received Paul’s new book I was going through a period of stress in my life, and the anxiety had blown up to huge proportions. I had forgotten my practice of mindfulness and was so wound up like a rubber band that I didn’t know how to get through that period.
As anyone knows who has anxiety, when overwhelm hits, even the smallest tasks can become stressful. As I opened Paul’s new book it was like soothing balm to my frazzled soul. He gave me his wise reminders on how to stop trying to fix and sort out the anxiety, and to reduce all those ways of doing things that was intensifying the anxiety instead of bringing me relief.
I was sitting in the garden trying to wind down as I read this book, and as I read Paul’s words I literally burst into tears there and then. It was exactly what I needed to hear. My heart was needing the respite from the constant ‘doing’ I had got myself tangled into, and he gave me permission to be. To be with anxiety, to treat myself with kindness, which I had forgotten at the time, and rest in the awareness that it’s okay. Anxiety is not who I am and nor do I need to try techniques and tools to rid myself of it.
“The point is, when we leave ourselves alone we go back to our natural default setting. This setting is what we are born with and it never leaves us” (Pg 13)
“Anxious thoughts and feelings are like the steam from a kettle. You cannot control, stop or suppress the steam, as it will just keep trying to find another way out. If it can’t, then the kettle will explode. The steam needs to be released.” (Pg 19)
In Paul’s easy-to-read writing style, he takes you on a journey through anxiety. Not pushing it away, not medicating it with drugs, food, sex or distractions, but flowing with it and not judging it as good or bad. To recognise that it’s only energy that needs release was a big ‘aha’ moment for me.
At Last A Life and Beyond is not just a book for anxiety sufferers, it is a book for life! This book brings to living a whole and refreshing understanding of deep self-acceptance and appreciation.
“The best way to be happy is to no longer try to suppress or get rid of the sadness, to allow any experience to be as it is and let your mood change naturally. That way when you feel down you no longer add sadness to sadness as you no longer see it as something wrong or something to change. It just is as it is and will pass.” (Pg 129)
The advertising industry tries to tell us that we have the right to be happy all the time, but being human means we experience ups and downs and it is not sustainable to be happy and upbeat all of the time. We would burn out from the excess of ‘happy’ as much as we burn out from the excess of ‘fear’.
It is great to see authors like Paul acknowledging how important it is to let our judgement go of what it means to be human and to let the conditioning we have received throughout our lives fall away and from this, change can take place within us all.
SUMMARY:
If you experience anxiety, depression or any other human mood that feels like overwhelm, this book is for you. It is refreshingly honest and has a no bulls**t approach to mental health issues.
If you are looking for a quick-fix approach to your anxiety, this book is not for you. There is no fast-food approach to personal growth and self healing.
Now over to you…
Paul has been generous enough to give away a copy of his new book to Kelly Martin Speaks readers.
This give-away is open globally and you can enter via the competition app. below. Follow through the steps and gain more entries for additional sharing on social media.
Thanks for reading.
At Last A Life and Beyond – book for anxiety sufferers (GIVEWAY NOW OVER!)*Post Disclaimer: I received 1 copy of the book At Last A Life and Beyond’ by Paul David from Paul David for review. All opinions are my own.
Competitions at ThePrizeFinder – See more HERE
Share this:
Kelly Martin, author of ‘When Everyone Shines But You’ is a dedicated writer and blogger who fearlessly explores life’s deepest questions. Faced with a decade of profound anxiety and grief following the loss of her father and her best friend Michael, Kelly embarked on a transformative journey guided by mindfulness, and she hasn’t looked back since. Through her insightful writing, engaging podcasts, and inspiring You Tube channel Kelly empowers others to unearth the hidden treasures within their pain, embracing the profound truth that they are ‘enough’ exactly as they are.
