A guide to rational living

What Hacker News says

1. fidrelityJun 2020
   Although I have never been in a situation like yours, for me personally A Guide to Rational Living (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22673.A_New_Guide_to_Rat...) and meditation with the Waking up app helped tremendously.
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2. gashawFeb 2019
   Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, A Guide to Rational Living by Albert Ellis, Feeling Good by David Burns - changed the way I see and cope with things and people that used to "cause" me lots of stress in the past.

   Behave by Robert Sapolsky, The Social Animal by Elliot Aronson, Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman - we are animals shaped by evolution. The human brain isn't perfect and makes lots of silly mistakes. I learned not to belive everything I think.

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3. Arun2009Sep 2018
   If you haven't heard of it yet, I suggest that you look at Albert Ellis's Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), and start training yourself to aggressively fight any demons that might be haunting you. I highly recommend Ellis's book, "A Guide to Rational Living", which will train you in challenging your own self-defeating thoughts. Note that I don't mean this as a cure-all, but merely as one of the tools you (or anyone else!) should have in their life's toolbox.

   The fundamental premise of REBT is that it's not the events in our lives themselves, but our beliefs about the events that upset our emotional state. Hence to change our negative emotions, we must attack through reason the beliefs that promote negative emotional states. Here's is a useful summary of the REBT approach: https://rebtnetwork.org/whatis.html .

   What I love most about REBT is that it trains us to be our own therapist. That is quite empowering and liberating!

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4. acc1005May 2011
   That's one of the other "mistakes" according to cognitive therapy: all-or-nothing thinking. I'm glad it's working for you. I think the key word in your comment is "learning". Like almost everything, the way we think is a result of habit and that's good and bad news. Bad because habits are difficult to change, but good because they can be changed.

   Cognitive therapy isn't just for for people experiencing difficulties, I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in self improvement. Hackers especially I think would find it interesting because it's almost like a set of hacks for your mind. Two books in particular I'd recommend to anyone who might be interested:

   - "Feeling Good: the new mood therapy" by David Burns

   - "The guide to rational living" by Albert Ellis

   Somewhere on the web there's also a fascinating video of a talk between the Dalai Lama and Aaron T Beck (considered to be one of the founding fathers of cognitive therapy along with Albert Ellis). It's surprising how similar cognitive therapy is to some types of Buddhist meditation

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5. SMAAARTMay 2021
   Mainly this:

   > What helped immensely is to start blogging daily, and more often than daily, about the events in my life, my thinking, my reactions starting from the points of view that:

   > A) I am accountable for what happens to me

   > B) I am 100% wrong when something unpleasant happens to me

   > And that, in the course of a few month, changed my life in tangible manners.

   And also:

   I am reading about Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) specifically:

   How To Stubbornly Refuse To Make Yourself Miserable About Anything-yes, Anything!

   How to Keep People from Pushing Your Buttons

   A guide to rational Living

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6. dpapathanasiouSep 2009
   Reading this reminded me of Ellis and Harper's concept of Core Irrational Beliefs, from their book "A Guide to Rational Living" (http://books.google.com/books?id=3JB9sLEV-SoC&dq=isbn:08...):

   "Everyone I meet must treat me just the way I like; otherwise, they are completely worthless!"

   The key, of course, is to recognize when you're reacting to those kinds of mental triggers and change your attitude and manner accordingly (which is easier said than done).

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