Choosing Happiness and a Life Worth Breathing

Choosing Happiness and a Life Worth Breathing

Neat Post from another Blogger (see link above).  I know what's being added to my reading list.

See the excerpt from the blog below:


Here are a few key messages that I absolutely loved from the book.

Choose Happiness

“It is time to stop asking for certain things or circumstances to make you happy.

Why not just choose happiness.”

Wow. That is a really simple concept. Like I said, a lot of the book just smacks of common sense. But how many of us think that true happiness will only come when we get the perfect job, the perfect mate, or just win the lottery (I know that is one of my favorite fantasies)? Max poses the question: If you are praying for things to come into your life to make you happy, why not just pray/ask for happiness?

What is True Abundance?

“Let’s quit thinking about abundance. Stop asking for abundance. Instead, focus on healing, focus on gratitude, focus on forgiving; these things lead us into the state of pure love. Practice and live this way and true abundance will come, and we will love ourselves and others more deeply and joyfully.”

This passage has santosha written all over it. Santosha (one of the niyamas) is all about being content with what one has and where one is instead of wishing for things you don’t have or daydreaming about the future. It is about living in the present and feeling true satisfaction. I love how Max weaved this concept into a new way to focus our lives through healing, gratitude, and forgiveness.

Two Very Important Yoga Practice Tips

“Avoid the trap in your practice of looking ahead for the posture to be over. This is a syndrome that will cause you to look ahead, again and again, never being in the moment. This keeps you forever focusing on a future that never arrives. It never arrives because it cannot, for when the future arrives, it is by nature now the present…”

Okay, totally busted on this one. Who hasn’t sat in a pose like chair and just wished for it to be over. Next time this happens to you, try putting a smile on your face, focusing on your breath, and feeling gratitude that your body is supporting you in the pose. The pose is over before you know it, and you will have had a lot more fun with your yoga practice.


For new yoga students who are worried what other people will think about them during class, I absolutely loved this quote: “Remember that you are surrounded by friends, people of like mind, who are focused on growth and kindness. They are not judging you; they are wishing you well. They know what it’s like to discover the power of yoga.”

So, there you have it, a few servings of Max Strom nuggets of wisdom. You can get the super-size order of nuggets when you read A Life Worth Breathing. Did the book change my life? No, but it did inspire me, made me rethink some of the priorities in my life, and definitely helped improve my breathing practice. To me, those are all signs of a really good book.