The Comfort Book by Matt Haig
a book so beautiful that it makes you feel beautiful
It’s a warm hug on a cold Winter night. It’s a cup of cocoa without the calories. It’s love without the burden of commitment. It’s a marriage of words without the feeling of contempt. It’s the promise of a best friend that never leaves your side. It shines of hope when all seems dark. It smells of freshly baked bread in a quiet house filled with despair. It’s the little opening at the dark end of the tunnel. It’s the golden glow that makes your soul shine. It’s a miracle waiting to be discovered.
A gorgeous hardbound book in white, dressed in some of the brightest colours on the paper sleeve, making it perhaps one of the few books that are as beautiful as the cover it sports. I recently discovered it and realized it’s just the positivity I needed. Sharing a few gems that I discovered and connected with the most in this book:
- Nothing is stronger than a small hope that doesn’t give up.
- You are the goal: Love is not something you only deserve if you reach a goal. The world is one of pressure but don’t let it squeeze your self-compassion. You were born worthy of love and you remain worthy of love.
- How do I stay alive for other people if I have no one? “You stay alive for other versions of you. For the people you will meet, yes, sure, but also the people you will be.”
- In order to get over a problem, it helps to look at it. You can’t climb a mountain that you pretend isn’t there.
- Emotions are like weather. They change and shift. So when you feel like you can’t take it anymore, chances are you’re already at the worst point. The only feelings you have left to experience are better than this one.
- The best thing about rock bottom is the rock part. You discover the solid bit of you. The bit that can’t be broken down further.
- In order to find the people who like you, it is first necessary to be you.
- We are all connected in so many seen and unseen ways. Which possibly explains why one of the simplest and quickest routes to happiness seems to be to make someone else happy.
- Self-awareness can be hard. Your mind is not always to be trusted. It sometimes lies, or plays tricks, or doesn’t give you the full picture. It can convince you that you are terrible.
- A therapist once said that the most common complaint he heard from his patients was the feeling that they didn’t belong. The feeling of not fitting in. Of failing to connect easily with people. Isn’t it paradoxically reassuring that the most common thing we have with others is the feeling of awkwardness and loneliness?
- In the darkness, even the tiniest fragments of light can shine, capture our attention and maybe even lead us home.
- We are where we need to be. We have never lived in the past. There is no past. There is no future. There is just a series of presents.
- Check your emotional armour is actually protecting you, and not so heavy you can’t move.
- You must never wait in pain. You must see to it straight away! It doesn’t go away by pretending it isn’t there.
- Curiosity and passion are the enemies of anxiety. Even if you fall deep into anxiety, if you get curious enough about something outside of you, it can help pull you out.
- Your self worth is not found inside the minds of other people.
- “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react that matters.” — Epictetus
- The more you value things outside of your control, the lesser control you have.
- You need to acknowledge your flaws before you beat them.
- To sit down passively and merely absorb things or rest can be more meaningful than a lot of stuff we are conditioned to see as productive.
Remember, there is no cut-off age for development. So I hope you find your passion, cast away the shadows and keep doing more of what brings you joy!
