The Conquest of Worry

 Book: The Conquest of Worry

Author: Orison Swett Marden

Genre: Self-help

Year: 1961

"Efficiency is a matter of concentration. And concentration is only possible when the mind is free from worry and is harmonious.".

Aptly, as the name suggests, the book will take one through a pattern of worries, we people pursue in our average lives.  It explains the significance or insignificance of each in our lifestyle whether it be physical, mental or emotional.  The author puts emphasis on fabricating positive thoughts instead of trepidating situations, crisis, confusions, etc. 

He takes us through various life aspects such as health, examinations and interviews, expectations, parenting, inferiority complex, self-control, workaholics, sleeping patterns and so on, to explain the depth of our worry habits and how each of them should be encountered in their own specific ways. 

Some might draw a parallel of the book with the popular  "The secret" authored by Rhonda Byrne.  Although, I have a different opinion regarding the approaches they've subjected to "law of attraction".  Swett has remarkably pointed out the patterns we blindly follow and doubt our efficiency, capabilities and skills to achieve our ideals in elaborate pages of our lives and thus, keeps us from reaching the zenith of our potentials. 

At some points, however, I felt as though the sentences used a lot of vocabulary which were repetitive in their individual meanings and could have been brought down to enhance readability. 

Keeping the flaws aside, it was a good read which made me realize that even so many decades ago, people had same issues and worries, and although we might have excelled in every possible way, we still are in pursuit of "peace of mind" as badly as they did then.  The book ends with a conclusion in its very last chapter, what in true sense is "well-being". 

At last, I would like to mention a few inspiring quotes from the book "The Conquest of Worry".

We are placed into this world to do a certain task, and this task is never beyond our power, if we but realize the strength.

It's not what you've lost but what you still have left, it's the residue that will tell the story.