A Different Version of You

A Different Version of You – by Mala Balani

I always think the new year really begins in spring, as the days get longer and milder. That makes this season an excellent time to start a new project or task. The bigger and more worthwhile the task, the more it requires us to transform ourselves in order to succeed at it. If you want to learn piano, you have to put in the hours of practice, over a number of years. If you want to transform your health and fitness, you have to put in the time shopping, cooking, exercising, again over a period of time, or indefinitely if you then want to maintain your gains. If that sounds daunting, then here's a book that makes all that wonderfully clear, and is hugely inspiring in the process.

Teach Us To Sit Still - A Sceptic's Search For Health And Healing is an account of a couple of years in the life of the writer Tim Parks, after he developed chronic pain. The medical establishment could offer no firm diagnosis and his search for relief leads him, gradually, to become a somewhat different person, leading a somewhat different life. Along the way, he begins to see the inter-relatedness of his mind, his body, and his life as a writer. A really thought-provoking book that illustrates that there is a solution, even if there is no short-cut. And it's beautifully written.

"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny."

- Upanishads