How to add life to your years

If life is a journey, how do we enjoy every step? Business and life coach Marian Byrne addresses that in Adding Life To Your Years (Veritas).

The author doesn’t promise to change our lives. But her book offers to be the start of ‘improving your experience of the one you have’. Marian Byrne (pictured) shares simple ways of changing our mindset.

There are three themes – self-awareness, self-acceptance and movement. The aim is to start where we are and work with what we’ve got and with what is within our control. ‘Little things…can lead to big changes,’ says the author.

Each of the 26 sections starts with a short insight into such areas as – gratitude, wealth, stress, listening, mindfulness, memories, music – and even hugging! They are followed by snappy lists of practical things to do.

You may have read some of these ideas before in other self-help books – reviewing your first thought of the day; spring cleaning your home; our relationship with money; listening as a gateway to connect with others; changing your body language. Like other similar works, it’s a broad look at life’s challenges and opportunities.

Marian Byrne encourages such positive life steps as – being a ‘deliberate creator’ in our lives; thinking of the legacy we want to leave behind; having the ability to grow, develop and change; looking for opportunities to give time or money to others; and listening to people in a deeper way.

‘We are what we repeatedly do’ is a key message at the heart of this book. The hope is that applying some of the information can interrupt old habits and introduce more useful ones.

Of course, this book may not be our ultimate answer. But like other publications of a similar nature, it offers insights and ideas to get some work done. For reading this kind of title, it’s helpful to have a notebook to hand, to keep a journal of your experiences.