Cover Image: One Second Rule: To Always Stay Happy

One Second Rule: To Always Stay Happy

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Member Reviews

One of the most frustrating things I find about self-help books are how they contain so much blurb and superfluous discourse that it can feel like an endurance test to get though - if you ever do get to the end! The upshot is that if the unneeded fluff is removed it would give a really informative read, that is easier to concentrate on with clear take home messages. So, I was over the moon having come across Altshuler, as the book is short, concise and delivers what the premise of the book suggests it can do. Other authors and publishers please take note –it was an absolute pleasure to read. It made good use of my precious time and gave me concise, straight forward instruction/guidance on what to do to focus to change my thoughts/awareness and alter my brain waves to reduce stress hormone production and the impact these have on the body and ultimately a person’s well-being. Essentially you use a thought process that takes one second to deter a negative response to stress and take time a little later to find the positive aspects out of bad situations to support coping and the practical personal actions to deal with the situ. Thought provoking and probably not far off the mark and so worth a quick read.

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This is just another take on positive thinking. Nothing I haven’t heard before. My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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The rule in the title is barely covered in the book, and I don't get the point of it at all. The basic concept is to always feel "I'm lucky", and that I agree with 100%. Stay positive!
The book is short (OK), and the content isn't very useful besides the main point of avoiding stress and being happy.

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I like the technique on how to react to stressful events. I'm sure that our reactions to some life events are often unnecessary and overreacted. I have to try the meditation technique mentioned in this book.

I don't mind that this book is a short read. I like that you quickly get to the point of the book.

At some points, I didn't like the author's writing style.

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Emotional stress is the trigger in society today for health issues, diabetes, stroke, obesity, brain and body inflammation to name but a few which all respond to life events but this book shows you how to change your life by using meditation techniques so that you too can lead a life stress free.

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Had I known that this would download with the title "OMG F#K! It" I would never have downloaded it. A short, worthless book which is obviously an attention and money grab by the author, who is preying on insecure, unhappy people. I thought it might offer something of value, but it doesn't. Don't waste your money or your time, definitely not worth either.

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I got a free copy for review not realizing how short (35 pages) it is. This is fine since it should take a many pages as it takes. It's almost too short. It offers basically one technique that I'm sure will be of benefit some. I wish there was more.

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Overall, this book left me feeling disappointed.
I think there something to his message, I think he is onto something that probably works. I believe the author’s method and he describes it well.
So why am I disappointed? Well, the whole book takes about 5 min to read. It’s way too short, and though this is my first book by the author, his other books seem to all be equally short and probably, most likely even, contain the same material, repackaged in different words.
So to me this just seems like a cash grab by the author, and totally discredits his as an authority of any kind and devalues his message.

That’s a real shame, because I do think he could be onto something of value to many people, but unfortunately my opinion of him and his books is very low.

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This was a very quick read, thankfully because much of it felt like a teenaged girl was writing it. The author saying stress is the root cause of many issues is accurate, however, I highly doubt most people, even the most calm immediately think when being fired, o yes let's take a month or two to travel on our dream vacation..c'mon, seriously? I am pretty sure most people are thinking about how they will pay their mortgage or feed their children, not running off and abandoning all responsibility to chase dreams at that point in time. Overall, I just couldn't get into this book because I had a hard time taking it serious just based on writing style and literally the content.

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We all know that stress is a real killer and we would add years to our lives if we were better able to control our reactions to troubling events. The idea of one second to stop and reframe what is happening is a constructive idea. But to list all the positives after being fired from a job seems unrealistic to me. Altshuler recommends seeing yourself as “lucky” that this has happened and write down all the positive points of being fired — for example, will meet new people at a new job, will try to find a better paying job, once I get a new job, I will take a month off before I start and go on vacation, have time now for hobbies, etc. I do not see most people able to respond to being fired in such a way. Altshuler ignores the big obstacle that would face most people — lack of an income. In fact, roughly 80% of people live paycheck to paycheck. Perhaps the other 20% could change how they react to being fired, but the majority of us would be very upset and rightfully so.

The second half of this brief book deals with becoming more mindful, thereby producing more alpha waves. This seems to me to be an excellent strategy for everyone. Mindfulness has been a hot topic for awhile now and we know that everyone can benefit. I am going to try to follow Altshuler’s steps to become more mindful and in the process, become more calm and feel better. That’s a worthwhile plan and I am going to start right away.

Thank you to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

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I enjoyed this self-help book. I have started implementing some of the strategies and am seeing positive changes. Am hoping that I can continue to follow Dr. Altshuler's advice and continue to see my stress levels and negative reactions decline in the future. I would recommend this book to everyone, but especially those with anger issues and those that struggle with recurrent negative thinking.

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This book includes fascinating information about how our emotional state impacts our physical health. There is quite a bit of research supporting the idea that stress impacts our health. This book contains useful information and strategies on how to use this mind/body connection to change our health for the better. I highly recommend this book for people interested in making smart, healthy lifestyle changes.

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This reads more like a pamphlet, rather than a book. There are two techniques for stress reduction that are being offered here and about 10 pages are offered to those. This feels like (and may be?) a quick, self published book. Needed an editor, more substance and some organizing. Regardless, nothing new here for self-help readers.

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Leonid Altshuler proposed from his shooting-from-the-hip style of writing, stress plays a significant role for being a contributing factor responsible for many physical and psychological ailments, many quite serious. The author claimed that there are a surprising plethora of illnesses prevalent across the United States to include: depression, suicide, obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and drug addiction. Taken on good faith, it's the doctor's opinion that stress is the main component responsible for all of these cases. Therefore, as he suggested, you treat the stress - you treat the disease. That's quite a leap from the conventional method that Western medicine approach for diagnosing illnesses. It's my belief the author is on to something.

Attacking the issue, decreasing the level of stress hormones in the blood is critical to bringing levels of stress under control. Making perfect sense, the first point to consider is that everyone reacts differently to a given stressful event, even if it's exactly the same stressor.

The author applies the 'one second rule' to all stressful events we encounter. For example, upon hearing disturbing news, we have only a short window of time to control the amount of stress so that it won't impact the body and mind. That short-lived one second moment in time is crucial to the way our body's chemistry is affected. Examples of this invaluable short reaction time are listed in an easy-to-read order. The author goes on to demonstrate that in a real-time basis, steps are provided for how to cope with any given difficult situation. For our health and happiness, they're worth giving some serious thought to.

I offer my gratitude to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

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