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Book Review: The Ultimate Key to Happiness - Robert Scheinfeld

I first came across Robert Scheinfeld in an interview with him on James Wedmore's Mind Your Business Podcast, Episode 192. That interview was focused on Robert's 5th book, The Ultimate Key to Happiness. If you follow the links on the podcast episode page you can actually download the ebook version of Robert's book completely free. Which is what I did.

I read the entire ebook but I felt I wasn't able to focus on it properly to really absorb the ideas it presents. So I bought a physical copy to read again.

The book is an interesting essay on how the mind works and how almost everything we do, we're doing because we want to be happy.

In the book Robert talks about various emotions, how the mind processes information and events based on a story we've been told about how we should react to it. Something he calls 'The Mind Machine'.

For example, if something makes you angry, it's very likely you're only angry because you've been told (and have learned) that's how you should react in that situation. It's a story your mind machine is telling you. This thing is something to be angry about, so be angry.

Robert uses the analogy of a movie to make his point that the mind is telling you stories. It's possible for a person to go through a whole range of real emotions whilst watching a movie, but at the end they're perfectly fine and can get on with the rest of their lives... because it's just a movie.

From that point on the concepts get a little fuzzy for me. He's kind of saying you can go through life in a similar fashion. Everything going on around you is just a story. Regardless of what it is you can change how you are about everything. but not so much on a conscious level.

You have to really get inside your head and recognize that your mind is feeding you stories. Creating a narrative that isn't always in your best interests. I feel the concept is kind of like a quote that I've somewhat adopted as a mantra in recent times by Terance T. Gorski (author and mental health expert);
I am capable of thinking ...yet I am not my thoughts; I am the thinker of my thoughts; therefore I can change what I feel and still be me.
Robert's book seems like it's attempting to go beyond that idea into a state of being where emotions are not really emotions but are more of an energy (he describes them as frequencies). There's no good or bad energy it's all one thing.

He also calls his concept 'The Truth Virus'. Once you understand it, it begins to spread through all aspects of your life leading to ultimate happiness.

Anyway, I may be going off track because I need to finish my second read. It's been a while since my first read through.

The book itself is certainly worth a read. Particularly if you're blocked by negative thinking in any way. The ideas here may resonate and be extremely helpful in the way you experience your daily life.

You can also get much of the information delivered by Robert himself through free video courses on his website. However, therein lies the one caveat for me.

Sign up to anything on Robert's website and his marketing machine kicks into gear. It's all about funnelling you into one of his programmes or events.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing but the marketing is a little pushy.

I ended up unsubscribing because it was a little too much. I just want to read the book at this stage. Robert's no bells and whistles style can be a little too high frequency for those of us who don't like to be rushed.

That aside, I felt there was something to the book and what it has to say. Enough so that I bought a physical copy to read it again. That's saying something. I've never done that with any other book to date.

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