How to Calm Your Mind is a 2022 book subtitled "Finding presence and productivity in anxious times", by Chris Bailey, author of Hyperfocus, a book he wrote a few years earlier on developing intense concentration and working more efficiently. How to Calm Your Mind, alas, is relentlessly first-person ("I" is the first word of the Preface and of Chapter 1). It's much like Dan Harris's 10 Percent Happier – well-intentioned, mega-confessional, pedestrian in style, but with some gems amidst the chatter. For instance, a footnote in Chapter 2 suggests:

... Time is the most limited resource we have with which to live a good life. We should value it highly. In fact, we should value our time so highly that we don't just try to use the time to get stuff done.

Yes! – and likewise, in Chapter 8, the recommendation:

Journal for a couple of minutes at the end of the day about how the day went. At the end of the day, set a timer for a few minutes and recount how the day went; what you were able to accomplish, how deliberately you worked, what went well, and what you could improve on the next time around, including how you can become kinder to yourself as you work. Remember that this exercise is more of an opportunity to reflect on what went well than it is a chance to beat yourself up about what you want to change. ...

Not a bad practice – especially the focus on being kind, although perhaps one might reflect upon kindness given to others as well as to oneself. And maybe it would also be good to look for opportunities to give more praise to others, as the Duke of Wellington wished he had done. Unselfing, anyone?

_{(cf Unselfing (2009-01-14), Unselfing Again (2009-11-01), Ten Percent Happier (2015-03-07), Mantra - Give More Praise (2019-07-28), The Buddha Walks into the Office (2019-10-26), Gratefulation and Gratituding (2021-11-11), ...) - ^z - 2023-08-18}