Mental Traps: the Overthinker's Guide to a Happier Life

By André Kukla

Book Overview

Mental Traps is Andr Kukla's immensely enjoyable and down-to-earth catalogue of the everyday blunders we make in our thinking habits, how these traps can affect our entire lives, and what we can do about it.

Ever find yourself putting off even relatively minor tasks because of the many other little jobs that you'd have to tackle first? Or spending far too much time worrying about things you can't change? Or living for the future, not for today? Truth is, we all do -- and we all recognize that sometimes our ways of thinking just aren't productive. When it comes to our daily lives, we often laugh off habits like procrastination as being human nature and just resolve to approach things differently next time. Or, when the issues facing us are enormous or traumatic, we might recognize that we're dwelling on our problems, or otherwise spending our time on fruitless thinking, but have no idea how to get out of that miserable rut. Either way, it takes up a lot of our mental energy.

But as Andr Kukla makes clear in Mental Traps, what we don't recognize -- or at least admit to ourselves -- is how thinking unproductively about even the smallest elements of everyday life can mount up and keep us from being happy, from living life to the fullest. For what appear to be minor lapses are actually "habitual modes of thinking that disturb our ease, waste enormous amounts of our time, and deplete our energy without accomplishing anything of value for us or anyone else." So whether we're dealing with how to attain our major career goals or deciding when to serve the salad course at dinnertime, the end results can be much the same: readily identifiable patterns of wasteful thinking. These, in Kukla's view, are the mental traps.

In his introduction, Kukla compares his method to that of naturalist's guides, which take a very matter-of-fact approach to providing practical information. He then outlines eleven common mental traps, such as persistence, fixation, acceleration, procrastination and regulation. Devoting a chapter to each, he provides simple examples to help us to identify mental traps in our own thinking -- and to recognize why it would be beneficial to change our ways. Our anxiety, our dissatisfaction, our disappointment -- these are often the consequences of thinking about the world the wrong way. And it's in the parallels he draws between the major and minor events of our lives that he truly brings his point home: How is refusing to eat olives like toiling at a job that has long ago lost all satisfaction? How is arriving at the airport too early a symptom of a life never fully lived? Again, what can seem to be a very inconsequential habit can actually signal bigger, more detrimental problems in our ways of thinking.

Kukla's goal -- one that we should share, in the end -- is to help us realize how much more enjoyable our lives would be if we were a little more attentive to our thought processes. Just as Buddhism, from which the author has drawn many of his ideas, teaches that we should perform all of our acts mindfully, Kukla suggests that we make a conscious effort to step back, clear our minds, and simply observe how our thoughts develop. By doing so, we will begin to recognize unproductive patterns in our own thinking, and then we can try to avoid them. Ultimately, Kukla hopes that Mental Traps will help readers move towards what he calls a "liberated consciousness" -- a state in which we no longer allow mental traps to inhibit our experiences. From having more energy to being able to act impulsively, we'd realize the benefits of living in the moment and feel truly free.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385662505
• ISBN13: 9780385662505
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Anchor Canada
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.7" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Read it!!!!!! It is good stuff!!!!!!!!

This book has been really one the best books I have read recently. Mr. Kukla has enlisted the mental traps and explains how to recognize them and how to deal with them. Readers can apply the precedures in day to day life. And that's the beauty of it. And above all, unlike other psychological books, this one is been put together in a very simple language. I beleive simplicity has more reality than complexity.

Traps with Tiers

I hated this book. I started reading it a while ago, and could not stop reading it. I hate when a book makes this type of demand on me. Other books are different. I have many that are on my nightstand with several bookmarks in them. They will be read, but the mood has to be there. Kukla's book is much different. Having finished the book, I hated it some more by packing it along this Chrismas vacation. Loaded down with many of the mental traps illustrated in this book, I finally made time this Christmas holiday to re-read the work, but this time with my pen and paper nearby. Sure, Kukla has a light hearted approach to his writing, and it is easy to read, but his meaning is idea-dense and exceptionally easy - both at the same time. But, taking the time to write down a few things, the meaning was there, and then my "formulation" of what was meant, was sadly gone. This is a seductively easy read, there is more than a hint of meaning, followed by considerable time making sense of the work. I have found the appendix to be exceptionally useful, but do not jump to it first. The reading prioir is essential. There are no short cuts to this. I hate this book so much, I am going to re-read it again before school starts. There is considerable information in the first two-thirds that I will employ in my classroom. The mental traps should be made aware to anyone with an academic leaning. But this is simply the immense utility of the work. The message is only clear at the end. In passing, I must also relate that I have a much better understanding of the Martial Arts dictum, "no mind". There is much mystery in the Martial Arts, and at this moment in time, I am rather convinced that this book is an excellent flashlight, and will help in my search there too. And continuing with the metaphor, Kukla may use a black light to help me show the way. I might make this book "mandatory" reading for my Martial Arts instruction as well. This book is certainly one that belongs on your top shelf of works. There will be very few of these books in yardsales, or used book shops.

Compulsive Cognizance

Prof. Kukla has written one of the kind of "self-help" books that were common-place a hundred years ago, but have largely passed out of existence more recently. This book is, believe you me, of more value than most of the psycho-babble seen on "Self-Help" book shelves. The thesis Prof Kukla offers is simple yet very persuasive: Most of us are prone to compulsive thinking patterns, which pre-occupy our minds, drain our energies, and waste our time, and all to no point. A couple of examples: * Persistence - we get locked-in to tasks that, quite obviously, are "going nowhere" and yet we over-commit, won't see or admit the futility of more effort, and so persist with no reasonable chance of completion or enjoyment. * Amplification - we expand the activity to fill the available time, or to avoid taking the next step in a process - more research is done, more information gathered, more assurance is sought, but to not avail except stalling. The book is plainly written, a pleasant read, and very topical for most of us. With each chapter it is likely the reader will wince in recognition and vow to do better - fortunately André gives good advice on exactly how to avoid or overcome these mental traps. The bottom line is that most of us are prone to foolishness or stupidity in our thought processes, but if the thinking that goes on when we're trapped remains below the level of consciousness, we can't even begin to change it. This book is a guide to a more productive form of self-analysis than most psycho-therapy is ever likely to provide.