Don't Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nguyen

A short book with a single, deliberately uncomfortable proposition: that suffering is not caused by circumstances or even by particular thoughts, but by thinking — the compulsive commentary running underneath experience.

What the book covers

• The distinction between having thoughts and engaging in thinking
• Why the mind generates anxiety about situations that have not happened
• Non-attachment to thought, and what remains when the commentary quiets
• Intuition and creativity as what surfaces in the absence of overthinking
• Applying the idea to anxiety, decision paralysis and self-criticism

What to expect

Brief chapters, plain language, no exercises or programme. It draws on non-dual and contemplative traditions without the vocabulary of either, which is why it reaches readers who would never pick up a book on either subject. Around two hours to read; longer to actually sit with.

Who it’s for

Overthinkers, readers of Eckhart Tolle or Michael Singer, and anyone who has noticed that most of their distress happens in advance of events.

Edition details

• Author: Joseph Nguyen
• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: 979-8427063852
• Language: English

Ships free within the United States from Shelfcove.