Inner Peace for Busy People: 52 Simple Strategies for Transforming Your Life

by Joan Borysenko

Inner Peace for Busy People consists of 52 weekly entries that are both inspirational and practical. Through story and science, spirituality and humour, readers are given simple skills to help them change their lives and attitudes to recover inner peace, one week at a time. Borysenko demonstrates that you don't have to be a monk to walk your life's journey with graciousness and joy. All that is required is to pay attention, choose wisely, and live with purpose and passion.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Inspirational, Philosophy, Personal Development, Psychology

176 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

This distinguished pioneer in integrative medicine is a world-renowned expert in the mind/body connection.

Reviews

[S P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am thankful to the unknown person who left this book as free stuff as they left the building I was living in. I have taken a long time to finish the book, since i read it as a bed time book. But it never found it boring. The writing is easy, smoothly paced, and has a continuous flow. I never felt bored or zoned out. The essays brought a sense of calmness to me, i must say it is the writer's inner calmness that got reflected in the book, and had the strength to calm me. There were dull moments where i was negative, blank, overwhelmed, stressed, and i picked the book since it was there... and after a few pages of reading, i could restore myself into a stable peaceful state of mind. The message that struck me the most was, "there's a divine hand that works unseen. If you take a single step toward positive change, that divine energy will take a hundred steps toward you."

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read several books by Joan Borysenko. She has great wit and even greater WISDOM. Her books I heavily underline and reread when moved upon.

[Eshaneh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of Borysenko's suggestions were real zingers -- with wonderful insight -- and some of her stories made me laugh out loud. Yet some of her suggestions seemed glaringly obvious to me and lacked real depth. In general, I think that while her aim was to reach "busy people," she could have gone into greater depth into many of the topics.

[Ahlam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad.. one or two suggestions are inspiring but I found most of the suggested strategies not applicable to my surroundings..
The Author is American and although she's tried to include a wider audiance, I find that Americans will relate to her ideas better.

[Shevonne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book did nothing for me except reiterate tips that I have heard for years. It did nothing to help me find any peace of mind.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good reminder of what we should be paying attention to in our lives and how to do so. I'm going to try out a few of the suggestions and see how it goes.

[Petra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for people who think are too busy to take some time off for themselves. Great tips on how to improve your life in general as well.

[Kerri Reeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved loved loved this book! Simple strategies for getting less stress and more love out of life. Not a trite "self help" type book--honest, insightful, smart. She's got a great voice.

[Joel Schaefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to start off a new year and many useful ideas and perspectives to help us find the serenity for which we are all searching. While the ideas are all good, and if applied can certainly help achieve peacefulness, the real challenge comes from taking the ideas, even only a few and making them a habit. We all have our own way of doing this, but this is one area where this book falls short. Perhaps that is why there are personal coaches as being help accountable helps us to put energy where we want and where it will have the most impact.

[Renata Shura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook which also had a pbs special excerpt. It was funny, inspiring and informative. It’s given me the “permission” I need to put myself first finally after a lifetime of service to others.

I especially found her “oxygen mask” list of the things that nourish and bring out the best in oneself list. It helped me compile my own, and wouldn’t you know it, just about everything on it is free!

[Salim Bharwani, · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! Very practical!

[KELLY A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast-read, accessible book that touches on neurobiology, philosophy, communication, psychology, and spirituality.

[Douglas Lord · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joan BorysenkoBorysenko (Inner Peace for Busy People) offers pithy nuggets of information for women seeking "some balance, wholeness, and peace" in life and drives home a deceptively simple point: do things to bring yourself closer to peace. That sense of serenity, she notes, "is the experience of your best self, and it's what makes life worth living." While advice is far from revolutionary and includes such self-help staples as listening to emotions as the path to truth, the author's compact, almost minimalist style reduces matters to their essence, making reading a pleasure. Despite occasional lackluster chapters, this offers vivid instructions for busy folk who have little time for reading. Tactically similar to, but cozier than, Josie and Martin Brown's none-too-personal Marriage Confidential: 102 Honest Answers to the Questions Every Husband Wants to Ask, and Every Wife Needs to Know, this is recommended.

Find reviews of books for men at Books for Dudes, Books for Dudes, the online reader's advisory column for men from Library Journal. Copyright Library Journal.

[Yvann S · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Remember that letting people help you gives them an opportunity to be kind. Refusing help is a subtle kind of selfishness, you know."

In this simple and approachable book, Borysenko sets out weekly strategies for bringing a little more serenity into fraught daily lives.

I did not expect to get on with this one, but at no point was I bored reading it (and on one occasion I had a panic on the Tube, thinking I’d missed my stop!). Borysenko doesn’t talk down the way I had expected; instead I think her aim is that if a reader can implement 3 or 4 of the 52 weeks’ worth of strategies, she will have done some good.

The strategies are simple but memorable and crucially, varied – this is not 200 pages on why one should take up meditation.

I read it straight through as an ebook, bookmarking lots of passages (including the names of other books the author cites) but am tempted to buy a dead-tree copy to keep on the shelf and flick through.

[Tess Mertens-Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book re-enforces my belief in yoga, relaxation and taking time for you to live a less stressed longer life.
In this world where electronic conversations are instant and impersonal, we need to take time out of our rushed drive through life and breath deep. If you can't change the rat race you are in, take time to find relaxation and peace. It makes the rat race seem not as frantic. It leads to better health and relationships.
I am an eight year yogi, and I found once I start yoga that relaxing my mind was more work that relaxing my body. I feel my yoga experience has added so much to my life and my relationships.
It only takes a few minutes a day to look and find that inner peace.
Namaste

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I gain a tremendous amount of insight from personal growth books, I also often come away feeling guilty. Yes, I should eat less sugar, and sleep more, and meditate, and stretch after running. I am always stymied - how to I fit all that in? I could wake up earlier, but then I should sleep more... And that is why I loved this book. Inner Peace for Busy People gives practical advice and exercises for reducing stress without adding a tremendous amount to that already growing 'To Do' list.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy shit, I found a self help book that wasn't preachy, jam-packed with pithy clicheed lessons, or really obnoxious! Borysenko is a bit crunchy, but she doesn't let that cloud the narrative. There's some value in the 52 strategies she enumerates. Not everything was applicable to myself, but I didn't find it a drag, and I have a few new perspectives on balancing life (don't balance, just be cogzniant of going too far in one direction!), meditation, and making the best of my time. Despite being written in 2002, I found it to still be relevant today.

[Claire Binkley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think most of what this author proposes is OK, except the Albinoni haunted me throughout a certain proportion of undergraduate school. It filled me with nightmares as I travailed through all that work.

For this reason, I choose not to fill my mind with it. Rather, I strongly prefer Bach.

What I like most about this book is the advice to say no. I say no to any more nightmares. I don't want to link you to Albinoni, who is contemporaneous with Bach give or take a year.

Just say no. It is easy.

And be happy.

[Baani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its a nice book. Not too preachy. Pretty simple. Nothing revelatory but then it does the job. I think a lot of the messages are linked so I personally found it better to read in one sitting than one week at a time. Its a nice one and treat it like things you already know but worth getting reminders on. The biggest takeaway was that life is short so be grateful and look at everything in a bigger perspective. Its definitely not unmissable or anything. But its a kind book with good and authentic intentions without any preachiness or too much verbosity et al. So that itself is a big win.

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished this re-read yesterday. I originally read this some years ago, and enjoyed it more then than now. I feel as if I have read this information any number of times in other books, and have moved way beyond the information presented here. I don't feel the need to ever read it again. The information and suggestions presented here are fairly basic but could be helpful for someone who has never before considered strategies to change the way they view their life.

[Marija S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prevedena kao: UNUTARNJI MIR ZA PREZAPOSLENE ŽENE i dolazi uvezu sa knjigom UNUTARNJI MIR ZA PREZAPOSLENE

lako štivo podjeljeno u kratka poglavlja, pa se može čitati i "na otvaranje". Neopterećujuća, puna kako lijepih citata, tako i praktičnih savjeta za bolje življenje. Jedna od onih koje se čitaju sa olovkom za potcrtavanje

[Marija S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prevedena kao: UNUTARNJI MIR ZA PREZAPOSLENE i dolazi uvezu sa knjigom UNUTARNJI MIR ZA PREZAPOSLENE ŽENE

lako štivo podjeljeno u kratka poglavlja, pa se može čitati i "na otvaranje". Neopterećujuća, puna kako lijepih citata, tako i praktičnih savjeta za bolje življenje. Jedna od onih koje se čitaju sa olovkom za potcrtavanje

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If only a book would give me inner peace! I did like her term of "champagne suffering" for those of us who aren't actually worried about where we will sleep tonight or if we have enough food for tomorrow. It does always help to put things in perspective.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this one twice now. The first time was in the summer of 2007.

[Lori Gawdyda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found some helpful ideas, mostly about compassion and gentleness to yourself.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent advice for finding your centre that demands re-reading several times

[Lori Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read book on spirituality in self development for knowledge workers, managers, executives, and entrepreneurs.

[Pooja Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small chapters with small messages. Can be at the bedside for one chapter each night.

[Patti Clement · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful resource on Balancing work, family, and your inner life!