Trusting Yourself: How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed and Live More Happily with Less Effort

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1: The Power of Self-Trust
Everywhere I turn, I hear people are overwhelmed. Married or single, with kids or not, working or not, people are struggling to keep their heads above the water of their lives. We're overwhelmed by our to-do lists, we're overwhelmed by all the information

We are flooded every day with messages from so-called experts in magazines and on TV telling us what's wrong with us. Our teeth aren't white enough, we aren't good enough lovers, we aren't exercising enough, we have ADHD. No wonder we're dogged by worry and self-doubt!

Luckily, M. J. Ryan can help. As the creator of the bestselling Attitudes of Gratitude and The Power of Patience, Ryan discovered that the classic virtues can help bring peace and light to our lives. Now, in Trusting Yourself, Ryan reveals how the long-forgotten virtue of self-trust lets us feel less overwhelmed and happier every day. Trusting yourself makes choices easier, lets you express your unique talents, and gives you greater optimism and joy.

How do we learn to set the critics aside and trust ourselves instead? Ryan teaches us how to start learning what is right with us. First she reveals the inner attitudes that nurture self-trust. If you accept that we learn through trial and error, if you believe that we each have unique strengths and that no one of us has to have them all, if you realize that labels only get in the way, then your self-trust will grow, your worries will shrink, and you'll find happiness and success with a lot less effort.

Ryan also shares the "best practices" of those who trust themselves: Learn the way Quakers make their most important decisions by asking each other open-ended questions. When you're feeling overwhelmed by a big project, draw on the secret of time management experts and ask, What's the next actionable step? And when you make a mistake, remember that the master weavers of Persia include an intentional error in every carpet, to remind us that nothing human is supposed to be perfect.

A celebration of an untapped source of personal power, Trusting Yourself helps us find more peaceful, saner lives every day.

Mary Jane Ryan is one of the creators of the Random Acts of Kindness series, which has sold more than one million copies, and the author of Trusting Yourself, The Power of Patience, Attitudes of Gratitude, and many other titles. The founder and longtime publisher of Conari Press, she is currently a consultant with Professional Thinking Partners, where she specializes in coaching executives on issues of life purpose and leadership.

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