A SIMPLE GUIDE TO BEING ALIVE

Rabin offers a wide-ranging primer on the basics of living life.

“Life is not a thing,” writes the author, a psychiatrist, in his nonfiction debut. “It is a process. A living conscious interaction.” As he promptly acknowledges, that process feels far more complicated in the 21st century, an era characterized by dopamine addiction, short attention spans, and what the author refers to as “the Gods of Optimization” (“a polite, spreadsheet-driven religion built on the quiet terror that you are never quite enough as you are”). The text is divided into two halves: The first details many of the problems facing people in the modern era, from burnout to digital (and chemical) addictions to overwork and the resulting neglect of physical health; the second provides a varied selection of medical observations and health strategies for jettisoning unhealthy habits and getting back to the fundamentals of physical and mental well-being. The topics range from proper eating to healthy sleep habits to tactics for avoiding or defusing stress. Every chapter includes insets like a “Dr. Dave’s Mindblower” (“Anxiety decreases when attention returns to sensory experiences in the body,” reads one; “Rumination and worry stop in the mind when the body is humming, getting hugs, or exercising”) or a “Pro Tip” (“Breathing the way we do when we sleep helps the body feel like it’s already there and activates safety circuitry in the brain”). The text is generously illustrated with pictures and charts (depicting such standard concepts as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs), and the book includes detailed endnotes for further study.

Rabin makes the effective choice to deliver this information-heavy material in a light, aphoristic manner, breaking his subjects down into readily graspable rules and maxims; the book even includes equations, like “Dr. Dave’s Essential Equation #9: Intention x Time = Manifestation.” (“Intention is the human energy that we put into anything we do that makes things happen in our lives.”) This approach doesn’t only keep things lean and engaging—it also underscores one of the author’s main themes, since he’s really advocating simplicity. Humans, Rabin writes, are essentially “emotionally complex houseplants: we need frequent light, water, attention, nutrients from the Earth, and preferably someone whispering nice things to us in the morning.” At every turn, the author advocates a positive, holistic empathy and the simplest, healthiest approach to meeting the needs of body and mind. “If the body doesn’t feel safe, it won’t allow pleasure,” he asserts, adding that “pleasure accelerates healing.” Rabin recommends play and paying close attention to the physical senses, and he provides some common-sense safeguards against anxiety-causing overload in the age of hyperstimulation. “The brain is constantly filtering incoming information and asking a single question,” he observes: “Does this matter enough for me to store?” Even regarding the most worrying subject of all—death—he urges a broad-minded outlook, noting what a “hilarious irony” it would be to let fearing death rob us of the moments when we should be living life. Ultimately, he counsels his readers to make the conscious choice of love over fear, describing love as “not only what we’re all made of, but [also] the glue, the rhythm, the frequency of life.” Readers who don’t find this sentiment too unrealistically idealistic will doubtlessly take great comfort from it.

An engagingly written and deeply optimistic program for personal renewal.