Read Online How Not To Be A Hot Mess: A Survival Guide For Modern Life Depicted By Craig Hase Paperback

nothing earthshattering or new here, but I enjoyed this straightforward application of Buddhist ideals to everyday life, This is kind, grounding advice from which anyone can derive benefit, I listened on audiobook, and the alternation between the two authors works: both read well, This is a good introduction to mindfulness concepts, If I hadnt agreed to review this book, I would have put in down after reading the introduction because I recognize this is not a book for me.
The core of this book is Buddhist teachings and while the authors explicitly state they are not trying to persuade anyone to adopt their belief system, they do exactly that throughout the book.
Granted, they dont specially relate everything back to Buddhism, but it is made clear that every principle to improve your life is rooted directly in Buddhism.


This book focuses largely on mindfulness and meditation, two concepts that have been shown to improve emotional and mental health.
Personally, I believe these concepts function much like the placebo effect, but kudos to you if they help you.


Theres nothing inherently wrong with the teachings of Buddhism and freedom of religion is a beautiful thing to have in this world.
However, as a Bible believing Christian, this mindset is not for me, nor was this book, There was a whole chapter devoted to sex, which I skipped in its entirety because I knew it would not be for me.
I do agree with some of the concepts presented, as far as being kind, generous and abstaining from substances, but my approach to life is much different than the overall message of this book.
I can see the appeal to those who follow the tenets of Buddhism or subscribe to new age practices like those featured in this book.
Objectively, this is not a bad book by any means and the writing is actually quite good, The authors have a great approach to their concepts and I felt like I was having a direct conversation with them throughout my reading experience.


I received an ebook of this title from Netgalley, all opinions are my own,
I will start by saying I really enjoyed this book, I was thrown off by the unfortunate title and the fact that the cover makes it look like it comes with a matching Barbie.
But you cant judge a book by its cover! I read this because it received multiple mentions in the Shambala newsletter and some of the people I admire most in the mindfulness world gave it positive reviews.
They were also later mentioned in the book, which made me trust the narrators/made me smile,

This is a quick read and super accessible for anyone curious about Buddhism or meditation but unsure where to begin.
It was easier to understand and more relatable than some of the other books Ive read with similar topics.
It had a good mix of personal anecdotes, I also loved the frequent nods to scientific research to back up their statements, I liked that It switched back and forth between female and male perspective and could feel that the couple was incredibly thoughtful and intentional about the words they used.


I am always on the hunt for more books about Buddhism that hold my attention and arent written for a theology scholar that i am NOT and this totally did the trick.
I received a copy of this when I was smackdab in the middle of a life s storm,
I was with my stepdad, in his final days of hospice, had just endured amonth long onetwo punch of head trauma followed by kidney stone surgery and stent which resulted inhospital stays.
Can we say rock bottom
Nope, because, apocalypse, Kidding.
Anyways, Im so glad this found its way to me when it did because it was just what I needed.


How Not To Be A Hot Mess, written by husband and wife team Craig and Devon Hase is a book that is based off of the very simplest and basic practices of Buddhism.


It focuses onBuddhist principles, primarily centered around mindfulness as a way to help navigate through life, whether its the good days, bad days, days you want to rip someones head off, or days youre just too overwhelmed to lift your head off of your pillow.


I think I personally appreciate this book right now because it was so easygoing and light, Reading this was like having a chat with a mellow, yet really wise friend,
This is that friend that will be like: “Man, one time I: did this crappy thing/had this crappy attitude/was on the struggle bus with this one thing, but I learned this really cool thing, you should totally try it, Ill show you how.
”

Each chapter is filled with personal examples, studies or statistics showing the benefits, and is concluded with a short exercise.


An example: if youre feeling any type of negative emotions, focus on the good, Humans inherently want to do good deeds by nature, but because were being inundated with negative all day we dont SEE the good.

I dont want to give away the entire exercise, but basically if you were to intentionally LOOK and observe for one day, youd see humans doing good human things.
Holding doors open, smiling at strangers, okay, not right now with quarantine but what about at home If you look for it, youll find the tiny acts of service.


So try that, then DO it, Its stressful times, my friend, If youre grouchy, get up and randomly grab a treat for a family member out of the blue, or give them a random hug or compliment.
Send a loved one that you cant be with a text to say youre thinking of them,
These are things that will actually benefit YOU mentally in the end,

This was written in a very casual, friendly way, and each thing is explained in a way thats simple, makes sense, and somehow leaves you feeling inspired and motivated.


I think that in this time of general overwhelm and unease this book is being released just when its needed.
Its not preachy although it does address some personal views on politics and other issues, it doesnt ask you to become a Buddhist or get into anything super deep.

I actually think itd be a great book for younger adults as well, with discretion. There is a chapter focused on intimacy,
The general meat and bones of the practices, if observed, could really benefit a lot of humans out there.


Giving this onestars, Also, high five to the universe for the alignment in timing with the release, I see what you did there,

Thank you so much to Shambhala Publishing and netgalley for the advanced copy for review! As always, all opinions are my own.
I liked this book. It was simple and straight forward, I enjoyed hearing the Buddhist perspective of how to live a healthy well balanced life, The authors seem both down to earth but also offer a lot of honest wisdom, My personal favorite chapter was "Make Sex Good", I thought they found a really great balance of pointing out the importance of wholesome good sex which MUST include consent, and also affirming everyone has to determine what that looks like for them.
It is difficult to find conversations like this that dance between healthy boundaries, sexual exploration, and not over indulging in a way that causes harm to oneself or others without shaming.
I like how they don't repeat themselves too much but show in each chapter how some of these concepts are call connected and at the end of the day leave us feeling healthier and brighter.
For me personally it wasn't ground breaking, but was a good reminder and affirmation for my choices and helped me identify areas I would like to continue to grow in.
"SemiBuddhist" wisdom distilled into delicious bite sized pieces, highly recommended to all looking for clarity and simple to follow though not always easy! steps for a more mindful, meaningful life Selfhelp/life style books are a difficult genre for me as its really hard to be told what to do and to change if its in a way I dont like or agree with.
So besides having agreeable advice Craig amp Devon Hase tell it to me in ways I deeply appreciate and respect.


framed as advice
Rather than things one must or should do

they are transparent
They come off as authentic and discuss openly mistakes and difficulties and acknowledge their backgrounds.
They cite credible sources for their claims,

give examples and non examples spelling out how a message is to be intended
Eg explanation of consent, explicitly saying that while yes we should be kind that we can also exclude those that do us harm A really great balance of humor and depth, mindfulness and social awareness.
Very enjoyable! Really appreciated that this was a quick read, with a few good gems of insight, Overall not really a comprehensive guide to not being a hot mess, but it at least provides some thought exercises and meditations to help make life a little easier and more fulfilling.
It was fine. Some decent focus on the benefits of medication, . . but it wasnt until the last two pages they touched on the use of these practices as the world falls apart around you.
A bit more focus on how to apply the book to a life of chaos would have been appreciated.


It was more about “how to be a decent human” or “how to unplug” than “how not to be a hot mess”.
They really didnt touch on the messiness of our lives at all : I liked that this book wasnt too long and if someone followed this book exactly they probably would be less of a hot mess.
This short little book offers six steps to help us navigate through the messiness of life, The authors are engaging, creating a very friendly one on one feel, While this is a book based on the ancient wisdom of Buddhism, you most certainly don't have to be a Buddist to find this book helpful.


I am continuously pulled in all directions as my full time job is running my own eco farm, which also happens to be my home.
Work life slips right into to personal time, every day, all day amp into the night, It seems impossible to separate the two, as my work is also my life, But when I stress, I remind myself that I chose this life, But more than that, how much happier I am being my own boss even if I make/of the income.
I also don't have to worry about calling out sick due to my autoimmune disease, In this way I am truly blessed, When life is kicking six ways to Sunday, we need to remember what is good, we need to remember these six practices to "not be a hot mess"

Meditate
Don't Be A Jerk
Give A Little
Say What's True
Make Sex Good
Stay Clear

This book is short, sweet, amp to the point.
Don't let the cover fool you, I'm so glad I decided to order it, "So let the storms rage, Let the waves crash. Let the winds shriek and the demons sing, Because right at the center of the blizzard of stimulation that is modern life, . . you can still place your hand on whatever patch of ground you're sitting on and say, Today, in this moment anyway, I will be a slightly less dysregulated hot mess, a semistill point in the spin, a builder of kindness and a bastion of decency.
Or maybe I'll just shoot somebody with a flyby smile and call it good, "

/stars

This was such a nice little nugget of a book, Thanks, Shambhala, for the free copy!

I'll say right off the bat that I have a hard time with people and books telling me what to do.
Call it the annoying, rebellious preteen side of my personality, I've picked up so many selfhelp books and dropped them after the first chapter, either because they're boring or preachy or written by an old white dude that doesn't know anything about life outside his bubble.


This one, however, reminded me of sitelinkGive a Sht: Do Good, Live Better. Save the Planet. , which is one of my favorite selfhelptinged books of all time, The two have a lot in common, the most obvious of which is the cavalier, "millennial" tone that makes all of the content very digestible.
You'd think this would be annoying and it does annoy some people but it really speaks to meit ditches the pretension and just gets to the meat of the message.


And this book was funny, which helps a lot when you're reading about how to handle the "dumpster

fire of life.
" The authors avoid being pretentious at all costs, which makes the layman reader i, e. myself feel great about learning newish concepts, Even if nothing in this book surprised meit's basically exactly what you would expectit still doesn't hurt to review the things that I know I should be doing but have forgotten about amidst the craziness of the world.
HOW NOT TO BE A HOT MESS provides an approach to life based on Buddhist tenets, The book does a deep dive into the following six areas: meditation, not being a jerk, generosity, speaking the truth, having a good sex life, and staying clear of drugs and alcohol.


While Ive read a number of books with a Buddhist basis, this one did not really resonate with me.
To be fair, parts did, and I do agree with the tenets at face value, it was more the presentation that didnt work for me.
Several mediations are provided, but not for every topic, which seemed unbalanced,

I enjoyed the references to spectrum of gender identities and sexualities, but these seemed only cursorily mentioned.
I liked how the book discussed consent and negativity bias, The final chapter addresses drinking and drug use with what I felt was a mixed message, After stating that people shouldnt consume alcohol, Craig Hase admits he does consume alcohol upon occasion, and seems to give a tentative thumbs up to the use of certain hallucinogens.


I found following the sentence in the chapter on sexuality problematic: “Why would she fall to the depths of misery over her round pretty adorable belly, which by the way, was not big, not fat, and definitely not the result of some horrible, disfiguring lack of selfcontrol or disordered eating.
” Wow. Devon Hase goes on to talk about her complicated relationship with her body which involved starving herself and over exercising.
Describing people with a “lack of selfcontrol or disordered eating” as “horrible” and “disfigured” doesnt seem to align with the authors philosophy of always being kind.


While the book contains some solid advice, some of the discussion didnt quite hit the mark for me.
I found the autobiographical details about the authors life experiences to be fascinating and revealing, Both have a solid foundation in meditation and living a life steeped in Buddhism, People seeking more information on mediation will enjoy the various included mediations, The presentation and title also didnt seem to align with the content, .