This could be the best present you buy a loved one this Christmas.
As stocking fillers go, you won't do an awful lot better than The Little Book of Sound.
The result of the massively successful #SoundEffect campaign between A Lust for Life - the wellbeing movement co-founded by Niall 'Bressie' Breslin - and suicide prevention centre Pieta House, The Little Book of Sound is a pocket guide designed to share ideas on how to use ‘being sound’ to help our minds and our society.
The book also contains a little on the science that supports why being kind to others is so important.
The Little Book of Sound is available through all good bookshops priced
just €4.95, or on the
A Lust For Life website.
“We can be relentlessly hard on ourselves at times," says Bressie.
"Throw on top of that the amount of toxic rhetoric, behaviours and actions we are witnessing throughout the world on a daily basis and life can start to feel overwhelming. The more compassion we can have for ourselves, the more empathy we can show to others and now more than ever we could really benefit by being a bit sounder to ourselves and to those around us.
"Our hope is that The Little Book of Sound will give people a few practical little tips on how to do that, especially at this time of year which can be tough for many."
https://twitter.com/lustforlife/status/933323399442681856
“Small acts of kindness or self-compassion positively affect our physical and mental health dramatically. So as your next act of soundness maybe you’ll think about going out and picking up a copy of the book for you and your mates,” says Jack Reynor, Ambassador for A Lust for Life.
The Little Book of Sound - written by Bressie, Dr. Malie Coyne and A Lust For Life's co-founder Susan Quirke, AKA Susie Q - originates from August 2017’s massively successful #SoundEffect campaign, which simply asked the nation to share acts of soundness, however small or profound.
The campaign was based on a core belief that people are fundamentally sound, a message that often gets lost in modern society.
The vision was to create a wave of positivity using #SoundEffect as a fulcrum for the human stories, actions and gestures that amplify the collective soundness of our nation.
The book takes it all one step further, encouraging people to be sound to themselves as well as others. It includes a little bit of the science supporting how being sound to others and to ourselves has a huge positive impact on our mind, bodies and the world around us.
"Being sound pays off. But we often forget the importance of being sound to others and can be particularly hard on ourselves. Treat yourself to The Little Book of Sound and learn a bit more about the science of sound," says Paula McLoughlin, Chair and Acting CEO of A Lust for Life
Here is a sample from The Little Book of Sound...
If we were to believe everything we read, see and hear in the media we would be forgiven for thinking we are all a shower of horrible feckers – but the reality is this is simply not true. It’s fake news. Most people are sound – and being sound pays off.
But in order to be sound to others we must recognize the need to be sound ourselves. For whatever reason, sometimes many of us can be incredibly hard on ourselves. We can expect so much, trying to live up to what others want us to be or what we believe we should be. If you stop and think about this for even a second, it is easy to observe how this pressure can create an unsettled mind.
So, what is the alternative? How about practicing self-compassion? This doesn’t mean you have to walk around every five minutes high-fiving yourself or attempt to shift a mirror every time you pass one – but the more compassion we can show for ourselves the more empathy we can show to others.
And guess what? Studies in psychology and neuroscience are confirming that there’s real science to support how being sound to others and to ourselves has a huge positive impact on our mind and bodies.
