Your Body Speaks Your Mind (Book Club ft. SoG)

Author: Deb Shapiro

Rating: 2/5

Your Body Speaks Your Mind is all about how your thoughts, emotions and body are connected. Essentially, they interact with each other and create problems like stress, anxiety, tumours etc.

Spoilers ahead.

But it’s non-fiction so perhaps not.

Also, over the summer, my sister and I decided that we needed something to force us to talk to each other. And what better way than books? Yep, we started our own little book club! This is the first book we read together. Well, I read it. She DNF’ed it.

SoG: Wait, why am I SoG?
S: Steward of Gondor, dumbkins.
SoG: What are you then, Smeagol? Samwise?
S: Saloni.
SoG: Ugh. You know those books which just stretch out in front of you and you just want to finish it but it’s literally painful. That’s how it felt reading this book.
S: It wasn’t THAT bad. There were three parts which I liked.
SoG: Okay, what were they?
S: The opening paragraph where she says that her book is basically not to be taken for granted–
SoG: You mean not to be taken seriously?
S: No, I mean that you should read the book with a grain of salt. No, a pile of salt. An ocean of salt would be better.
SoG: I didn’t feel like I learnt anything new. You know how most self-help books are repetitive, but there’s always one thing you learn, or something really eye-opening. I guess I didn’t read enough of this book to find that one thing.
S: How much did you read exactly?
SoG: I only made it through five chapters.
S: That’s more than enough.
SoG: Yeah. This is a classic example of a DNF.
S: I read till the end and as I was saying, there were three parts I liked.
SoG: Oh yeah, what were the other two?
S: There was the part about stress and the questions there were quite helpful. But I already knew that you had to be mindful and all that. We are mindful people. I hope.
SoG: *snorts (unattractively)* Yeah, mindful definitely describes us.
S: Ugly too.
SoG: Not to mention fat.
S: I prefer plump.
SoG: ANYWAY.
S: Yeah, but the last part I liked was the second-last chapter because it was about gender roles and I find that interesting.
SoG: I’m surprised you made it that far.
S: A teacher told me to read it so of course I was going to finish it.
SoG: I’m glad I had no obligation of that kind.
S: I forgot, there was another part I liked.
SoG: Well, I have to say her chapter on rage and managing your anger was pretty bearable. The interesting thing about this book was that there were exercises in between chapters so you could do them while reading in the moment. So it was like taking a breath before reading the next chapter.
S: Really? I felt like it was constantly interrupting my thought process. I just skipped all of them. I don’t regret anything.
SoG: I mean, I tried a couple of them. The ones that didn’t seem completely insane and I tried the rage and handling your anger part because that’s something I struggle with.
S: I agree.
SoG: Wow. And basically what she says is that you have to think about everything that you’re mad and angry about and bring it all into your head, take a deep breath and take it all out.
S: So did it work for you?
SoG: I mean it sure showed me what makes me angry. So I guess it helped me halfway.
S: What does make you angry?
SoG: Let’s not get into that here.
S: Aw man.
SoG: But I guess from that exercise I realised that it’s good to kind of know what makes you angry. Even though it sounds obvious, I think it’s important that one identifies what makes them angry. And then as she writes–what’s her name?
S: Deb something. Deb Shapiro.
SoG: Yeah, so as Shapiro writes, just let it all out. And take a deep breath and exhale.
S: That’s nice. So that other part I liked was the last page. Because I was finally done.
SoG: I must say I admire you for finishing it. It takes a special kind of determination.
S: It wasn’t THAT bad. I think it’s more of a reference book. If you’re suffering from something and are in denial about it, then this book would be helpful for you.
SoG: Big deal, I’d much rather read Mark Manson.
S: I think you’re forgetting that not everyone was brought up to be mindful, stinker. But I do agree, it didn’t have that big of an impact on me. And oh my god, the testimonials from her clients sounded like advertisements. I thought she would have her contact information at the back in case I wanted an appointment.
SoG: You know, what you said about being brought up mindful, I think that’s a really important thing. And I think that’s why we perceived the book the way we did. Growing up, we were raised by two extremely disciplined, self-aware individuals–
S: SHOUT OUT TO PARENTS!!!
SoG: Well, most of the time. But I guess I would recommend this book to people who don’t really know their place. Or who’ve never thought about existing and being alive, the act of living. I guess for those kind of people, this book would be a different experience.
S: I agree. And those questions that she KEPT ON INCLUDING AND INTERRUPTING MY THOUGHTS WITH were quite thought-provoking and made you think about things you didn’t want to think about. At least for the stress part, I felt that way. I didn’t read any of the other questions because I can’t relate to stuff like arthritis and dementia. What did you think about the depression part? I thought it was really mean.
SoG: I didn’t get that far.
S: Oh. Do you want me to enlighten you?
SoG: Yes, please.
S: Well, one thing she said was that a cause of depression could be attention. And that made me mad.
SoG: What do you mean attention?
S: This is what she said, “Depression is also a hidden longing for attention and love.”
SoG: She sounds like someone who’s never been depressed.
S: She did say at the beginning that there are biological and social causes but that sentence just made me mad.
SoG: I mean, hey, it might be the longing for attention and she so eloquently puts it, but you don’t say that out loud! I mean, what if someone reading this going through severe depression, I wouldn’t want to read that. That would make me feel worse. It wouldn’t be a very good reality check. It wouldn’t be a reality check at all.
S: I mean, I understand that you should be in tune with your emotions and all that but I thought that was a crude generalisation.
SoG: I’m in touch with my emotions. This book was not that great.
S: Hear hear. Oh my goodness, she also talks about food and it’s so relatable. “Eating has a wonderfully soporific effect. It numbs your feelings and leaves you emotionally satiated. The more you eat, the less you feel, as if the food becomes ballast against the tides of emotion washing your insides.” Isn’t that so us?
SoG: It’s like she’s been secretly watching me eat nachos.
S: No one wants to watch you eat nachos. It’s disgusting.
SoG: Fair enough.
S: There’s this part about bunions. She says that, “A bunion can develop if you find yourself in a relationship where you have surrendered decision making to someone else, as the big toe is connected to issues of authority and personal power.” Like, WHAT? My bunion is there because of Papa. If he didn’t have such funny feet, I wouldn’t have such funny feet. It’s not because of authority or personal power or whatever the heck she’s saying.
SoG: How are your bunions these days? Do you still have difficulty finding new shoes?
S: You know, they’ve been hurting a lot these days. I don’t know why. And my shoes are close to tearing but only at the bunion part. The side. So it’s like the most annoying thing in the world.
SoG: I think you need to stop surrendering your power, S. Seize the day!
S: I WILL OVERCOME MY BUNIONS!
SoG: Okay, I’m done. I don’t have anything else to say.
S: How much would you give this book out of five?
SoG: *sigh* I’d give it a solid two.
S: Me too!
SoG: Great minds think alike.
S: No, ordinary minds think alike. If our minds were great, we wouldn’t have thought of the same answer. Or the same thing.
SoG: Fine. Which book are we reading next?
S: I need to read that Crazy Asian book.
SoG: Okay, I’ll finish The Namesake till then. Also, it’s Crazy RICH Asians, dum-dum. And Kevin Kwan is a genius.
S: Okay, now go away.
SoG: Gladly.