[Review #1] Love for Imperfect Things: A Book for The Sticklers for Perfection

"When you care for yourself first, the world will also find you worthy of care."

Started on May 19, 2020

Finished on May 22, 2020

Title: Love for Imperfect Things

Author: Haemin Sunim

Year of Publication: 2016

Pages: 259

ISBN: 978-0-241-33114-9

Genre: Self-help

Language: English

• Reasons Why I Read This Book:

#stayhome for about three months made me look for ways to get rid of boredom, from subscribing to Netflix to buying painting equipment. Until a few days after I officially turned 20, I realized that I needed to find ways that were not only effective in getting rid of boredom, but also able to help me prepare myself to be a better person, given there were many things I had begun to think about. Actually, those things were related to my past and future that often make me feel anxious, such as regret, failure, uncertainty, and imperfection. I eventually realized that I forgot to enjoy what I had today because I was still too fixated on my yesterday wounds and too focused on my worries about tomorrow. From then on, I decided to modify my mindset by reading self-help books.

I had collected dozens of titles, the result of watching book-recommendation videos on Youtube and visiting blogs on Google. One of those titles was The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down, Haemin Sunim's first book. To be honest, to me, the title of the book did not sound as unfamiliar as the author. Then, immediately, I typed his name on Google Search. Apparently, he is a monk who is well-known for his wise and heartwarming writings. From thereon, I also knew about his second book entitled Love for Imperfect Things. As soon as I read the title of the book, I momentarily changed my mind to buy his second book first online.

• Impression:

As soon as I unwrapped the package, I saw the blue-colored book cover with a picture of a flower vase on the right side of it. There are also some fallen petals, separated from the stems sticking out of the flower vase. Up until now, I'm still a little bit curious about its hidden meaning.

Moving on from the cover, the title of this book is no less interesting. In my opinion, the title listed on the book cover is the kind of title that is able to make me want to read through and shower myself with a myriad of prudent and reassuring words. The contents of this book turned out to be more complex than the title (you will know the reason after reading it). The book itself is divided into eight different chapters: self-care, family, empathy, relationships, courage, healing, enlightenment, and acceptance. It is also filled with anecdotes, quotes, and paintings. This book sounds interesting, doesn't it?

According to my personal opinion, this book is not as heavy as other self-help books tend to be because it uses general diction, but that does not necessarily make it less valuable. This book is also not boring to read because of various anecdotes that are obtained from the experiences of the author and his closest ones. Aside from that, it is interspersed with interesting quotes and soft-toned paintings. Although the book is easy to read, it is arguably slow-paced because of its astonishing contents. The contents succeeded to make me, as a reader, not to rush in finishing this book. I also found myself repeatedly stopping from reading for a while, reflecting on my course of life, before continuing the reading.

In addition, the book became more interesting with the second chapter that successfully made me in tears. Some of the quotes also reminded me of what my lecturers said related to mindfulness, media fasting, and the effect of helping others on self-esteem. In my view, as a psychology student, this book is able to clarify my understanding related to some examples of psychological terms that used to seem vague. For instance, I began to understand why suppressing negative feelings and emotions was not good for mental health and knew more comprehensive ways to be mindful. The last but not least, this book also broadens my perspective related to mindful eating which has been being implemented by my parents.

Regardless of what makes this book so special, the book itself has at least two shortcomings, such as the absence of bookmark and one unrelatable chapter, which is the seventh chapter that tells about enlightenment. I am not quite sure about the reason why I found that chapter unrelatable and not as captivating as others. I think I have to give it another chance.

To sum up, this book is one of worth reading books that will comfort you in your bad days, broaden your perspectives, give you opportunities to do some self-reflection, and make you see the good in everything.

• Rating: 4.3