Reviewed on Apr 12, 2021

Must read 🏆

A Great Start to The New Year’s

I have been reading books about mind and spirituality for quite some time now and I am glad that I found this one impactful book on spiritual growth that I’d like to talk about. So, without further due, let’s get started.

The Road Less traveled explored three subjects from a psychological perspective:

- Love

- Grace

- Religion and Worldview

Additionally, it had a section titled Discipline whose key message must be familiar to you: Life is difficult because it’s full of never-ending problems and the process of confronting them, solving them is a painful one. Yet this pain is what gives life meaning. Don’t skip this section though, as there is more to it and I felt it was the base for the above sections. Besides, this is where I felt why the book’s title was ‘The Road Less traveled’.

Doctor Scott approached the subject directly, drawing from years of experience as a psychotherapist. The content included illustrations of his patients (edited for privacy) and himself as a patient. Also, it included verses from the Bible, Christian Hymns, and research from noteworthy psychologists Sigmund Feud and Carl Jung. It was extensive, valuable, and well explained.

The outlook he gave about Love was startling. The biggest section among others, he first started with defining love, then tore down the misconceptions about it, and finally explored what love indeed is. It was hard disagreeing with his point of view.

Not underrating what I learned in Love, I’d say that Grace had a huge impact on me. The key lesson here was: The unwanted and painful symptoms of mental illness (depression, anxiety attacks, bad dreams, etc) are manifestations of grace. It notifies that you are on the wrong path, your spirits are not growing, and are in grave jeopardy.

It was a mind-opening reading experience with astonishing realizations, but I didn’t like how this book was presented. I’d rather have a fatter book with larger font and wider line spacing within them. Nevertheless, the print quality was good enough.

A few learnings and realizations:

- There is no such thing as falling in love. Love is an act of will, a conscious choice that we make.

- The closest place to look for grace is within yourself.

- Religion and Worldview could be a source of most problems – examine them.

- Blame no one for your condition, take effort and responsibility to heal it.

I must say reading The Road Less Travelled was a great start to the new year. I appreciate the writer for sharing such valuable wisdom. It’s extremely needed and useful.