Interesting Life Suggestions

I've been reading Dr. Paul Pearsall's book The Last Self-Help Book You'll Ever Need. In this book he takes on the self-help movement and here are a sample of his more interesting suggestions:

1. Lose Hope. Striving to keep your hopes up at the worst times in your life can be exhausting. Studies such as those recently conducted at the Harvard and UCLA Medical Schools show that hope does not promote healing, nor does it render cancer treatment more effective.
2. Give Up. Persevering is not the only way to demonstrate strength. Strength can also mean knowing when to engage in enlightened surrender, willingness to give in and move on.
3. Think Sad Thoughts. Trying to think only happy thoughts limits our ability to think creatively and critically.
4. Settle for Second (or Third or Sixth) Best. In any life endeavor, there can be only one number one. Relax and enjoy being one of the thousands who fall short.
5. Be a Pessimist. A little defensive pessimism goes a long way to building a good life. Unless you're a natural at trying to always think positively, the effort is stressful, exhausting, and limiting.
6. Be a Good Blamer. Finding the right person to blame is essential for good mental health.
7. Indulge yourself.
8. Bottle Up Your Anger. Research shows that although mindfully understanding your anger can be helpful, hostile expression of it weakens your immune system and literally hardens your heart and the hearts of those around you.
9. Don't Nurture Your "Inner Child"--Kick Its Ass. Look for your problems within your adult interactions, not within your own infantilized consciousness.
10. Face It, Your Family's Nuts. The only cure for dysfunctional families is to do away with all families. We all have at least one weird family member and usually more. A family is nothing more than a group of people irrationally committed to one another's welfare. A good family is a group willing to stick with you when most sane and discerning people would vote you out.
11. Delude yourself. Research shows that deluding oneself about one's partner--believing that (s)he is kinder and more caring and helpful than (s)he really is---is essential for a lasting relationship.
12. Stop Trying to Live Up to Your "Full Potential." Stop focusing on your potential and start thinking about doing the best with the talents you already have.

Well, how's that for upbeat happy thoughts? Believe it or not the author is neuropsychologist and is a member of a new psychological school of thought called positive psychology! I especially like suggestions 9, 10 and 11.