Letgoofyourbananas My self help book reading frequency is pretty erratic.Most of the gyan from these kind of books are common sensical.Having said that, I do read them for the simple reason that it triggers thoughts which motivate me to carry on.

One such book that I picked up recently was " Letting Go of your Bananas" . It’s about 100 pages and can be quickly read in an hour’s time. The metaphor used in the book is derived from the story of a monkey which has got his hands trapped  in a jar. Monkey Catchers in Africa use a jar for catching monkeys. This jar is peculiar in the sense that there are some bananas kept at the bottom of the jar and the jar is heavy enough that it cannot be moved. The only way to take the bananas for the monkey is to put his hand inside the jar and the jar is long enough that no monkey can reach the bananas. Time and again, various monkeys keep their hands in the jar and try reaching the bananas, and in the process get stuck,thus making them easy targets for the hunters.

We, Humans too tend to reach out for bananas knowing that they are bad for us. We keep going back to negative patterns in our lives thus getting stuck in a situation / phase of life etc. With the help of this metaphor, the author urges the reader to let go of the bananas and adopt a positive approach to life.

There are some quotes in the book which are wonderful

He who has a strong enough WHY can bear almost any HOW
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Things turn out the best for those who make the best of the ways things turn out - John Wooden

Things may come to those who wait but only the things left by those who hustle - Abe Lincoln

The thing that you fear the most prevent you from having the things that you want the most
- D.T.Drubin