Book Club: Thrive, by Arianna Huffington

“Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom and Wonder,” is the latest book by Arianna Huffington. Arianna was born in Greece. She moved to England as a teenager and graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in Economics. The mother of two teenage daughters, she also happens to be the well-known co-founder and editor in chief of Huffington Post and the author of 13 books.

Despite her fame, with “Thrive,” Ariana has written a book that is raw, personal and honest. It is a book about a woman struggling to build balanced and positive lives.

Arianna talks about personal desire to redefine the concept of success beyond money and power. She explains that, while money and power are important, there is an important part of the success puzzle missing. This piece is what she calls the “Third Metric,” which she describes as the realm of well-being, wisdom, wonder and giving.

The book has a strong human touch to it. The author talks about her own experiences of stress and sleep deprivation and how they affected every part of her life. Arianna talks about how she discovered the power of meditation to relieve stress and bring balance to her life. She also explains the science behind the practice of mindfulness and how meditation can help with depression, anxiety, heart disease, memory, aging and creativity.

Even though this book is about Arianna Huffington’s personal journey, I felt that her insights would be of value to women in the Sixty and Me community. We are also interested in transforming our lives and looking for that illusive balance that she describes. Hopefully, we can learn from her experiences. At the end of the day, her advice for women of all ages is to listen to our inner voice, trust our instincts and do what we know is right.

The book is practical, informational and inspirational. Arianna gives us an action plan for getting better quality sleep and incorporating meditation into our lives. She offers techniques for disconnecting a little from our computers and phones.

What I love most about this book is that it is not just theoretical; it is grounded in practical things we can do every day. As Arianna says, “I very much hope that the book will help make room in our definition of success for well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving, and help us move from knowing what we need to do to actually doing it.”

I hope reading “Thrive” motivates you to examine your concept of “success” and enables you to incorporate that third metric of well-being, wonder and wisdom into your life.

If you don’t already have a copy of “Thrive,” you can get it on Amazon.

To kick things off, here are a few questions. Please add your thoughts in the comments:

How do you measure success in your life?

Do you agree with the author’s assessment of the missing component in finding balance?

Did you find this an inspirational or information book or both?

What practical tip did you find most useful?

What there anything in the book that you thought was missing?

Did the fact that Arianna Huffington is a very famous women impact how you rated the book?

I hope that you enjoy this book! Please share your thoughts below.