Taming Your Gremlin

A great book about an ego mind which the author calls the Gremlin that lives inside of us.

What I liked the most are the approaches that Rick presents as coping mechanisms to our Gremlins' behaviors. Mindfulness is encouraged and simply noticing is said to be the first step of taming the Voice. And, if you ask me, one of the most important takeaways from this book is that if we even begin to argue with our Gremlin, he has already won.

The non-judgemental and mindful approach is necessary to break the illusion of imagination being a reality.

“I free myself not by trying to be free, but by simply noticing how I am imprisoning myself in the very moment I am imprisoning myself”

The author also reminded me of the things I can do after simply noticing my Gremlin. Centering oneself is necessary to create a space from which to observe the toxic (or non-toxic, but nonetheless illusory) dialogue of one's ego-mind. As well as deep-breathing and simply appreciating the reality around.

I can connect the dots and see how most of the stuff that Rick talks about must be true and it is true in fact. If you really want to live a good life, you have to “tame your Gremlin”, in other words, you have to realize on a day-to-day basis that your ego-mind plays numerous tricks on you and is limiting your potential second-by-second by installing habits and behavioral patterns that suits its survival strategies the most.

The work described within this book is one of the most difficult ones to undertake but is the only one that leads to a life of real fulfillment.

Living with an untamed Gremlin is living in Hell. Taming your Gremlin is a doorway to Heaven.

So, in short, this book helps you to navigate yourself towards the doorway to Heaven, where the real work of improving oneself begins.