Author– Samridh Seth
Book– Past Dwellers
Previous Works– Debut Novel
Blurb-
The past is not a permanent state of being, but a stepping stone to the future. Instead of dwelling on the mistakes and regrets of the past, learn from them and open your mind and self to a new tomorrow, one that will be brighter, more enriched than before.
With the author’s own experience of pulling himself out of the clutches of the past, he explains a few very important but relatively simple life lessons to learn to let go of your past and maximise your present to build your future. These include:
Making wise choices.
Being conscious of the value of time.
Knowing the people you spend time with.
Using your senses to observe and absorb your environment.
Understanding your abilities and being able to tap them carefully.
Most of all, building a strong foundation and never stopping learning, evolving, and growing.
Don’t stay in one place, move on, and build your own future by being present in the moment!
Review-
Past Dwellers by Samridh Seth, is a work of non-fiction on self-development.
The book tries to summarize the various aspects of life that one needs to concentrate on, to achieve success. It has sixteen chapters, each dedicated to explaining a thought process or experience. These experiences can be traced back to the author’s dealings in his past life.
The book enlists a set of 15 steps in the end, with an extra section entitled, “Past Dweller’s Guidebook to the Present”. Each of the steps mentioned follows a short description. These steps can be included in one’s daily life to bring change. The change in approach and these steps included, may be beneficial for the practitioner.
The book might serve as a good coffee table book because of the minimalist yet beautiful cover. The presentation and arrangement of chapters are quite neat. A sketch at the start of each chapter really adds to the charm.
Ratings- 3 stars out of 5
The book is titled “Past Dwellers”, and the blurb speaks about ways to deal with your past, which is very different than the content of the book. There was very little mention of dealing with the past. If it’s about dealing with the past, acceptance is most important. When a reader picks a title, they have certain expectations, and the book underdelivers in that point of view.
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The chapters are very skillfully titled, the goals are made clear, but the approach could have been better. The advice in the book is very aggressive. For momentary motivation, it would be very helpful, but if followed for too long, would cause the individual to burn out. The process isn’t advisable for longer terms. While it’s good to have an energetic take-off, like the words in this book, to stay in the air, one needs patience and kindness. The sort of kindness that one shows to themselves so that they can heal from the past.
When I picked the book, I was expecting some healing words that real past dwellers need. I was expecting the book to be a calmer journey towards the present. A book that could help readers to accept their past mistakes and misdoings and give them another chance to do well with their lives. One would expect the book to be full of experiences that the author had chosen to share with their readers, but it’s not the case. The book is not going to appeal to people who can only be influenced by an example and not mere words.
While this sort of motivation might work at times, but will it work for everyone? There is an old saying, the same boiling water that softens the potato, will harden the egg. The motivation might work for younger individuals who can get emotionally charged from those millionaire quotes on social media, but this won’t be applicable for the older audience who have had more experience with life. A book that is written during the lockdown of 2020, lacks in its values regarding patience, which is quite an irony.
Charging at life, head-on is a great start, but as one goes through life and experiences a diversity of situations, the importance of taking it slowly becomes evident.
This book was quite some motivation, but will it reach the right audience, who are very specific? This kind of motivation may be applicable to a very limited section of society.
Reviewed by- Banaja Prakashini
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