Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now

Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2008. Paperback. Very Good. The beloved bestselling collection of common sense wisdom from a celebrated psychologist and military veteran who proves it's never too late to move b eyond the deepest of personal losses After service in Vietnam, as a surgeon for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regimen t in 1968-69, at the height of the war, Dr. Gordon Livingston returned to t he U.S. and began work as a psychiatrist. In that capacity, he has listened to people talk about their lives--what works, what doesn't, and the limitl ess ways (many of them self-inflicted) that people find to be unhappy. He is also a parent twice bereaved; in one thirteen-month period he lost hi s eldest son to suicide, his youngest to leukemia. Out of a lifetime of exp erience, Gordon Livingston has extracted thirty bedrock truths, including: We are what we do. Any relationship is under the control of the person who cares the least. The perfect is the enemy of the good. Only bad things happen quickly. Forgiveness is a form of letting go, but they are not the same thing. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. The statute of limitations has expired on most of our childhood traumas. Livingston illuminates these and twenty-four other truths in a series of carefully hewn, perfectly calibrated essays, many of which focus on our closest relationships and the things that we do to impede or, less frequently, enhance them. Again and again, these essays underscore that "we are what we do," and that while there may be no escaping who we are, we have the capacity to face loss, misfortune, and.