Doug Erlandson

"Find Peace" is a short book that can be read in an hour or less but at the same time contains a wealth of helpful advice for those suffering from depression. Author Roland Griffith tells the story of how depression plagued him much of his adult life, and despite his outward success, brought about the painful dissolution of his first marriage and almost drove him to suicide. (Actually, he did attempt suicide, but it wasn't successful.) As a result of his copious research he came up with a method for counteracting depression, one that involves intentional living in the present moment rather than listening to debilitating messages about the past and the future. Learning to live in the present requires work, and the last part of the book describes how the author learned to do it and also presents a plan to help others learn to appreciate and live in the present. (Griffith calls the time spent living in the present "Pieces of Peace.") In addition to the text, the book contains a blank daily log, which can be used to track one's daily progress in learning to live in the peace of the present. Roland Griffith's story is a testimony to how important it is to live in the serenity of the present rather than to concern ourselves with what we can't change (the past) and what is still unknown (the future). As the great twentieth-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote, "Eternal life belongs to those who live in the present" (Tractatus, 6.4311). Although I have never suffered from depression, as someone who has suffered from obsessive-compulsive tendencies, I can vouch for the importance of learning to live in the present if one is going to live a psychologically healthy life.