Book picks similar to
The Good Life Method: Reasoning Through the Big Questions of Happiness, Faith, and Meaning by Meghan Sullivan
philosophy
non-fiction
nonfiction
aom
Don't Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life
Anne Bogel - 2020
Nobody wants to live a life of constant overthinking, but it doesn't feel like something we can choose to stop doing. It feels like something we're wired to do, something we just can't escape. But is it?Anne Bogel's answer is no. Not only can you overcome negative thought patterns that are repetitive, unhealthy, and unhelpful, you can replace them with positive thought patterns that will bring more peace, joy, and love into your life. In Don't Overthink It, you'll find actionable strategies that can make an immediate and lasting difference in how you deal with questions both small--Should I buy these flowers?--and large--What am I doing with my life? More than a book about making good decisions, Don't Overthink It offers you a framework for making choices you'll be comfortable with, using an appropriate amount of energy, freeing you to focus on all the other stuff that matters in life.
Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - 1995
What makes a good life? Is it money? An important job? Leisure time? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi believes our obsessive focus on such measures has led us astray. Work fills our days with anxiety and pressure, so that during our free time, we tend to live in boredom, watching TV or absorbed by our phones.What are we missing? To answer this question, Csikszentmihalyi studied thousands of people, and he found the key. People are happiest when they challenge themselves with tasks that demand a high degree of skill and commitment, and which are undertaken for their own sake. Instead of watching television, play the piano. Take a routine chore and figure out how to do it better, faster, more efficiently. In short, learn the hidden power of complete engagement, a psychological state the author calls flow. Though they appear simple, the lessons in Finding Flow are life-changing.
The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life
Chris Downie - 2009
They are taking part in a visionary approach to weight loss that combines goal setting, nutrition, exercise, motivation, and community that has a proven track record of ten million pounds lost.From the experts who created SparkPeople.com, one of the most successful online weight-loss programs to date, comes The Spark, a ground-breaking book that focuses on what you can do, instead of what you can’t do. The Spark is about transforming your life and your idea of what dieting means.With dozens of photos—including stunning before-and-after shots and easy-to-follow exercise images—this book distills the best of SparkPeople’s medically accepted nutrition and fitness plan and infuses it with a program of personal empowerment. In this book, you’ll discover:· Secrets of Success—the best habits of SparkPeople’s most successful
members
· A 28-day program that brings together the most effective practices from SparkPeople into an
innovative 4-stage plan, available only in this book
· Dozens of success stories that show the power of this transformational program
The Spark delivers inspirational health and weight-loss advice that will surely spark countless lives.
Marriage Fitness: 4 Steps to Building & Maintaining Phenomenal Love
Mort Fertel - 2004
Revolutionary step by step system marriage success.
The Myths of Happiness
Sonja Lyubomirsky - 2012
This restricted view of happiness works to discourage us from recognizing the upside of any negative life turn and blocks us from recognizing our own growth potential. Our outsized expectations transform natural rites of passage into emotional land mines and steer us to make toxic decisions, as The Myths of Happiness reveals.Because we expect the best (or the worst) from life’s turning points, we shortsightedly place too much weight on our initial emotional responses. The Myths of Happiness empowers readers to look beyond their first response, sharing scientific evidence that often it is our mindset—not our circumstances—that matters. Central to these findings is the notion of hedonic adaptation, the fact that people are far more adaptable than they think. Even after a major life change—good or bad—we tend to return to our initial happiness level, forgetting what once made us elated or why we felt that life was so unbearable. The Myths of Happiness offers the perspective we need to make wiser choices, sharing how to slow the effects of this adaptation after a positive turn and find the way forward in a time of darkness.In The Myths of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky turns an empirical eye to the biggest, messiest moments, providing readers with the clear-eyed vision they need to build the healthiest, most satisfying life. A corrective course on happiness and a call to regard life’s twists and turns with a more open mind, The Myths of Happiness shares practical lessons with life-changing potential.
Living Beautifully: with Uncertainty and Change
Pema Chödrön - 2012
Pema shows how using a traditional Buddhist practice called the Three Vows or Three Commitments is a way to relax into profound sanity in the midst of whatever non-sanity is happening around us. Just making these simple aspirations can change the way we look at the world and can provide us with a lifetime of material for spiritual practice. The three commitments are three methods for embracing the chaotic, uncertain, dynamic, challenging nature of our situation as a path to awakening. The first of the commitments, traditionally called the Pratimoksha Vow, is the foundation for personal liberation. This is a commitment to doing our best to not cause harm with our actions or words or thoughts, a commitment to being good to each other. It provides a structure within which we learn to work with our thoughts and emotions, and to refrain from speaking or acting out of confusion. The next step toward being comfortable with groundlessness is a commitment to helping others, traditionally called the Bodhisattva Vow. It is a commitment to dedicate our lives to keeping our hearts and minds open, and nurturing our compassion with the longing to ease the suffering of the world. The last of the three commitments, traditionally known as the Samaya Vow, is a resolve to embrace the world just as it is, without bias; a resolve to see everything we encounter, good and bad, pleasant and painful, as a manifestation of awakened energy. It is a commitment to see everything and anything as a means by which we can awaken further.
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country's Foremost Relationship Expert
John M. Gottman - 1999
Here is the culmination of his life's work: the seven principles that guide couples on the path toward a harmonious and long-lasting relationship. Packed with practical questionnaires and exercises, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is the definitive guide for anyone who wants their relationship to attain its highest potential.
Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel
Rolf Potts - 2002
Veteran shoestring traveler Rolf Potts shows how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel. Potts gives the necessary information on:- financing your travel time - determining your destination - adjusting to life on the road- working and volunteering overseas - handling travel adversity - re-assimilating back into ordinary lifeNot just a plan of action, vagabonding is an outlook on life that emphasizes creativity, discovery, and the growth of the spirit. Visit the vagabonding community's hub at www.vagabonding.net.
Project 333: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really Is So Much More
Courtney Carver - 2020
Project 333 promises that not only can you survive with just 33 items in your closet for 3 months, but you'll thrive just like the thousands of woman who have taken on the challenge and never looked back. Let the de-cluttering begin!Ever ask yourself how many of the items in your closet you actually wear? In search of a way to pare down on her expensive shopping habit, consistent lack of satisfaction with her purchases, and ever-growing closet, Carver created Project 333. In this book, she guides readers through their closets item-by-item, sifting through all the emotional baggage associated with those oh-so strappy high-heel sandals that cost a fortune but destroy your feet every time you walk more than a few steps to that extensive collection of never-worn little black dresses, to locate the items that actually look and feel like you. As Carver reveals in this book, once we finally release ourselves from the cyclical nature of consumerism and focus less on our shoes and more on our self-care, we not only look great we feel great-- and we can see a clear path to make other important changes in our lives that reach far beyond our closets. With tips, solutions, and a closet-full of inspiration, this life-changing minimalist manual shows readers that we are so much more than what we wear, and that who we are and what we have is so much more than enough.
The Desire Map
Danielle LaPorte - 2012
Which is valuable. Getting results is what moves your life forward. Except that most goal-setting systems fail to harness the most powerful driver behind any aspiration: your preferred feelings; and they foster an uptight determination that can keep us from the vitality we crave.The Desire Map program is changing all of that. You could call it holistic life-planning. The inner meets the outer. The spirit drives the material.The purpose of The Desire Map is: - Ultimately, to help you remember your light, your true nature, your source. - To show you your heart’s longing — your core desired - feelings. - To help you use your core desired feelings as a guidance system for making choices. - To help you use your desired feelings as a way to access comfort and clarity during painful times. - To help you accentuate the positive aspects of your life, while still honouring, and not invalidating, the negative parts that you want to change. - To help you regard your feelings as road signs to your Soul.So that you can: - Plan your day, your week, your month, your year and… - Feel great, making a lot of awesome things happen in every area your life.
Live Life Aggressively!: What Self Help Gurus Should Be Telling You
Mike Mahler - 2011
This book is a slap in the face! It will force the reader out of his or her comfort zone, and will move the reader to remember what he or she needs to know to move forward with purpose. It is about taking charge of your life, and striving for greatness, rather than accepting mediocrity, or a life of quiet desperation. This is what it means to live life aggressively! It means to live with strong purpose and resolve. This book covers areas that few have the courage to talk about, and that is the problem. It is the white elephant in the room that everyone wants to ignore. Instead of confronting this problem, most people waste time watching nonsense like reality television and texting all day long. Self-help books are so focused on making you feel good about yourself, that they fail to help you be honest with yourself. Without brutal honesty you will never move forward. Without a strong sense of purpose, and passion, you will never persevere through the inevitable plethora of hard times that are coming your way in life. People need to accept that they will suffer in order to lead a fulfilling life and that the suffering should be embraced rather than avoided. Embrace the suffering and avoid procrastination the true destroyer of hopes and dreams. This book's focus is to induce real/lasting change and that comes as result of being aggressively honest with yourself, using pressure to your advantage, running toward risk rather than away from it and having a clear vision of what you want and what you are willing to sacrifice to get it. Some of the unique topics covered in this book include: the importance of hormone optimization for well-being and achieving goals, why the real battles in life are within, the necessity of negative thinking, what really makes people happy, and why people should avoid being attached to the results of actions. 50% of profit from book sales will be going to two fantastic organizations. Lifequest Transitions a great organization that helps wounded warriors and the Nevada SCPA an excellent organization that helps abandoned animals find new homes.
Unstuffed: Decluttering Your Home, Mind & Soul
Ruth Soukup - 2016
It's everywhere. Lurking in corners and closets, spilling onto counters and coffee tables, creating havoc everywhere we look. And it's not just the physical clutter that weighs us down. Oh no, it is the stress of overbooked schedules, and the weight of life that sometimes feels oppressive and totally out of whack.New York Times bestselling author Ruth Soukup feels your pain--she has been there too. Through personal stories, Biblical truth, and practical action plans, she will inspire and empower each of us to finally declutter not just our home, but our mind and soul as well. Unstuffed is real, honest, and gets right down to the question we are all facing--how can we take back our lives from the stuff that is weighing us down?In this book, together we will:• Create a comprehensive vision for our homes, and make instant changes to improve its overall function.• Discover that more closet space is not the solution, and instead learn how to set strict limits for the stuff we bring in• Overcome the frustration of dealing with our kids' influx of stuff and implement practical solutions for keeping the chaos at bay.• Recognize the pitfalls of an overstuffed schedule BEFORE it gets out of hand, and instead learn to combat the culture of busy that keeps us running from one thing to the next.• Finally conquer that mountain of paperwork that threatens to tumble down around us at any moment.• Let go of the guilt that gets attached to gifts and instead learn to separate our loved ones from their stuff.• Begin to cultivate our real friendships while eliminating the toxic relationships that weigh us down.
Clutter Free: Quick and Easy Steps to Simplifying Your Space
Kathi Lipp - 2015
Building off the success of her The Get Yourself Organized Project, this book will provide even more ideas for getting your life and your stuff under control.Do any of these descriptions apply to you?You bought a box of cereal at the store, and then discovered you have several boxes at home that are already past the “best by” date.You bought a book and put it on your nightstand (right on top of ten others you’ve bought recently), but you have yet to open it.You keep hundreds of DVDs around even though you watch everything online now and aren’t really sure where the remote for the DVD player is.You spend valuable time moving your piles around the house, but you can never find that piece of paper when you need it.Your house makes you depressed the moment you step into it.As you try out the many easy, doable solutions that helped Kathi win her battle with clutter, you'll begin to understand why you hold on to the things you do, eliminate what's crowding out real life, and make room for the life of true abundance God wants for you.
Stoicism: How to Use Stoic Philosophy to Find Inner Peace and Happiness
Jason Hemlock - 2020
Four simple virtues empowered them to cope with the end of a relationship, the loss of a job, ill health and even bereavement. Now you too can discover for yourself what gave them the emotional resilience to make the most of any situation.
Do you want more enjoyment in life instead of stressing all the time?
In Stoicism: How to Use Stoic Philosophy to Find Inner Peace and Happiness, you will learn about what made the ancient philosophers so wise. You will uncover how to find the opportunity in any challenge and how you can use your journal to transform your life. If you’re looking for the answer to modern stresses and strains, you’ll find it in Stoicism. Specifically, you will discover:
- Why so many successful people are Stoic
- The counterintuitive reason you should welcome misfortune
- Stoicism’s four Virtues and how you can apply them in any situation
- How you can find opportunity in any challenge
- How you can welcome hardship – and why this is an essential ingredient for happiness
- How Plato’s view will transform the way you see the world
- Why you will never have complete control over your life and this is okay
Written in plain English, this book takes profound concepts and delivers them in bite-sized chunks anyone can understand, even if you’re completely new to philosophy.Life’s a journey, but you don’t have to travel alone. With Stoicism on your side, you’ll be able to roll with the punches and make the most of whatever comes your way, good or bad. Discover the Secrets to Stoicism Today by "Picking Up a Copy Today!"
Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking
Dennis Q. McInerny - 2004
Indeed, logic goes to the very core of what we mean by human intelligence. In this concise, crisply readable book, distinguished professor D. Q. McInerny offers an indispensable guide to using logic to advantage in everyday life. Written explicitly for the layperson, McInerny’s Being Logical promises to take its place beside Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style as a classic of lucid, invaluable advice. As McInerny notes, logic is a deep, wide, and wonderfully varied field, with a bearing on every aspect of our intellectual life. A mastery of logic begins with an understanding of right reasoning–and encompasses a grasp of the close kinship between logical thought and logical expression, a knowledge of the basic terms of argument, and a familiarity with the pitfalls of illogical thinking. Accordingly, McInerny structures his book in a series of brief, penetrating chapters that build on one another to form a unified and coherent introduction to clear and effective reasoning.At the heart of the book is a brilliant consideration of argument–how an argument is founded and elaborated, how it differs from other forms of intellectual discourse, and how it critically embodies the elements of logic. McInerny teases out the subtleties and complexities of premises and conclusions, differentiates statements of fact from statements of value, and discusses the principles and uses of every major type of argument, from the syllogistic to the conditional. In addition, he provides an incisive look at illogical thinking and explains how to recognize and avoid the most common errors of logic.Elegant, pithy, and precise, Being Logical breaks logic down to its essentials through clear analysis, accessible examples, and focused insights. Whether you are a student or a teacher, a professional sharpening your career skills or an amateur devoted to the fine points of thought and expression, you are sure to find this brief guide to effecting reasoning both fascinating and illuminating.From the Hardcover edition.