Real Answers to the Meaning of Life and Finding Happiness PDF Download

Author: Timothy Tang
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595459412
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 73

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Book Description
What is the real ultimate meaning and purpose of our existence? What is happiness and how does one find it? These are ultimate questions of existence that have been asked and discussed many times across the ages with no clear and definite answers given. Ultimate questions demand ultimate answers and they are what readers will find in this book. The book seeks to formulate an objective ultimate meaning of life and explains how it can be possible without a belief in a higher intelligence or an after-life. This book is definitely one of the most important and powerful books you will ever read in your life to help you find direction and achieve lasting meaning and happiness in your life.

Author: James Hollis, Ph.D.
Publisher: Sounds True
ISBN: 1683640489
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
How do you define “growing up”? Does it mean you achieve certain cultural benchmarks—a steady income, paying taxes, marriage, and children? Or does it mean leaving behind the expectations of others and growing into the person you were meant to be? If you find yourself in a career, place, relationship, or crisis you never foresaw and that seems at odds with your beliefs about who you are, it means your soul is calling on you to reexamine your path. With Living an Examined Life, James Hollis offers an essential guidebook for anyone at a crossroads in life Here this acclaimed author guides you through 21 areas for self-inquiry and growth—such as how to exorcise the ghosts of your past, when to choose meaning over happiness, how to construct a mature spirituality, and how to seize permission to be who you really are With his trademark eloquence and insight, Dr. Hollis offers a potent resource you’ll return to time and again to energize and inspire you on your journey to create a life of personal authority, integrity, and fulfillment.

Author: Michael Puett
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476777853
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
For the first time, an award-winning Harvard professor shares his wildly popular course on classical Chinese philosophy, showing you how ancient ideas—like the fallacy of the authentic self—can guide you on the path to a good life today. Why is a course on ancient Chinese philosophers one of the most popular at Harvard? Because it challenges all our modern assumptions about what it takes to flourish. Astonishing teachings emerged two thousand years ago through the work of a succession of Chinese scholars exploring how humans can improve themselves and their society. And what are these counterintuitive ideas? Transformation comes not from looking within for a true self, but from creating conditions that produce new possibilities. Good relationships come not from being sincere and authentic, but from the rituals we perform within them. A good life emerges not from planning it out, but through training ourselves to respond well to small moments. Influence comes not from wielding power but from holding back. Excellence comes from what we choose to do, not our natural abilities. In other words, The Path “opens the mind” (Huffington Post) and upends everything we are told about how to lead a good life. Its most radical idea is that there is no path to follow in the first place—just a journey we create anew at every moment by seeing and doing things differently. “With its…spirited, convincing vision, revolutionary new insights can be gleaned from this book on how to approach life’s multifarious situations with both heart and head” (Kirkus Reviews). A note from the publisher: To read relevant passages from the original works of Chinese philosophy, see our ebook Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi: Selected Passages, available wherever books are sold.

Author: James Hollis
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101216697
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
What does it really mean to be a grown up in today’s world? We assume that once we “get it together” with the right job, marry the right person, have children, and buy a home, all is settled and well. But adulthood presents varying levels of growth, and is rarely the respite of stability we expected. Turbulent emotional shifts can take place anywhere between the age of thirty-five and seventy when we question the choices we’ve made, realize our limitations, and feel stuck—commonly known as the “midlife crisis.” Jungian psycho-analyst James Hollis believes it is only in the second half of life that we can truly come to know who we are and thus create a life that has meaning. In Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life, Hollis explores the ways we can grow and evolve to fully become ourselves when the traditional roles of adulthood aren’t quite working for us, revealing a new way of uncovering and embracing our authentic selves. Offering wisdom to anyone facing a career that no longer seems fulfilling, a long-term relationship that has shifted, or family transitions that raise issues of aging and mortality, Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life provides a reassuring message and a crucial bridge across this critical passage of adult development.

Author: Alan Gettis
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780979875519
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Happiness Solution: Finding Joy and Meaning in an Upside Down World is a fascinating collection of parable-like stories, myths, and anecdotes. Dr. Gettis draws upon his forty years of clinical experience as a psychologist and combines that with the latest research on the science of happiness. The result is markedly influenced by Dr. Gettis's passionate involvement with Eastern philosophy in general and Zen in particular. The Happiness Solution is written in a down-to-earth, non-pedantic style that makes it easy to read and digest despite dealing with complex human issues. It combines Zen wisdom, cognitive behavioral therapy, spirituality, and the new paradigm of positive psychology. The Happiness Solution won the Best Mental Health Book of the Year award from USA Book News and was also selected as one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by The Best You Can Be Foundation. The book confronts our societal notions of what brings us true happiness, and the answers may surprise you. It turns out that power, fame, fortune, prestige, possessions, and intelligence level are not the ultimate answers. You can't buy integrity, love, self-esteem, and peace of mind at the mall. Dr. Gettis uses humor, pathos, and storytelling to lead you to the solution. He believes we are hardwired for stories, dating back to the earliest cultures and our collective unconscious. Dr. Gettis firmly believes that the stories in The Happiness Solution may indeed change the way the reader lives their life.

Author: Emily Esfahani Smith
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 055344655X
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
In a culture obsessed with happiness, this wise, stirring book points the way toward a richer, more satisfying life. Too many of us believe that the search for meaning is an esoteric pursuit—that you have to travel to a distant monastery or page through dusty volumes to discover life’s secrets. The truth is, there are untapped sources of meaning all around us—right here, right now. To explore how we can craft lives of meaning, Emily Esfahani Smith synthesizes a kaleidoscopic array of sources—from psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, and neuroscientists to figures in literature and history such as George Eliot, Viktor Frankl, Aristotle, and the Buddha. Drawing on this research, Smith shows us how cultivating connections to others, identifying and working toward a purpose, telling stories about our place in the world, and seeking out mystery can immeasurably deepen our lives. To bring what she calls the four pillars of meaning to life, Smith visits a tight-knit fishing village in the Chesapeake Bay, stargazes in West Texas, attends a dinner where young people gather to share their experiences of profound loss, and more. She also introduces us to compelling seekers of meaning—from the drug kingpin who finds his purpose in helping people get fit to the artist who draws on her Hindu upbringing to create arresting photographs. And she explores how we might begin to build a culture that leaves space for introspection and awe, cultivates a sense of community, and imbues our lives with meaning. Inspiring and story-driven, The Power of Meaning will strike a profound chord in anyone seeking a life that matters.

Author: Annie Dillard
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061863823
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
"For nonwriters, it is a glimpse into the trials and satisfactions of a life spent with words. For writers, it is a warm, rambling, conversation with a stimulating and extraordinarily talented colleague." — Chicago Tribune From Pulitzer Prize-winning Annie Dillard, a collection that illuminates the dedication and daring that characterizes a writer's life. In these short essays, Annie Dillard—the author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and An American Childhood—illuminates the dedication, absurdity, and daring that characterize the existence of a writer. A moving account of Dillard’s own experiences while writing her works, The Writing Life offers deep insight into one of the most mysterious professions.

Author: Iddo Landau
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190657685
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Does life have meaning? Is it possible for life to be meaningful when the world is filled with suffering and when so much depends merely upon chance? Even if there is meaning, is there enough to justify living? These questions are difficult to resolve. There are times in which we face the mundane, the illogically cruel, and the tragic, which leave us to question the value of our lives. However, Iddo Landau argues, our lives often are, or could be made, meaningful—we've just been setting the bar too high for evaluating what meaning there is. When it comes to meaning in life, Landau explains, we have let perfect become the enemy of the good. We have failed to find life perfectly meaningful, and therefore have failed to see any meaning in our lives. We must attune ourselves to enhancing and appreciating the meaning in our lives, and Landau shows us how to do that. In this warmly written book, rich with examples from the author's life, film, literature, and history, Landau offers new theories and practical advice that awaken us to the meaning already present in our lives and demonstrates how we can enhance it. He confronts prevailing nihilist ideas that undermine our existence, and the questions that dog us no matter what we believe. While exposing the weaknesses of ideas that lead many to despair, he builds a strong case for maintaining more hope. Along the way, he faces provocative questions: Would we choose to live forever if we could? Does death render life meaningless? If we examine it in the context of the immensity of the whole universe, can we consider life meaningful? If we feel empty once we achieve our goals, and the pursuit of these goals is what gives us a sense of meaning, then what can we do? Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World is likely to alter the way you understand your life.

Author: Janet Bray Attwood
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1849838674
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Accessible to anyone of any faith or background, The Passion Test takes readers on a journey to experience the transformation that occurs when they determine what really matters most to them. Through interactive sections, the book helps the reader to identify their top 5 passions, and provides guidance on how to align their life with those passions. Combining powerful storytelling and profound wisdom from the world's leading experts in self-development, The Passion Testshows practical ways how the law of attraction can be used to bring a life of unlimited reward and unconditional love.

Author: Alex Pattakos
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1940363519
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Named the "2015 Self-Help Book of the Year" at the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards In chasing "the good life," many of us sacrifice our relationships, our health, and our sanity, but at the end of the day, we still find ourselves with lives and work that bring us little fulfillment. Life isn't about the pursuit of happiness, which is superficial and fleeting. It's about meaning, which helps us realize our full potential, and knowing that our lives and work matter—regardless of circumstances. Dr. Alex Pattakos and Elaine Dundon, two bestselling authors and leaders of the Meaning Movement, give readers The OPA! Way: Finding Joy & Meaning in Everyday Life & Work. Inspired by the wisdom of ancient Greek philosophy and traditional village values, and backed by years of research, The OPA! Way provides a breakthrough approach and practical tools to renew your outlook and rejuvenate your life. Pattakos and Dundon demystify the subject of meaning by sharing insights, stories, and three core lessons to guide you on your odyssey: Connect meaningfully with Others Engage with deeper Purpose Embrace life with Attitude Stop searching for happiness and start searching for meaning. Create the life you want, The OPA! Way.