Book Description

This is not just another self-help book. The Art of Joyful Living is a unique manual designed to help you to take charge of your life in order to achieve lasting success and happiness. Basing his work on a groundbreaking definition of what mental health consists of, psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Rosman demonstrates, by means of simple examples which anyone can relate to, that the key to happiness is to live a life rich in values. To be happy, you need both a purpose and lots of values. The Art of Joyful Living is not just a collection of tips for life. Neither is it a collection of vague themes of desirable conduct. Instead, the book provides you with a clear set of principles that are grounded in the objective requirements of successful living. And, what is more, they are fully integrated and compatible with one another. Dr. Rosman leads you systematically from an explanation of happiness as being what Aristotle described as excellent living, to a detailed discussion of what values are, what their role is in the achievement of happiness, and how to pursue them and nurture them. The chapters on values lead to an analysis of virtues, which are the actions necessary to achieve values. To be more virtuous, Dr. Rosman shows you not only how to motivate yourself to act, but also how to become passionate about your life. He shows you how you can embrace positive changes and actually transform your personality for the better. The Art of Joyful Living is a manual on how to structure and manage your mental processes so as to develop skills and to establish habits that promote a happy life. Making changes in yourself is a process of growth, and Dr. Rosman shows in what way the integration of your mental processes with each other and with all the aspects of your life is the key to achieving full maturity. Growing, to some extent, involves letting go of the past, and Dr. Rosman shows you how to deal with several common fears and low self-esteem. The Art of Joyful Living is filled with colorful examples from real life and is written in simple language. It comes with a summary of the important principles set out in the book. For example, the principle of stagnation refers to the fact that life does not stand still, and thus you should not try to do so. The only alternatives you have are moving forwards, or regressing. There are also sample worksheets so that you can start to apply the happiness principles to your own life even while you are reading the book. The Art of Joyful Living is written for anyone who wants to improve the level of happiness in his or her life. It contains a wealth of information, and many of the truisms it contains will easily resonate with you. This book just helps you to put it all together.