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The Lost Art of Being Happy: Spirituality for Sceptics
Arguing that spirituality is not about religion but about living happily, this guidebook offers advice on the skills of the inner life—the mind and emotions—that are needed for a life of gladness. This examination discusses the requirements for happiness, explores their nature, and shows that mastering a set of five of them leads to bliss. The exercises in this resource are offered to spiritual seekers as a path towards happiness and emphasize that personal elation is not caused by external events, but by mastering the skills of the inner life.
302 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 24, 2013
I have always been smitten with psychology and thought processes and motivation, so nothing was revelation with a big R here. Still it summed up some of good points neatly and I could only nod my head at places and agree with the author.
The only problem with these kinds of things is, that those who really need to read them or follow the advice rarely do, as the old saying is- if you think you are crazy then you probably are not, crazy people never think that they are crazy, they believe they are the only sane one left.
Now religion seems like the easy way out to me, yes, the sheep following the shepard mentality does makes life much easier, because you don't have to make your own decisions about right or wrong or look for any deeper answers to anything. Nonbelievers don't have a rulebook for life and feel the weight of the world more clearly.
Now to present you couple of my own inner life rules I have set, that help me not to take things too seriously.
Nr 1. Sometimes you have to do things you don't like doing. Do them now and move on. You don't have to enjoy everything in life, but you can enjoy the things you like even more because there are things you don't like.
Nr 2. When you have a problem, think about things that have happened to you, that were much worse or think about things that could be worse. Perspective makes problems shrink.
Nr 3. There are always people who hurt you unintentionally, think of them as a bit half-witted in empathy and forgive them. If they hurt you intentionally, they are not nice people and why would you take something they say to heart? It's clearly their own problem to live with.
Nr 4. It's okay to be unhappy, just don't drag it out. It gets tiresome to other people around you.
Nr 5. To be a good writer, is to understand and live all ranges of emotions. It cannot always be sunshine, sometimes rain is beautiful too.
The only problem with these kinds of things is, that those who really need to read them or follow the advice rarely do, as the old saying is- if you think you are crazy then you probably are not, crazy people never think that they are crazy, they believe they are the only sane one left.
Now religion seems like the easy way out to me, yes, the sheep following the shepard mentality does makes life much easier, because you don't have to make your own decisions about right or wrong or look for any deeper answers to anything. Nonbelievers don't have a rulebook for life and feel the weight of the world more clearly.
Now to present you couple of my own inner life rules I have set, that help me not to take things too seriously.
Nr 1. Sometimes you have to do things you don't like doing. Do them now and move on. You don't have to enjoy everything in life, but you can enjoy the things you like even more because there are things you don't like.
Nr 2. When you have a problem, think about things that have happened to you, that were much worse or think about things that could be worse. Perspective makes problems shrink.
Nr 3. There are always people who hurt you unintentionally, think of them as a bit half-witted in empathy and forgive them. If they hurt you intentionally, they are not nice people and why would you take something they say to heart? It's clearly their own problem to live with.
Nr 4. It's okay to be unhappy, just don't drag it out. It gets tiresome to other people around you.
Nr 5. To be a good writer, is to understand and live all ranges of emotions. It cannot always be sunshine, sometimes rain is beautiful too.
August 5, 2022
Still one of my favourite self help books and the one which pointed me towards mindfulness reading. It introduces many ideas for further exploration and takes the core spiritual components of numerous religions whilst leaving behind dogma. Incorporating these lessons are a lifetime’s work.
November 29, 2025
My favourite self help book so far. It provides simple no nonsense obvious tactics to deal with being human. Sometimes all we need is to master the basics of our nature.
September 9, 2016
This is one of the best books I have ever read about developing peace of mind and happiness in life in general. I cannot recommend it highly enough. The strong logic, clear explanations, and excellent guidance are an excellent introduction to Humanist spirituality. Seriously: go read this. You can download it for free at http://ebookee.org/The-Lost-Art-of-Be...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews