Epictetus was born into slavery about 55 ce in the eastern outreaches of the Roman Empire. Once freed, he established an influential school of Stoic philosophy, stressing that human beings cannot control life, only their responses to it. By putting into practice the ninety-three witty, wise, and razor-sharp instructions that make up The Art of Living, readers learn to meet the challenges of everyday life successfully and to face life's inevitable losses and disappointments with grace.
In troubled times, there is an urgency to understand ourselves and our world. We have so many questions, and they tug at us night and day, consciously and unconsciously. In this important volume Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh——one of the most revered spiritual leaders in the world today——reveals an art of living in mindfulness that helps us answer life’s deepest questions and experience the happiness and freedom we desire. Thich Nhat Hanh presents, for the first time, seven transformative meditations that open up new perspectives on our lives, our relationships and our interconnectedness with the world around us. Based on the last full talks before his sudden hospitalization, and drawing on intimate examples from his own life, Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how these seven meditations can free us to live a happy, peaceful and active life, and face ageing and dying with curiosity and joy and without fear. Containing the essence of the Buddha’s teachings and Thich Nhat Hanh’s poignant, timeless, and clarifying prose, The Art of Living provides a spiritual dimension to our lives. This is not an effort to escape life or to dwell in a place of bliss outside of this world. Instead, this path will allow us to discover where we come from and where we are going. And most of all, it will generate happiness, understanding, and love, so we can live deeply in each moment of our life, right where we are.
In this new book by bestselling author, Edward Sri, we discover the close connection between growing in the virtues and growing in friendship and community with others. A consummate teacher, Dr. Sri leads us through the virtues with engaging examples and an uncanny ability to anticipate and answer our most pressing questions. Dr. Sri shows us in his inimitable, easy-to-read style, that the virtues are the basic life skills we need to give the best of ourselves to God and to the people in our lives. In short, the practice of the virtues give us the freedom to love.
This is a book about time--about one's own journey through it and, more important, about enlarging the pleasure one takes in that journey. It's about memory of the past, hope and fear for the future, and how they color, for better and for worse, one's experience of the present. Ultimately, it's a book about freedom--freedom from despair of the clock, of the aging body, of the seeming waste of one's daily routine, the freedom that comes with acceptance and appreciation of the human dimensions of time and of the place of each passing moment on life's bounteous continuum. For Robert Grudin, living is an art, and cultivating a creative partnership with time is one of the keys to mastering it. In a series of wise, witty, and playful meditations, he suggests that happiness lies not in the effort to conquer time but rather in learning to bend to its curve, in hearing its music and learning to dance to it. Grudin offers practical advice and mental exercises designed to help the reader use time more effectively, but this is no ordinary self-help book. It is instead a kind of wisdom literature, a guide to life, a feast for the mind and for the spirit.
Make Bob Proctor YOUR personal mentor! The Art of Living presents transcripts from legendary business speaker and mentor Bob Proctor’s most popular workshop—Matrixx—and brings this wisdom to a wider audience. With this book, readers will become a student of Bob Proctor’s as he teaches lessons and presents jewels of wisdom on living an extraordinary life. Readers will marvel at Proctor’s miraculous way of disseminating his decades of business wisdom into easy-to-understand parables and learn lessons on what our creative faculties are and how to use them, why we need to unlearn most of the false beliefs we’ve been indoctrinated with our whole lives, and how our intellects have the ability not only to put us ahead in life, but also to be our biggest detriment. Among many other invaluable lessons contained herein, as a new student of Bob’s, readers will learn: -How to obtain whatever it is that’s desired in life -How to erase negative thought patterns and retrain the brain for success -How to arrange work for maximum effectiveness
A humorous, uplifting look at mindfulness, from beloved illustrator Grant Snider “Find a quiet spot away from all distraction / Listen to your breath / Watch your thoughts float past you / Forget the obligations of today / Try not to consider your eventual decay / Let yourself drift away / Arise, connected with the Earth / Awakened to the Universe.” In The Art of Living, cartoonist Grant Snider, author of The Shape of Ideas and I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf, has created an all-new collection of one- and two-page comics that map his inner thoughts, poetic observations, and frequent failures at living mindfully. With both humor and a touch of reality, The Art of Living centers on mindfulness, but also empathy, relaxation, gratitude, and awareness—evergreen subjects that are more important and relevant now than ever. With a striking package, The Art of Living is an extension of the themes of Snider’s first two books—which explored the creative process and the love of reading—and is the perfect gift for those in a need of reflection, commiseration, hope, and a little extra self-care. Above all, Snider's cartoons will inspire and encourage a more thoughtful way of experiencing the world.
The Art of Living Well: How to Find Joy and Love Your Life details a path to increased creativity, compassion, and joyfulness. It follows a trail blazed by the sages of western civilization, stopping at four points along the way. The first, the Oracle of Delphi - the Holiest of the Holies in the ancient Greek world - greets us with the words emblazoned on its entryway: "Know Thyself." Through these words we will come to an appreciation that Love stands at the very center of our being. We then meet the words of Polonius, a character in Shakespeare's Hamlet, who advises his son: "To thine own self be true." In this section we will learn to forge the Love we've uncovered into a tool of forgiveness, and we will use it to heal the buried hurts and pains from the past. Freed and bolstered with a newly strengthened sense of self, we next stand before the urgings of Ralph Waldo Emerson - Trust thyself. Here, we will learn how to trust the deepest within ourselves and the deepest in the world. At our last stopping point we find the words of friends and loved ones, not the wisdom of sages. They tell us to be ourselves-words that sound so simple-and we will see that we have developed the exact skills to live this way. The prize for our efforts is the art of living well: we will be able to find joy and love life in all of our various settings and roles. The author applies his more than thirty years as a physician, educator and striver in laying out an approach that is available to anyone who is willing to work with heart, mind, and commitment. Inner exercises complement the ideas presented in these pages, allowing readers to find their own insight and discoveries. These pages are available to anyone who feels there is more to life than what is merely seen with the eye."
Baars explores philosophers from Plato to Foucault as they consider the meaning of aging—and wisdom—in our society. In this deeply considered meditation on aging in Western culture, Jan Baars argues that, in today’s world, living longer does not necessarily mean living better. He contends that there has been an overall loss of respect for aging, to the point that understanding and “dealing with” aging people has become a process focused on the decline of potential and the advance of disease rather than on the accumulation of wisdom and the creation of new skills. To make his case, Baars compares and contrasts the works of such modern-era thinkers as Foucault, Heidegger, and Husserl with the thought of Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Cicero, and other Ancient and Stoic philosophers. He shows how people in the classical period—less able to control health hazards—had a far better sense of the provisional nature of living, which led to a philosophical and religious emphasis on cultivating the art of living and the idea of wisdom. This is not to say that modern society’s assessments of aging are insignificant, but they do need to balance an emphasis on the measuring of age with the concept of "living in time." Gerontologists, philosophers, and students will find Baars' discussion to be a powerful, perceptive conversation starter.
A new translation by Sergio E. Serrano of this inspirational book containing sound advice on the art of living by the French historian, biographer, and philosopher, Andr Maurois (1885 - 1967), who was one of the most celebrated and prolific French writers of the 20th century. Timeless wisdom and advice on the art of living for today's young and old: The art of thinking; the art of loving; the art of working: the art of leadership; the art of growing old. Maurois speaks to the soul of the reader. The principles he conveys remain as valid and as useful in the 21st century as they were in the 20th. According to Maurois, our lives are works of art, expressions of inner beauty, conceived and created by our inner selves, tested by the circumstances and experiences of life, perfected and modified by the learning and growth resulting from these experiences. Maurois accurately predicted: the ultimate failure of all social revolutions; the necessity of slow change in human customs and attitudes as a key to lasting changes; the technological development and implementation of robots in large assembly lines; the constant distraction with technology and its harmful effects to the mind, the emotions, and relationships; the characteristics of a reasonable and effective government; the inner virtues to cultivate in order to successfully overcome the adversities of life; the qualities to seek in order to maintain stable, loving, relationships; the attributes to encourage as an effective manager; the essentials by which to plan a long and enjoyable retirement; the principles behind an effective educational system. An Art of Living remained out of print for several decades. This new translation resurrects this little treasure of a book for the English readers of today; it remains faithful to the original French edition and to the style of the author.
