A Handbook for Constructive Living

Rating:
Summary: A visionary self-help book
Review: David K. Reynolds is not only the West's best known teacher of Asian psychologies, he has written one of the best self-help books ever available on the market. I've been a clinical psychologist for more than 20 years, and while there are many fine self-help books available, especially using cognitive-behavior therapy, this one is perhaps the most widely applicable that I have found. Most self-help books focus on resolving specific problems: depression, panic disorder, social phobia, etc. But Constructive Living (CL) is for everyone wanting to live a more effective, principled, value-driven life.

Reynolds challenges a variety of sacred cows in American life: about the importance of feelings, about so-called 'uncovering' psychotherapies (those which focus primarily on history and insight into how we got to be the way we are), and about so-called rugged individualism. In their places, Reynolds weaves two Japanese therapies together, Morita Therapy and Naikan Therapy, which promise only to help the reader see reality more clearly, and to make conscious choices about handling reality, as it is, not necessarily as we wish it were. Owing a debt to Japanese Buddhist psychology, Reynolds, who has been writing for more than a quarter of a century, anticipates the most exciting developments now occurring in American cognitive-behavior therapy. This book is by a pioneer. He says that "effort is good fortune." If so, then reading this book and practicing its teachings may be very good fortune, indeed.

Rating:
Summary: A clear-as-a-bell guide to focused and purposeful living.
Review: The last self-help book you'll need. David Reynolds offers a concise and practical summary of this practical approach to life, its problems, and its pleasures that originated in Japan. Of all his books, this was, for me, the most accessible. Constructive Living helps the readers shift their focus from their own problems and emotions (the primary focus on Western psychotherapy) to the world and people around them. The question becomes "What should I do right now?," instead of "Why do I feel this way?" It is completely secular, although one can see the overtones of Zen. However, this isn't just a book to read. It's a book that inspires action. Constructive Living is well-written and broken into convenient sections. In keeping with the theory on which it is based, the focus is on doing rather than ruminating. A firm but pleasant reminder that we can make choices and choose well.