Beyond Happiness: The 6 Secrets of Lifetime Satisfaction

by Jennifer Guttman

Overview

Change the Goal, Not the Feeling

A psychologist’s six-step roadmap to a life beyond happiness—one of sustainable lifetime satisfaction.

Dr. Jennifer Guttman is a strong advocate of providing guidance for self-improvement outside of the confines of traditional therapy, and to that end, her strategy works so well because of its universal applicability. In Beyond Happiness, Dr. Guttman lays out six techniques that will empower you to gain control over your own happiness: avoiding assumptions; reducing people-pleasing behaviors; facing fears; making decisions; closing; and active self-reinforcement.

The immense success that Dr. Guttman has had using these techniques within her practice is a testament to just how effective they are. She has shown how moving beyond happiness to satisfaction and contentment is a very achievable and rewarding journey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637587959
Publisher:	Post Hill Press
Publication date:	05/30/2023
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Dr. Jennifer Guttman received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Long Island University. She began her career working at a family homeless shelter in New York. When she found that traditional protocols made it difficult for people to access her services, she fought to ensure that every resident could meet with her as often as they needed, eagerly working day and night to fulfill requests for services. Motivated by a desire to reach even more people, she started lecturing and opened a private practice. Her approach fuses traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques with her own core methods, which have been developed and refined through thirty-plus years of personal interaction with her clients. The combination of these innovative methods and her unparalleled empathic abilities has enabled her to have a profound impact on thousands of patients from diverse walks of life.

Editorial Reviews

07/24/2023

As its title suggests, this motivational guide filled with techniques and anecdotes on ways to achieve a satisfying life starts with a provocative proposition: “I realized that happiness isn’t the ultimate goal,” writes Guttman (author of A Path to Sustainable Life Satisfaction Workbook). “It’s a great feeling but not the endgame—satisfaction is.” Guttman argues for the letting go of the ideal of living a happy life, as happiness is “a fleeting emotion, an endorphin rush, a chemical high”—an “aspiration, not a reliable result.”Instead, she makes the case for striving for something that can be sustained no matter what life throws at us, being “defiantly resilient,” which she presents as "a state beyond happiness, achieved through Sustainable Life Satisfaction.”

In Beyond Happiness, Guttman explores these insights and details six steps (including advice about avoiding assumptions, facing fears, reducing the urge to please everyone, making decisions, and more) toward self-empowerment and Sustainable Life Satisfaction, drawing on her experience as a clinical psychologist and vivid anecdotes from her life and the experiences of clients. In each chapter, Guttman presents a step in personable and engaging language, offers a thorough explanation of the implementation and importance of the technique, and shares client anecdotes so readers can see—and maybe recognize—the lesson in multiple scenarios.

Urging readers to “believe in your inherent lovability,” Guttman offers practical, empathetic guidance to help build self-confidence and to cultivate a positive mindset that actively lives for the present moment rather than in anticipation of moments to come, finding satisfaction in the good moments and staying prepared and resilient for the inevitable challenges. As the steps offer a path toward adjusting one’s mindset and self-concept and facing down negative thoughts and overthinking, Beyond Happiness provides an approachable and concise guide with professional advice, involving storytelling, and relatable examples that will resonate with readers looking to develop resilience.

Takeaway: Engaging self-help guide to developing resilience and satisfaction.

Comparable Titles: Vex King’s Good Vibes, Good Life, Catherine A. Sanderson’s The Positive Shift.

Production grades Cover: B- Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A Marketing copy: A

BookLife Reviews

Dr. Guttman's book is a game changer. It offers a crystal clear plan on how to transform everyday patterns and lead a more joyful life.

Amy B. Scher