Everyday Commitments: Choosing a Life of Love, Realism, and Acceptance [Hardcover]

David Richo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 18, 2007

In this unique book, psychotherapist David Richo offers fifty-two promises we can make to ourselves that will help us navigate the ups and downs of daily living in a wise, compassionate, and psychologically healthy way. Taken together these commitments, along with the author's brief reflections on them, offer guidance on how to:

   • develop genuine kindness toward yourself and others
   • find freedom from fear
   • maintain healthy boundaries in relationships
   • develop greater honesty and awareness 
Designed for daily or weekly inspiration and contemplation, Everyday Commitments also features practical exercises—including journaling, contemplation, and guided meditations—to foster inward growth and lasting positive change.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Richo is the psychotherapist and teacher whose popular and impressive How to Be an Adult in Relationships melded Jungian and Buddhist thought in a way that was both poetic and linear. This book is lighter than his earlier works and a quick read. Proposing 52 commitments, or intentions, he follows each one with a pithy essay or meditation. Richo's intellectual grasp is profound, making each commitment an intriguing spiritual yardstick for examining how far we have come or how far we might still go in terms of honesty, kindness and taking responsibility for our actions and relationships. One of the commitments, for example, is I am choosing to be more authentic in my relationships. Fleshing this out, Richo encourages the reader to admit one's error the minute we notice ourselves acting in ways that do not present ourselves honestly. Other parts of the book deal with seeing ourselves clearly, not hurting others and showing kindness when others rebuff us. People who have not been exposed to Richo's earlier books should enjoy this one, and fans of his work will welcome the return of his unique voice. (Dec. 18)
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Review

“Richo’s intellectual grasp is profound, making each commitment an intriguing spiritual yardstick for examining how far we have come or how far we might still go in terms of honesty, kindness, and taking responsibility for our actions and relationships.”—Publishers Weekly

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (December 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590305620
• ISBN-13: 978-1590305621
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 7.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #805,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Richo, PhD, is a therapist and author who leads popular workshops on personal and spiritual growth.

He received his BA in psychology from Saint John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts, in 1962, his MA in counseling psychology from Fairfield University in 1969, and his PhD in clinical psychology from Sierra University in 1984. Since 1976, Richo has been a licensed marriage, family, and child counselor in California. In addition to practicing psychotherapy, Richo teaches courses at Santa Barbara City College and the University of California Berkeley at Berkeley, and has taught at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. He is a clinical supervisor for the Community Counseling Center in Santa Barbara, California.

Known for drawing on Buddhism, poetry, and Jungian perspectives in his work, Richo is the author of How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving and The Five Things We Cannot Change: And the Happiness We Find in Embracing Them. He has also written When the Past Is Present: Healing the Emotional Wounds that Sabotage our Relationships, Shadow Dance: Liberating the Power and Creativity of Your Dark Side, The Power of Coincidence: How Life Shows Us What We Need to Know, and Being True to Life: Poetic Paths to Personal Growth.

Richo lives in Santa Barbara and San Francisco.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth Reading...Living, January 12, 2008

By 

Bibliophila "Chilena" (Nashville, TN, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Everyday Commitments: Choosing a Life of Love, Realism, and Acceptance (Hardcover)

Clearly written, a good guide to examining life and improving the way you live. I am using one affirmation a week for 52 weeks...and will start over again next year.

David Richo is a sound psychologist, a loving and wise human being, and totally non-dogmatic. He encourages you to make up your own mind...not take anyone else's word for how to live your life.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A (mostly) undiscovered genius, May 15, 2009

By 

Chris Higgins "5ilver" (London) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Everyday Commitments: Choosing a Life of Love, Realism, and Acceptance (Hardcover)

I have a few of David Richos books, and I have to say that I think the guy is an undiscovered genius. He seems to have an phenomenal ability to integrate both spiritual and ethical principles into psychological and material reality (the real world). This is not a spiritual book in the normal sense of the word, but in my experience most of the information that is in overtly spiritual books ends up staying in the book, not making it from the conceptual domain, and not embodying in our lives in a real way. His work and the distinctions contained in this book seem to me to cross that barrier between the spiritual and the real, in part because he makes no attempt to deny or ignore our humanity, and understands that acknowledging seeming imperfection and lack of control is the great paradox of spirituality. Who would have thought that perfection and imperfection would have so much in common? I am at pains to do this book justice. As with any 'self help' book, the great danger is that the information is used to effectively beat yourself up in more erudite and advanced ways. This is the great failing of almost all self help books, that the seeker seeks them because he/she feels there is something wrong with them, and ends up continuing that process, a process of self hatred, only now they have more advanced information with which to continue the process. If this book is used with love and kindness, the distinctions and information contained here are simply profound. They are not simplistic, more simplicity, and show great depth and insight into the human condition. As the quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes says: 'I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity'. And to me that is what David Richo has, the simplicity on the other side of complexity. Of course using it with love and kindness is another matter, but worth the effort. I would recommend Cheri Hubers book - There is Nothing Wrong With You, Moving Beyond Self Hate, to work on that possibility. Another priceless book, together you may not need so many other books, is The Spirituality of Imperfection. Useful in countering what can happen when western intellects (such as me) spend too much time studying Zen, and start to become a know it all, when (maybe) Zen is not about knowing what Life is, but what it is not. Profound as Zen is, I do not see that it is the whole picture. Buy this book, at least, and wear it out completely, with kindness to yourself - so that it falls apart, rather than you.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Journey, February 26, 2008

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L. Taylor "Limitless" (AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Everyday Commitments: Choosing a Life of Love, Realism, and Acceptance (Hardcover)

A well written guide to making good choices and living better. My favorite quote:
There will never be only love or only peace, but there can be more love than we got here and more peace because we stayed here.