Happiness and the Human Spirit: The Spirituality of Becoming the Best Person You Can Be [Hardcover]

Abraham J. Twerski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2007

"To become complete human beings, to find happiness, we need to develop our human spirits to the fullest. This is what it means to be spiritual: to be the best we can be; to exercise all the qualities and traits that are unique to humankind and that give us the identity as human beings. This spirituality is an integral component of being human, and we cannot have true and enduring happiness without it."

For many of us, the journey toward personal and spiritual fulfillment is fraught with unexplained feelings of emptiness in the struggle to reach what seems an elusive and murky goal. It doesn't have to be this way.

Using simple, accessible language and clear examples, this wellspring of wisdom shows you that true happiness is attainable once you stop looking outside yourself for the source and realize that it can be found within you. You will identify the unique abilities that comprise your human spirit--such as gratitude, humility, compassion, and generosity--and explore how to use them in ways that will not only remove your feelings of incompleteness, but also allow you to experience happiness in an invigorating and spiritually refreshing way.

Based on ancient wisdom and modern psychology, the thoughtful, heartfelt anecdotes and inspiring, easy-to-follow exercises will carry you beyond your present state of discontent and open for you an entirely new path toward becoming the best you you can possibly be.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A rabbi and a psychiatrist, Twerski has an interesting stereoscopic view of the human condition. Author of dozens of books (Waking Up Just in Time), many of his former works could be shelved in self-help. This new volume has that flavor also, especially with its concluding Ten Steps to Happiness. This, however, is a spirituality/inspiration title because Twerski asserts that to be truly happy, we need to live as spiritual beings. This path calls for humans to be the best they can be, thereby avoiding Spiritual Deficiency Syndrome. His core program includes self-awareness, humility, choice, patience, making the most of things, improvement, compassion, perspective, purpose, truth and change. Twerski repeatedly compares and contrasts humans and the animal world to good effect, and his anecdotes make this an easy read. Although potentially useful to believers and nonbelievers of every stripe, Twerski's Jewish perspective comes through in his emphasis on deeds. Along the way many wise maxims crop up, e.g., No one has control over outcome, only over process. Readers comfortable with working a plan, such as a 12-step program, will find especially useful material, particularly in the last workbook-style pages. (Oct.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 154 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing (September 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580233430
• ISBN-13: 978-1580233439
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #637,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Weak..., November 15, 2007

By 

Shlomo Yisrael - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Happiness and the Human Spirit: The Spirituality of Becoming the Best Person You Can Be (Hardcover)

I love Dr and Rabbi Twerski, however this book is really just fluff. You can breeze through it in a few hours and read some nice stories, but it didn't give me a great picture on "Being the best you can be". I was expecting something more detailed and directed towards strategies on becoming more spiritual and happy. You don't get much of that here. I was also expecting him to draw on the wealth of jewish sources on spirituality, ethics, happiness etc. I guess this book is directed to a broader audience and hence he might have wanted (unfortunately) to avoid making it a "jewish book".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Inspiration is more than fluff, but I also want more than inspiration, May 15, 2010

By 

Andrew D. Oram (Arlington, Mass., USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Happiness and the Human Spirit: The Spirituality of Becoming the Best You Can Be (Kindle Edition)

Although I admire Twerski's insight into people, I'm not satisfied
with what this book delivers in the end. His stories are wonderful and
sometimes surprising, but his use of psychiatric cases and Jewish
texts reduces to the same level as his interesting personal tales:
mere metaphors or inspirational homilies. I was hoping for a more
in-depth application of those powerful traditions to our everyday
struggles. Although I think people on a certain stage of a journey to
better living will benefit from Twerski's prescriptions, the ultimate
message is "Frankl lite."

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read but short, October 25, 2007

By 

Multifaceted Lee (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Happiness and the Human Spirit: The Spirituality of Becoming the Best Person You Can Be (Hardcover)

This is a good book for people who are looking to add spirituality to find happiness in their lives. I was expecting it to help psychotherapists who want to add spirituality into their treatment, but found it somewaht lacking in this area.