The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose [Paperback]

Matthew Kelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2005

Do you ever feel that if you weren't so busy you would be happier, healthier, more effective, more fulfilled...and maybe even a better person?

Once every twenty-five years or so, a book comes along that perfectly identifies our common search and struggle for happiness, and teaches us how to find lasting fulfillment in a changing world. This is that book. Not since M. Scott Peck published The Road Less Traveled have we experienced a voice as refreshing and authentic as Matthew Kelly's.

The Rhythm of Life will help you to bring into focus who you are and why you are here. Through this book Matthew Kelly will help you discover your legitimate needs, deepest desires, and unique talents. He will introduce you to the-best-version-of-yourself and lead you to a life filled with passion and purpose.

Here are just a few of the timeless creeds that he presents in The Rhythm of Life...

"You were born to become the-best-version-of-yourself. This is your essential purpose. Embrace this one solitary truth and it will change your life more than anything you have ever learned. In every situation, ask yourself, Which of the options before me will help me become the-best-version-of-myself?"

"Everything is a choice. This is life's greatest truth and its hardest lesson. It is a great truth because it reminds us of our power. Not power over others, but the power to be ourselves and to live the life we have imagined. It is a hard lesson because it causes us to realize that we have chosen the life we are living right now."

"The measure of your life will be the measure of your courage. Courage animates us, brings us to life, and makes everything else possible. Fear stops more people from doing something with their lives than lack of ability, contacts, resources, or any other single variable. Fear paralyzes the human spirit. Life takes courage."

"Energy is our most valuable resource, not time. The rhythm of life is a way of life that brings our legitimate needs, our deepest desires, and our unique talents into harmony with each other. The result: passion, purpose, and energy."

Kelly has a way of thinking and writing that cuts through the stifling clutter of our everyday lives and delivers a clarity that is both refreshing and liberating.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Matthew Kelly, the charismatic minister, speaker and best-selling author from down under, wants you to live life out loud and on purpose. In this expanded version of The Rhythm of Life he syntheses Christian theology, cognitive psychology and storytelling to unpack the paradox of being happy. As Kelly explains, "We want to be happy. We know what makes us happy. But we don't do those things--because we are busy trying to be happy." So here's the gospel according to Kelly: Find a life-changing rhythm by choosing a central purpose and becoming "the best version of yourself." With examples draw from his own life and diverse cast of characters including Charlie Chaplin, Jude the apostle, piano man Billy Joel, the Magi, and Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, he maps the way to a meaningful life. Kelly makes thoughtful distinctions. He contrasts the difference between doing and having, the legitimate need for health and happiness with the illegitimate desire for expensive toys and the pursuit of minimalism vs. excellence. Then he gets specific, offering five questions about life's meaning, three instruments for anchoring your life and ten principles of excellence. At times, Kelly seems to be recycling his speeches and sermons or downplaying his religious stripes to seek a wider audience. And he lets cliches share the pages with memorable gems. But Kelly's gift is to convey the much-discussed ideas of personal accountability, mind management, and spirituality with passion and clarity. Barbara Mackoff --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Now 30, Kelly began his Catholic inspirational speaking at the age of 19. In this new edition of his self-published book, Australian-born, Cincinnati-based Kelly exhorts readers to rediscover what he calls the rhythm of life: "the perfect combination of rest, activity, and pace" that will enable each of us to become "the-best-version-of-ourselves." Some will be inspired by these sermonlike essays; others will feel Kelly recycles standard self-help messages, such as "everything is a choice" and "enjoy the journey." Much, for Kelly, rests in self-discipline and control. "If you can teach yourself, condition yourself, to desire those things that are good for you, there is nothing you cannot achieve or become." Like so many self-help authors, Kelly also promotes good sleeping, eating and exercise habits, and suggests a daily hour of prayer and using the "seventh day as a day of rest, reflection, and renewal." More idiosyncratically, he predicts that what he sees as our declining civilization will end in 60 years to be replaced by a vaguely defined superior one.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (September 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743265254
• ISBN-13: 978-0743265256
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #74 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Inspirational

More About the Author

Matthew Kelly, the New York Times bestselling author of The Rhythm of Life and The Dream Manager has been captivating audiences around the world since his late teens. Over the past decade, more than four million people have attended his seminars in over fifty countries. Kelly is the president of Floyd Consulting.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There isn't a person in the world who couldn't benefit from reading this book, April 4, 2006

By 

M. Welsh (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rhythm of Life : Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose (Hardcover)

If you're checking out this review, you're interested in becoming a better person, or as Kelly says, a better version of yourself. Kudos. This book will help you do it. It has brought a certain clarity to my inner monologue that I have never before felt.

And just so you know, I've read so many self-help books and books on seeking happiness I can't begin to list them here. (Relatively) Recently written books like "The 7 habits" and Dale Carnegie's "How to", all the way to Existentialist writers like Camus and enlightened thinkers such as Thoreau and ancient philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato. Whether or not you have, this book will put all the others into perspective. It will show you how those books, and this one, will help you on your journey of becoming the best version of yourself, and the byproduct (happiness) which comes from embracing this journey.

One last note...I subscribe to no particular faith, and I have avoided reading Kelly despite some of my friends recommendations because his books are always in the Christian section of the book store. I guarantee you that whether you are a born again Christian or an agnostic, this book can help you.

I don't know how else to put it: I give this book my strongest recommendation. You will do well to read it.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, November 15, 2004

By 

M. Killeen (Waverly, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose (Hardcover)

I had spent so long looking on the outside for happiness, discovering of course that happiness is an inside job, but I was never sure how to find true happiness. In reading this book I realized there is a voice within me that is helping me become "the-best-version-of-myself", I had to rediscover that voice and listen to it. Reading this book helped me to do that. Everything is written so straightforward, and so sincere.
I have started to read other motivational books, but they lost my interest after awhile. "The Rhythm of Life" I read once all the way through and right now I spend a few minutes each day reading a chapter and than I take some quiet time to think about what I have read and how I am applying the simple suggestions to my life.
Matthew Kelly has an astonishing way of writing and story telling that has kept my attention. I had the pleasure of seeing Matthew Kelly speak a few months ago and I was really looking forward to this book. I can honestly say that I was not at all disappointed. It truly has given me a new outlook on life!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars you can never hear the message enough, September 5, 2005

By 

Paul E. Straus "SciTeach3" (Phoenix, Az) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose (Hardcover)

I have had the fortune of hearing Matthew Kelly speak on two occation and his message is just inspiring not only in his talks but also in this book. What he is saying is definitely not "rocket science" and as you read it you will constantly get a sense of "of course that is true, why have I forgotten that?".

I know I have fallen into a "life of quiet desperation" on many occations and it is not until I am out of these times does it pain me to realize that I really put myself there. Matthew is simply trying to put up some road signs to our journey reminding us to lookout for any pitfalls ahead but to enjoy the ride as much as the destination.

I definitely recommend this book as a simple reminder that every life is pretty darn incredible and that we should always try and be "the best possible versions of ourselves".