“Faire les bons choix” (“Make the right choices”)
Anna Gallotti & Maryvonne Lorenzen, ed Eyrolles
Buy it NOW in French in libraries and on Amazon (paper book and e-book)!
January 2016 in English on Amazon.
“Combining philosophical reflections and psychological research, storytelling and practical tips, “Make the Right Choices” is a blueprint for a happier and more fulfilling life. The first right choice I recommend making is reading this book!” Tal Ben Shahar, professor at Harvard University, positive psychology expert and author of the international bestsellers Being Happy and Choose The Life You Want.
“Painful choice, wise choice, happy choice: you will find in this book all about the art of making decisions that nurture our lives and that of others.” Christophe André, psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of the international bestsellers Looking at Mindfulness: 25 Ways to Live in the Moment Through Art and The Power of Self-esteem.
To choose or not to choose : it sounds simple and yet it is a question that forces us to delve into the depth of our souls.
We must make choices every day, from the simplest (I get up in the morning to go to work; I have lunch with this or that person…) to the toughest (I change job, I get married…).
The real question is not WHAT to choose, but HOW to choose.
In the book “Making the right choices” we put forward a forceful hypothesis: explaining HOW we choose is the key to making choices that are in tune with ourselves. This in turn will make us feel good and will enable us to lead a happy life.
The HOW to choose will in the first place lead us towards a better knowledge of ourselves and, secondly, it will enable us to verify if our choices, whether made on a daily or more far-reaching basis, are in harmony with the depth of our being. Most of us have faced difficult choices which in the long run have contributed to our happiness, for these were “good” choices.
The purpose of “Making the right choices” is to analyze the keys to choices that are “good for you” in the broadest sense of the word (and not in the sense of immediate hedonistic pleasure).
The second premise of this book is that in order to understand HOW we choose, we need to have a better knowledge of ourselves. Throughout this book we will talk about AWARENESS. By awareness we mean not only self-awareness but also being aware of our interaction with the outside world, of who we really are, of our virtues and our flaws, of the influence of our education, our values, our experience, our emotions, our body, our spirit and all those factors that make us unique in the world. Choosing also means asking ourselves the following question: what kind of person do I want to be? What are my values? How can I live in harmony with my fundamental values? How do I intend to spend the time allotted to me? What do I really want?
“Make the right choices” intends to provide the reader with practical tools. We will examine certain theories on choice and freedom and we will make the link between theory and practice. We will suggest methods and give examples that can contribute to a better life.
Seven steps to increase your awareness
Starting from ideas drawn from philosophy, psychology and sociology, this book steers the reader towards better self-knowledge and proposes seven steps to increase self-awareness:
1. Well-being and happiness: their meaning and how to achieve them.
2. Life’s mission, our basic values and our essence (vital energy). If our choices are aligned with these three elements, they will contribute to our well-being.
3. Alignment between structural choices (getting or not getting married, having or not having children, work, etc.) and everyday choices. When everyday choices are aligned with structural choices, at the end of the day we will feel that we have done something positive for ourselves and for others.
4. Awareness of our body and our emotions: the body is in itself an emotion, not a separate entity. Hence, if we take care of our body, we will improve our emotional awareness, an essential factor when making a choice.
5. Overcoming limits: there are areas, such as death or foreseeing the future, where we, as human beings, cannot choose. Instead of brooding over these limits or denying them, we should change our way of perceiving them in order to increase the chances of leading a happy life, even when facing hardship.
6. Defining benefits: behind every choice there is a benefit, which we may or may not be aware of. Sometimes benefits hurt, as when, to please others, we are unable to say no, only to discover later that we are unhappy because we can’t find any time for ourselves. The more we are aware of this, the more we can choose knowingly and change past choices so as to find positive benefits.
7. Assuming responsibility: human beings often try to dump their responsibilities on others: parents, husband, God, and so forth. Yet only when we truly feel responsible for our own life do we take the leading role and make positive choices.
I hope you will enjoy the book!
