Professionals and business people in midlife are increasingly asking themselves "what's next?" in their careers and personal lives. Creating the Good Life draws on the wisdom of the ages to help contemporary men and women plan for satisfying, useful, moral, and meaningful second halves of their lives. For centuries, the brightest people in Western societies have looked to Aristotle for guidance on how to lead a good life and how to create a good society. Now James O'Toole--the Mortimer J. Adler Senior Fellow of the Aspen Institute--translates that classical philosophical framework into practical, comprehensible terms to help professionals and business people apply it to their own lives and work. His book helps thoughtful readers address some of the profound questions they are currently struggling with in planning their futures: • How do I find meaning and satisfaction? • How much money do I need in order to be happy? • What is the right balance between work, family, and leisure? • What are my responsibilities to my community? • How can I create a good society in my own company? Bridging philosophy and self-help, O'Toole's book shows how happiness ultimately is attainable no matter one's level of income, if one uses Aristotle's practical exercises to ask the right questions and to discipline oneself to pursue things that are "good for us." The book is the basis for O'Toole's new "Good Life" seminar, where thoughtful men and women gather to create robust and satisfying life plans.
This book reports research on young Turkish women`s interpretation of a good life in Germany. There were two goals. The first was to identify how girls from Turkish origin living in Germany develop a positive view of themselves: How do they perceive opportunities for empowerment, agency, and emancipation? What are their inspirations and aspirations? The second goal was to establish how girls from Turkish origin living in Germany interpreted challenges to seeking a good life at school and in the wider society? With the support of focus groups, the life history interview method and socio-economic questionnaires four main categories were identified in the findings of the research: construction of identity; aspiration for education; marginalization; and living in a multicultural society.
Many countries have experienced a decline of economic growth for decades, an effect that was only aggravated by the recent global financial crisis. What if in the 21st century this is no longer an exception, but the general rule? Does an economy without growth necessarily bring hardship and crises, as is often assumed? Or could it be a chance for a better life? Authors have long argued that money added to an income that already secures basic needs no longer enhances well-being. Also, ecological constraints and a sinking global absorption capacity increasingly reduce the margin of profitability on investments. Efforts to restore growth politically, however, often lead to reduced levels of social protection, reduced ecological and health standards, unfair tax burdens and rising inequalities. Thus it is time to dissolve the link between economic growth and the good life. This book argues that a good life beyond growth is not only possible, but highly desirable. It conceptualizes "the good life" as a fulfilled life that is embedded in social relations and at peace with nature, independent of a mounting availability of resources. In bringing together experts from different fields, this book opens an interdisciplinary discussion that has often been restricted to separate disciplines. Philosophers, sociologists, economists and activists come together to discuss the political and social conditions of a good life in societies which no longer rely on economic growth and no longer call for an ever expanding circle of extraction, consumption, pollution, waste, conflict, and psychological burnout. Read together, these essays will have a major impact on the debates about economic growth, economic and ecological justice, and the good life in times of crisis.
The study of the quest for the good life and the morality and value it presupposes is not new. To the contrary, this is an ancient issue; its intellectual history can be traced back to Aristotle. In anthropology, the study of morality and value has always been a central concern, despite the claim of some scholars that the recent upsurge of interest in these issues is new. What is novel is how scholars in many disciplines are posing the value question in new ways. The global economic alignments of the present pose many political, moral and theoretical questions, but the central issue the essays in this collection address is: how do relatively poor people of the Australia-Pacific region survive in current precarious times? In looking to answer this question, contributors directly engage the values and concepts of their interlocutors. At a time when understanding local implications of global processes is taking on new urgency, these essays bring finely honed anthropological perspectives to matters of universal human concern-they offer radical empirical critique based on intensive fieldwork that will be of great interest to those seeking to comprehend the bigger picture.
In giving an account of what is ethical, we can begin by describing the community that accommodates the good life; to be ethical, then, is to be a contributor to that sort of community. We live in political communities as well as in communities built around families, neighborhoods, churches, and other associations. But for many of us the community that will afford the good life that is the purpose of morality is the organization that employs us. Aristotle claimed tht the greatest ethical questions are political ones; today we have reason to believe that the greatest ethical questions are organizational ones. In Organizational Ethics and the Good Life, Edwin Hartman contends that, as ethics is about the good community, a great part of business ethics is about the good organization. He argues that a large and complex organization has the characteristic of the "commons" studied by game theorists, and that it is the task of management to preserve the commons in the long-term interests of all its members, principally by creating an appropriate corporate culture. A good corporate culture not only serves the interests of the participants but makes the organization a place in which they can develop interests that are compatible with both autonomy and good corporate citizenship: that is, they can develop a sense of the good life that is appropriate to the moral person. Hartman opposes the standard view that the study of organizational ethics is a matter of considering how certain foundational ethical principles apply in organizational settings; instead, he argues, business ethicists should consider how free and rational people arrive at a consensus on practical ethical principles in a morally good organization that leaves room for moral progress. And what makes an organization morally good? In discussing justice, loyalty, and other features of a morally good organization, Hartman draws largely on the work of Rawls and Hirschman. In describing the good life as one in which well-being and morality overlap, Hartman proposes a new version of an idea as old as Aristotle, who taught that human beings are rational but also irreducibly communal creatures.
Who is God? What is God's relation to the world? How is God disposed towards us? What does God ask of us? These questions are not mere intellectual puzzles. They matter for us. A disinterested theology would be no theology at all, for we are fundamentally, at our very core, invested in God. God is the one who concerns us most deeply. Put differently, any theology worth the name is, as Miroslav Volf has put it, theology "for a way of life." We ask theological questions as those whose lives depend on the God whose character we try to articulate in the answers--and also in the asking. How we ask and answer these questions gives shape to our lives. In this volume, published in Volf's honor, leading Christian, Jewish, and Muslim theological scholars reflect on the shapes flourishing human life takes in light of God. Considering concrete questions--from how to talk about suffering to the value of singing in congregational worship--in light of their deep theological commitments, the contributors exemplify the kind of theological reflection our cultures so deeply need. Contributors to this volume: Matthew Croasmun Ryan McAnnally-Linz Marianne Meye Thompson David H. Kelsey Michael Welker Christoph Schwobel Alon Goshen-Gottstein Reza Shah-Kazemi Jurgen Moltmann Natalia Marandiuc Nancy Bedford Nicholas Wolterstorff Lidija Matosević Ivan Sarčević Linn Marie Tonstad
David Patchell-Evans is the founder and CEO of GoodLife Fitness Clubs, Canada’s largest and fastest-growing fitness empire. Patchell-Evans, or “Patch,” as everyone calls him, is a five-time Canadian rowing champion and an active rower, runner, and skier today. Two weeks into his first year in university he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. A lengthy and arduous period of rehabilitation at a sports clinic sparked his interest in sports and exercise, and he went on to combine courses in physical fitness and business, and to found his business empire. In this sane approach to health and exercise, Patch recounts his own personal story and gives balanced and inspiring tips on exercise, diet, and life.
The Good Life Crisis is a project that seeks to find the best answers to the question “What is the Good Life?” After traveling around the world and interviewing hundreds of inspiring people, Nick Shelton has compiled a book based on the best advice he's received. Comprised of humorous stories and practical advice, it provides you a glimpse of how to lead an ideal life in the 21st century.Containing just over 40 chapters, the book provides stories, real-life examples, and practical advice on how each of us can improve our lives and we appreciate each day. For more visit, www.TheGoodLifeCrisis.com
A practical guide to helping those living with dementia live their best life in a way that makes sense to them. Essential reading for anyone working with people living with dementia, this book explains the concept of Self-Directed Support and Care for people living with dementia and links the various Person Centred approaches within dementia care with Person Centred Planning and Community based approaches. As the content unfolds, the concept of the Dementia Care Triad (people living with dementia, unpaid carers and professional carers) is explored and developed further to include the layer of community. The links between the health and social care legal context, guidance documents and national dementia strategies are presented with good, actionable practice, approaches, tools and informed advice to achieve Person Centred dementia care and support, with an emphasis on communities Living a Good Life with Dementia will help professionals and carers gain knowledge and insight to be able to develop creative ideas for the care and support they want to have in place.
Life poses challenges and struggles for everyone, and suffering is unavoidable. But by looking to the Bible’s Wisdom Books for answers, you can cope with life’s everyday problems and march down a path that leads to victory. The Old Testament books of the Bible usually classified as the Wisdom Books are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs. These books are important because they focus on issues and obstacles that have challenged humanity for thousands of years. Studying the Wisdom Books, you’ll discover ways to answer the call to live a good life, the mystery of divine justice, timeless truths, moral insights, and strategies to turn troubles into triumphs. To find true wisdom, however, you must also help others. It’s also important to recognize that God is the infinite source of all true wisdom. To find the good life, you must first turn to Him. Maintain a positive attitude and begin a journey that provides practical ways to help yourself, your neighbors, and all of humanity with the knowledge contained in Wisdom for the Good Life.
We all want to live well, but how can we put that desire into action? With thoughtful reflection on the biblical wisdom writers and the Rule of Benedict, Irene Nowell shows us how we too can live the good life. Each chapter includes reflection questions and meditative prayers, guiding us on a renewed journey toward wisdom and encouraging us to embody this wisdom more in our daily lives.