Life is not always easy, but it's simple. The emotional forces that drive you are not too
difficult to understand and once you grasp the principles, the world becomes an easier place
to manage.
'Don't worry, be happy' is easy to say but hard to do, because we have so little direct
control over our feelings. Positive thinking is not enough; living intelligently is about positive
action. An Intelligent Life is a highly practical instruction book to help you make your life
happier. It is the result of Julian Short's thirty years of clinical practice as a psychiatrist and
brings together ideas that he has seen help people understand themselves more clearly and
make lasting changes. It is a book about love, individuality, relationships and self-respect.
To feel good we need to act well. We see ourselves in the mirror of other people's reactions
and if we want to like the person we see, we need the skills to give and get as much love as
we can. Looking after ourselves means looking after our relationships. An Intelligent Life
offers guidelines for maximising love and belonging, while simultaneously showing how to
strengthen individuality. In the book Dr Short offers specific techniques for managing
relationships with lovers, friends, parents and children. Despite its emphasis on control and
personal effectiveness, ultimately living intelligently is not about winning, because the real
measures of human worth are kindness and dignity, not success or status. An Intelligent Life
is designed to show that we can lose and still like ourselves, liberating us to be hopeless at
things, but sensational as people.