Martha Beck is not just a life coach, she's "Oprah Winfrey's life coach", and if you need a better recommendation than that, there's probably no helping you!
The Joy Diet isn't a weightloss diet. Martha explains in the introduction that she's using the original meaning of the word diet, "a way of living or thinking," and the book's subtitle is "10 daily practices for a happier life". The thing I love about Martha Beck is though she's that very new agey thing - a life coach - she's profoundly practical. She's also extremely funny.
The ten practices (or "ingredients") of The Joy Diet are "nothing" (i.e. meditation), "truth" - telling the truth about your life and situation (you should also, as Martha puts it, "offer compassion to your inner lying scumbag"), "desire", "creativity", "risk", "treats" (my favourite), "play", "laughter", "connection" and "feasting". See, Martha is all about being good to yourself and listening to your body (and soul) to work out what's wrong with your life and how you can make it right.
It is impossible to read anything written by Martha Beck without feeling inspired. She recommends that you work through the practices in order, making sure each one feels like second nature before moving on to the next. I've had the book for years and I've never managed it (she flummoxed me by putting "nothing" - which she admits is the hardest one - first) but I will often pick the book up and read whichever chapter feels most meaningful to me at the time.
I know I sound like an infomercial or something, but I really am evangelical about Ms Beck. I first discovered her when I read an article she'd written on "seizing the day" in an American magazine. It's absolutely not too strong to say it changed my life. Her book, Finding Your Own North Star, is brilliant if you're still looking for your "right life", but if you are doing what you love and yet still feel a bit "bleh" then you need The Joy Diet. (Even if you're not doing what you love, I'd still recommend The Joy Diet, but I'd suggest you run to a bookshop - or click like you've never clicked before - and buy Finding Your Own North Star first).
Rating 5 out of 5
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