How can you achieve long-lasting happiness? Or transform your relationship with fear, death, or grief? What is happiness anyway?
All these questions (and more) are asked and answered in How To Die Happy.
An excerpt from the foreword:
"This madman has found a way to weave such wisdom into a tapestry of interconnected insight and understanding. The result is a charming and witty guide to attaining happiness that is both heartfelt and funny."
— Lee Holden, founder of Holden Qi Gong, international meditation and qi gong instructor, author, and TV personality.
Exploring themes around life "at Earth School" — depression, consumption, distraction, emotions, ego, and the pursuit of success, How To Die Happy examines why many of us feel robbed of bliss, joy, and peace. More importantly, it's a guide to happiness while embracing the paradoxical fact that happiness is as impermanent as everything else.
Former high-functioning alcoholic adman Martin O'Toole once lived a wild life of excess, oblivious of how his childhood trauma had profoundly impaired his emotional maturation. A near-suicidal event was the launchpad for his learning about mental health's complexities — lessons, he muses: he "ought to have been taught as a child".
Leaving the hectic pace of London for the contrasting peace of the tropical island of Bali, O'Toole set out to heal his various neuroses. This extensive process of self-help work led to discovering what he calls the "Anatomy of Happy" — a methodology detailed in this book.
How To Die Happy distils the secrets to living and dying well. This book cherry-picks Eastern philosophies like Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, connecting their relationship to mindfulness and psychological practices.
The author shares tales of loss, self-suffering, forgiveness, love, and the miraculous healing power of psychedelic plant medicines. He deftly tackles serious subject matter in fun, often self-effacing and lighthearted ways. Perhaps, unusually, these are not lessons offered by an enlightened guru or a PhD but by a self-professed, fallible "man on the mend".
More specifically, you'll discover the following:
How our relationship with death impedes a contented life.
What happiness is and is not.
The cruciality of Shadow Work on the road to personal transformation.
How forgiveness and self-love impact inner peace.
How understanding psychology and ego will transform your relationship with Self and others.
How mindfulness reverses depression, narcissism, anxiety, alcoholism, sex and drug addiction, and more.
How psychedelics, meditation, and breathwork can cultivate a welcome "ego death".
How accepting the impermanent nature of all things is the key to letting go.
How To Die Happy tackles the root causes of depression and dissatisfaction. Part curated wisdom, part handbook, part memoir, this inspirational text offers a blend of ancient lessons, real-life stories, and a host of practical utilities to enjoy a vibrant and contented life.
