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and The Eight Realities That Will Save You
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Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Oct 1998, 256 pages
Paperback:
Sep 1999, 255 pages
Shows you how to apply simple, powerful ideas to your marriage, personal relationships, career, finances, health, and every other area of your life.
Every day on her nationally syndicated radio program Dr. Joy Browne gets calls from
people looking for sympathy.
They don't get it.
Many of Dr. Joy's nine million listeners--like so many of us--seek the kind of help that
only makes us feel good about feeling bad. Dr. Joy believes that we can do better. She
knows we can feel good for the best reason of all: because we have gathered the courage
and the smarts to say good-bye to the fantasies that perpetuate our problems and shake
hands with the realities that give us control of our lives.
Dr. Joy has spent nearly twenty years listening to and advising thousands of women and men
about their frustrations and disappointments. She has diagnosed the ways we get in trouble
and stay there. In turn, she has a proven prescription for freedom from our self-defeating
patterns of thought and behavior that allows for real progress toward our goals. She calls
her plan for emotional health The Nine Fantasies That Will Ruin Your Life and the Eight
Realities That Will Save You.
What are they?
Among the Fantasies, Dr. Joy includes such harmful but highly touted ideas as:
The Realities are less warm-and-fuzzy but a lot more in tune with the world we live in:
In The Nine Fantasies That Will Ruin Your Life and the Eight Realities That Will Save
You, Dr. Joy Browne shows you how to apply these simple, powerful ideas to your
marriage, personal relationships, career, finances, health, and every other area of your
life.
No matter how difficult or long-standing your problems, Dr. Joy will show you how to
become a fearless, focused, and, most important, happy adventurer in your own life. That
may sound like a fantasy, but you can make it your new reality.
Dr. Joy on Fantasies
"Look, I know you think fantasies are fun, sexy, and cool, whether your dream is of
Cinderella or Prince Charming, or that your love will be passionate, available, rich,
gorgeous, and lovable. Everybody indulges in fantasies from time to time, but as a
lifestyle choice, we're talking dis-as-ter! Even if these seemingly harmless little devils
don't ruin your life, they can cause a lot of avoidable misery. . . . Fantasies are a
distraction from the business of running our lives successfully and realistically. I plan
to wrestle these pesky critters to the ground so we can all get on with the pleasure of
focused thoughts and energy."
Dr. Joy on Realities
"We've become so used to the idea that the real world is dangerous that reality has
gotten a really bad reputation. I'm going to show you that reality is a lot less scary
than you've been led to believe, and that it is actually potentially helpful, healthy,
life-affirming, and the most useful game in town."
Excerpt
The Nine Fantasies That Will Ruin Your Life
and The Eight Realities That Will Save You
Look, I know you think fantasies are fun, sexy, and cool, whether you dream of being Cinderella or Prince Charming, or that your love will be passionate, available, rich, gorgeous, and lovable. Even if you think of yourself as too old or too sophisticated to believe in fairy tales, I'll bet you occasionally indulge in the giddy notion of someday playing for the L.A. Lakers or winning the gold in wrestling by overpowering that third-grade bully who still haunts your nightmares. Maybe in this alternate reality, you're accepting an Oscar or being crowned Miss America or doing something you won't admit to in public. Everybody indulges in fantasies from time to time, but as a lifestyle choice, we're talking di-sas-ter! Even if these seemingly harmless little devils don't ruin your life, they can cause a lot of ...
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