Simple Lessons for a Better Life: Unexpected Inspiration from Inside the Nursing Home

From the unique experiences of nursing home residents, an empathic psychologist derives lessons for living a better life, demonstrating how people find happiness, peace, and fulfillment despite challenging circumstances.Perfect for readers who seek inspiration for living a better life at any age and who enjoy books on inspiration/motivation, wellness, psychology, self-improvement, wellness, and issues of aging.The desire to live a good life is timeless. And, sometimes, insight into what really matters emerges from where we least expect it. Even the most challenging circumstances can have a surprise silver lining.This perceptive and inspiring book shows that anyone can learn valuable life lessons from the unique experiences of nursing home residents. Using illustrative vignettes of his interactions with people facing serious physical, mental, and social challenges, the author derives twenty-eight simple, yet profoundly important, lessons for living a richer life-lessons that apply to people at any age.Dr. Dodgen, a clinical psychologist who has worked with this population for eighteen years, has discovered that when the surplus trappings of lifestyle are cleared away and lives are stripped to their most essential components, people discover new paths to happiness, peace, and fulfillment. Dodgen shares stories that demonstrate how love, meaning, purpose, and contentment can be found even in far-from-ideal circumstances.Offering deeply thoughtful reflections in an easily digestible format, this book affirms that no matter our physical, economic, or social limitations, we can remain rich in life. Readers looking for ways to improve relationships, understand and manage feelings more effectively, cope well with challenges, mitigate suffering, and discover greater serenity in their own life circumstances will find a wealth of insights in these concise, enlightening chapters.

Charles E. Dodgen, Ph.D., has been a clinical psychologist in private practice for twenty-eight years. For the past eighteen years, he has also served as a consulting psychologist at the West Caldwell Care Center, where he provides diagnostic assessments and individual therapy for a geriatric population. He is also the author of three books on substance abuse.