A Handbook for Constructive Living

Here, in plain language, is the definitive guide for taking control of your life and imbuing it with greater meaning and productivity. Constructive Living is an action-based way of looking at the world that combines good, old-fashioned straight talk and the celebrated Japanese psychotherapies Morita and Naikan. David Reynolds, the father of this brilliantly simple and effective therapy, shows us how to live thoughtfully and economically, to regard our actions as if they were divine rituals, and to perform them with the utmost care. He contends that contentment is achieved, not bestowed–attaining peace and satisfaction takes daily practice and learning. With user-friendly anecdotes, practical exercises, and a sense of humor, he refreshes the experienced student and takes the novice to the beginning, laying out the essence of Constructive Living.

• David K. Reynolds, Author

  David K. Reynolds is recognized as the leading Western authority on Japanese psychotherapies. He is a former faculty member of the UCLA School of Public Health, the USC School of Medicine, and the University of Houston. His books have been published by university presses (California, Chicago, Hawaii, and New York) and popular presses in the U.S., Japan, China, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. In 1988 the World Health Organization sent Dr. Reynolds to China to train psychiatrists there in Constructive Living. He currently lectures and conducts workshops around the Pacific, including approximately three months in spring and three months in fall in Japan lecturing and consulting in Japanese. He is the only non-Japanese to receive the Kora Prize and the Morita Prize by the Morita Therapy Association of Japan.