The Courage to be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon that Shows You How to Free Yourself, Change your Life, and Achieve Real Happiness / Ichiro Kushimi & Fumitake Koga
RATINGS
Overall: 4 / 5 stars
Text Level: Medium
Entertainment: High
Self-Help: High
Genres: Fiction, Self-Help, Psychology, Philosophy, Business, Leadership, Japanese Literature
Page Count: 288
Is this book right for my inmate and me?
For those that find themselves to be push overs to others because you can’t figure out your own real needs, this book can bring help.
Buy on: Amazon / Barnes & Noble
Review By: Blackbird
Finding a productive, fulfilling life through better understanding of your own needs versus the wants of others.
For many inmates we have spent our lives trying to live outwardly to impress or please others even when it can be harmful to ourselves. Living a life currently locked in a concrete box is not one of happiness. However, as I sit here, I have to ask myself, ‘Was my life really productive and fulfilling when I was outside?” In the Courage to be Disliked, the authors explore the philosophical and psychological works of Alfred Adler to help readers discover what our real needs are versus our needless wants.
Written as a narrative dialogue, we follow a young man as he seeks to find the answers of why he is not satisfied with his life from an old philosopher in town. The five nights of lessons he receives allow the readers to better understand how to create their own happiness by building a life of productivity free of pointless pursuits based on outward vanities.
After reading this book I was struck with the concept that I had spent so many years of my life not knowing what happiness was and I had no idea of how to work towards it. in this book, we learn that happiness comes from creative a life of productiveness that benefits ourselves and those around, both, in practical ways. This begins by recognizing who we are and defining tru needs for success versus goals based on superficial wants to impress others.
Throughout the book, the philosopher warns that for many people effort is constantly being wasted because even thought we spend our lives pursuing goals they are built not on needs that will benefit us in the fulfilling way. An example of this is the person that works to buy the the flashiest car just so they can impress others while spending years working at a job they hate. This is not living a free life because you are bound to constantly trying to please other’s expectations of you, even if it goes against your fundamental needs of fulfillment.
This book is great for those that have trouble saying no to others even when what they are being asked is detrimental to themselves. Saying no we learn in this story is the rights thing to do if it pulls you away from a healthy life of happy growth, even if it means you may have to be disliked sometimes.