Laughing Guide to a Better Life

The motto of this book is smarter through laughter. If you can laugh about it, you can probably change it. The authors use a heavy dose of humor (the laughing side), and a healthy measure of science (the learning side) to help you improve yourself, your relationships, and your surroundings. The book introduces the “I CAN model,” which stands for Interactions, Context, Awareness, and Next steps. Interactions are powerful determinants of health and happiness. There are two skills that can make our interactions healthier: the ability to connect and the capacity to communicate. Context is also a powerful but often neglected driver of change. The contexts of our lives consist of people, places, and things. To leverage context to our advantage we need to master the art of reading cues and changing cues in the environment. Awareness is the next driver of change. Regardless of where you are in the process of change, there is always a next step to strengthen your change, maintain your gains, and keep thriving. To do that, you need to make a plan, and you need to make it stick. The book will teach you how to use these drivers of change to flourish and thrive.

What a gem of a book. Serious and fun, sophisticated and accessible, academically rigorous and practical. But be forewarned: Do not read this book in libraries, in quiet cars on trains, or around people who're asleep. You're going to be making excessive noise as you LOL on your way to a happier life, Isaac and Ora masterfully use humor to help us explore areas in our lives where we can make changes to improve our well-being and happiness. The funny anecdotes and lessons are effective reminders for us not to take ourselves too seriously, and the science validates how we can change our mindsets and actions in order to construct a better life. This book is all of this, plus full of laughter. It is practical and fun., In the concluding book of their “Laughing Guides” trilogy, Isaac and Ora Prilleltensky deliver on their ambitious project to educate, entertain, and enliven us on the path to a better life.  They skillfully draw on a diversity of treasured resources and bring to bear their own poignant, funny, and always endearing life stories to inspire and encourage. A bow of gratitude to these two gifted researchers and teachers for helping the world become a better place, and providing a useful roadmap for each of us to become a happier and more fulfilled version of ourselves.

Isaac Prilleltensky is the former dean of the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami, where he is currently professor of educational and psychological studies and vice provost for institutional culture. He is the author of ten books and the recipient of awards by the National Newspaper Association for his humor writing; and from the divisions of community and counseling psychology from the American Psychological Association for his scholarly work. Ora Prilleltensky earned her doctorate in counseling psychology at OISE at the University of Toronto and has taught at Victoria University in Australia, Vanderbilt University and the University of Miami. She has also practiced in university counseling centers, schools, and rehabilitation settings in Canada and Australia.