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Better than Happiness: The True Antidote to Discontent
'There's a realm beyond happiness that very few people inhabit. Follow what I've done and you may one day enter it. It's a wonderful place called contentment.'
When Gregory Smith stumbled out of a New South Wales rainforest in 2000 he was close to death after living as a hermit in the wild. Determined to turn a wretched life into one worth living, Gregory stripped himself bare emotionally, psychologically and spiritually to undertake an extraordinary personal reconstruction.
Today, with a PhD to his name and a loving family by his side, Gregory has overcome a life of homelessness and despair to become one of society’s great teachers. He is a senior lecturer in the social sciences at university, a government policy advisor and an advocate for the dispossessed and downtrodden the world over. And yet he doesn’t consider himself to be happy. ‘It is far more attainable, satisfying and fulfilling,’ says Gregory, ‘to simply be contented.’
In this insightful and empowering book, the author of Out of The Forest shares the mental strategies and practical steps he took to go from a friendless and futureless man to ‘the most contented person I know’, and how they can help you turn your life around, too.
When Gregory Smith stumbled out of a New South Wales rainforest in 2000 he was close to death after living as a hermit in the wild. Determined to turn a wretched life into one worth living, Gregory stripped himself bare emotionally, psychologically and spiritually to undertake an extraordinary personal reconstruction.
Today, with a PhD to his name and a loving family by his side, Gregory has overcome a life of homelessness and despair to become one of society’s great teachers. He is a senior lecturer in the social sciences at university, a government policy advisor and an advocate for the dispossessed and downtrodden the world over. And yet he doesn’t consider himself to be happy. ‘It is far more attainable, satisfying and fulfilling,’ says Gregory, ‘to simply be contented.’
In this insightful and empowering book, the author of Out of The Forest shares the mental strategies and practical steps he took to go from a friendless and futureless man to ‘the most contented person I know’, and how they can help you turn your life around, too.
188 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 22, 2023
5 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Gregory P. Smith
2 books20 followersGregory Smith was homeless for much of his adult life. He now has a PhD in Sociology and teaches in the Social Sciences at Southern Cross University
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 10, 2023
BETTER THAN HAPPINESS THE TRUE ANTIDOTE TO DISCONTENT by Gregory P, Smith is published by Penguin Random House in 2023.
Review by Lorraine Parker
A revealing, fascinating and thought provoking Australian memoir.
In his prologue Gregory states the he, “chased happiness for 45 miserable years”. Ten of these years he spent living in the forest from which he emerged malnourished and close to death in 1999. To quote Gregory, he still had all his baggage including childhood trauma, alcoholism, drug addiction, loneliness and contempt of an imperious society. This is his remarkable journey of how he broke free, confronting his past whilst moving forward in mind, spirit, knowledge, body and interaction with others. His words, “happiness is impermanent: it can vanish like smoke in the wind”, compelled me to read on.
For me, Gregory drops continual ‘pearls of wisdom’ and addresses many kinds of human traits, all in the context of his own extraordinary life. For example, attitude, loneliness, expectations, labelling, acceptance, aggression, true friendship, and even personal dress code and exercise.
Gregory’s parents were violent. So much so that he was placed in St. Patrick’s, an orphanage in Armidale. Homelessness followed. No wonder he became estranged from his five sisters.
His brief time with Nicola (whilst he was facing possible jail for arson), produced Katie, born in 1986. Both Nicola and Gregory drank excessively. On returning to their caravan one evening, Gregory found Nicola and baby Katie gone. From 1989 he withdrew to be alone in the forest.
When Gregory re-entered society in 1999, he recognised the need to change his own attitude. A positive step was his volunteering to work for the RSPCA. He also acknowledged that his poor education was hampering him. Another step was a Certificate 1 Course in Information Technology (It is very interesting that he relates this back to a positive exchange with a manager when he was just 24 years old).This was followed by a TAFE Bridging Course. Now Gregory was on his way to a Degree in Sociology through Southern Cross University. He also experienced the joy of his first true friendship.
I particularly relate to his chapters on ‘Forgiveness is For Giving’ and ‘Peeling Labels’ (of which he had suffered a few negative ones). In changing himself he honestly and insightfully addresses the many why’s of his behaviour.
Another high point for me was Gregory being called in to Centrelink for review of his disability pension. A real wow moment!
There is so much more! However, I hope that I have wetted your curiosity and interest so that you too can be enriched by this remarkable read.
“Today, with a PhD to his name and a loving family by his side, Gregory has overcome a life of homelessness and despair to become one of society’s great teachers. He is a senior lecturer in the social sciences at university, a government policy advisor and an advocate for the dispossessed and downtrodden the world over. And yet he doesn’t consider himself to be happy. ‘It is far more attainable, satisfying and fulfilling,’ says Gregory, ‘to simply be contented.”
A must read for all.
Review by Lorraine Parker
A revealing, fascinating and thought provoking Australian memoir.
In his prologue Gregory states the he, “chased happiness for 45 miserable years”. Ten of these years he spent living in the forest from which he emerged malnourished and close to death in 1999. To quote Gregory, he still had all his baggage including childhood trauma, alcoholism, drug addiction, loneliness and contempt of an imperious society. This is his remarkable journey of how he broke free, confronting his past whilst moving forward in mind, spirit, knowledge, body and interaction with others. His words, “happiness is impermanent: it can vanish like smoke in the wind”, compelled me to read on.
For me, Gregory drops continual ‘pearls of wisdom’ and addresses many kinds of human traits, all in the context of his own extraordinary life. For example, attitude, loneliness, expectations, labelling, acceptance, aggression, true friendship, and even personal dress code and exercise.
Gregory’s parents were violent. So much so that he was placed in St. Patrick’s, an orphanage in Armidale. Homelessness followed. No wonder he became estranged from his five sisters.
His brief time with Nicola (whilst he was facing possible jail for arson), produced Katie, born in 1986. Both Nicola and Gregory drank excessively. On returning to their caravan one evening, Gregory found Nicola and baby Katie gone. From 1989 he withdrew to be alone in the forest.
When Gregory re-entered society in 1999, he recognised the need to change his own attitude. A positive step was his volunteering to work for the RSPCA. He also acknowledged that his poor education was hampering him. Another step was a Certificate 1 Course in Information Technology (It is very interesting that he relates this back to a positive exchange with a manager when he was just 24 years old).This was followed by a TAFE Bridging Course. Now Gregory was on his way to a Degree in Sociology through Southern Cross University. He also experienced the joy of his first true friendship.
I particularly relate to his chapters on ‘Forgiveness is For Giving’ and ‘Peeling Labels’ (of which he had suffered a few negative ones). In changing himself he honestly and insightfully addresses the many why’s of his behaviour.
Another high point for me was Gregory being called in to Centrelink for review of his disability pension. A real wow moment!
There is so much more! However, I hope that I have wetted your curiosity and interest so that you too can be enriched by this remarkable read.
“Today, with a PhD to his name and a loving family by his side, Gregory has overcome a life of homelessness and despair to become one of society’s great teachers. He is a senior lecturer in the social sciences at university, a government policy advisor and an advocate for the dispossessed and downtrodden the world over. And yet he doesn’t consider himself to be happy. ‘It is far more attainable, satisfying and fulfilling,’ says Gregory, ‘to simply be contented.”
A must read for all.
July 4, 2024
This was on my educator ALC list through libro.fm and I was intrigued by the author’s life.
But, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting or hoping for. I didn’t realize the author previously wrote a memoir about his time living in the woods, so I probably should’ve read that instead. This book kind of glosses over all of it other than a few mentions of the fact that he did live in the forest for many years. I wanted to know more about that and have it then connect to the thesis of “more than happiness”.
Instead, this was more a series of essays about life lessons he’s learned from all his life experiences. It felt disjointed and jumped around a bit (maybe in written form it would be easier to follow than as an audiobook). For instance, he was talking about meeting his estranged daughter at her place of employment after he got his life together, and then the next section/chapter/4 minutes later in the audiobook he’s talking about preparing a room for her in the house he was living in and she’s like 4 years old at the time. I was super lost at times trying to keep track of what portion of his life the stories were about, because it wasn’t linear. And it’s not like they necessarily were grouped by theme, either. It felt like a random hodgepodge of essays thrown together (to me, anyway).
It would be 2 stars because despite his compelling life story, there’s not enough about his life for me to feel connected to it, it’s somewhat disorganized, and the advice about contentment/happiness feels like an afterthought, so it’s not even really and advice book.
But, there was one particularly insightful thing that did jump out at me, so that gives an extra star: I liked his rationale of the “3 day week” to help stay in the present and ground oneself. I haven’t heard that before but it resonated with me and gave me something to think about, so that was the one takeaway from this book that I’ll have. Otherwise, sadly kind of forgettable.
Thanks libro.fm for the educator ALC.
But, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting or hoping for. I didn’t realize the author previously wrote a memoir about his time living in the woods, so I probably should’ve read that instead. This book kind of glosses over all of it other than a few mentions of the fact that he did live in the forest for many years. I wanted to know more about that and have it then connect to the thesis of “more than happiness”.
Instead, this was more a series of essays about life lessons he’s learned from all his life experiences. It felt disjointed and jumped around a bit (maybe in written form it would be easier to follow than as an audiobook). For instance, he was talking about meeting his estranged daughter at her place of employment after he got his life together, and then the next section/chapter/4 minutes later in the audiobook he’s talking about preparing a room for her in the house he was living in and she’s like 4 years old at the time. I was super lost at times trying to keep track of what portion of his life the stories were about, because it wasn’t linear. And it’s not like they necessarily were grouped by theme, either. It felt like a random hodgepodge of essays thrown together (to me, anyway).
It would be 2 stars because despite his compelling life story, there’s not enough about his life for me to feel connected to it, it’s somewhat disorganized, and the advice about contentment/happiness feels like an afterthought, so it’s not even really and advice book.
But, there was one particularly insightful thing that did jump out at me, so that gives an extra star: I liked his rationale of the “3 day week” to help stay in the present and ground oneself. I haven’t heard that before but it resonated with me and gave me something to think about, so that was the one takeaway from this book that I’ll have. Otherwise, sadly kind of forgettable.
Thanks libro.fm for the educator ALC.
November 13, 2024
I went into this thinking it was a self-help book and so I was disappointed to find a memoir, which isn’t the books fault but it did impact my reading experience. I think the title is a bit misleading though in that aspect.
I also fundamentally disagree that contentment is not a part of happiness and vice versa, and while this premise may have been mentioned at one part of the book I believe that it wasn’t explained enough or often enough for it to make sense as a title or concept. Even grammatically, if contentment is better than happiness than it would be the antidote to discontent right? It’s like putting “Better than not breathing: the true antidote to breathing”??
I can appreciate Smith’s story and struggles with topics like homelessness, survival, trauma and more, and while there were some pieces of guidance that were generally helpful (gratitude, charting your own course, looking after your inner child etc) I didn’t take much away at the denouement.
There are also parts of Smith’s life and philosophy that I disagreed with (always being early, relationship dynamics etc), or found hard to connect with, which again is mainly personal preference, but I found it difficult to connect to even on a memoir basis.
I listened to the audiobook and I’m glad Smith is doing well, it was nice of him to narrate parts at the beginning and end.
This was an audiobook in between books and while I appreciate it made me reflect and reaffirm positive actions to better oneself, and that Smiths story is inspiring, it wasn’t what I was looking for and fell flat for me personally in terms of reading experience.
I also fundamentally disagree that contentment is not a part of happiness and vice versa, and while this premise may have been mentioned at one part of the book I believe that it wasn’t explained enough or often enough for it to make sense as a title or concept. Even grammatically, if contentment is better than happiness than it would be the antidote to discontent right? It’s like putting “Better than not breathing: the true antidote to breathing”??
I can appreciate Smith’s story and struggles with topics like homelessness, survival, trauma and more, and while there were some pieces of guidance that were generally helpful (gratitude, charting your own course, looking after your inner child etc) I didn’t take much away at the denouement.
There are also parts of Smith’s life and philosophy that I disagreed with (always being early, relationship dynamics etc), or found hard to connect with, which again is mainly personal preference, but I found it difficult to connect to even on a memoir basis.
I listened to the audiobook and I’m glad Smith is doing well, it was nice of him to narrate parts at the beginning and end.
This was an audiobook in between books and while I appreciate it made me reflect and reaffirm positive actions to better oneself, and that Smiths story is inspiring, it wasn’t what I was looking for and fell flat for me personally in terms of reading experience.
January 10, 2026
I picked this up in the library fully expecting to just skim it, but I ended up reading the whole thing. I really enjoyed reading about his extraordinary journey and the very down-to-earth way he talks about his life, what he dealt with, and how he, DIY, with nobody’s help but his own, managed to stay away from substances.
There were some really nice insights around acceptance, self-acceptance, anger, and learning how to actually live in the present moment.
What I liked is that it didn’t feel preachy or overly spiritual , it felt practical, lived, and honest.
Some highlights:
acceptance has remained a good trend, too. In more than 20 years of practicing it, the attitude has had a major and enduring impact on me, bringing both peace and mind and purpose. Acceptance is not to be confused with unconditional surrender.
Acceptance is not saying I can’t question, I can’t discuss, I can’t find a better way. It’s about how we approach and manage the problems in our lives. I learned that just accepting what is at certain times in my life has given me more power to change the things I don’t like.
In some ways, it’s a paradox. To change something we first have to accept it for what it is. Only through accepting my perceived flows and limitations? Could I see that there were pathways to improvement? The same applied when it came to learning to accept one of the biggest conundrums in my life, the man in the mirror.
Self acceptance is the main reason I’m not only here today, but able to look at myself in the mirror.
There were some really nice insights around acceptance, self-acceptance, anger, and learning how to actually live in the present moment.
What I liked is that it didn’t feel preachy or overly spiritual , it felt practical, lived, and honest.
Some highlights:
acceptance has remained a good trend, too. In more than 20 years of practicing it, the attitude has had a major and enduring impact on me, bringing both peace and mind and purpose. Acceptance is not to be confused with unconditional surrender.
Acceptance is not saying I can’t question, I can’t discuss, I can’t find a better way. It’s about how we approach and manage the problems in our lives. I learned that just accepting what is at certain times in my life has given me more power to change the things I don’t like.
In some ways, it’s a paradox. To change something we first have to accept it for what it is. Only through accepting my perceived flows and limitations? Could I see that there were pathways to improvement? The same applied when it came to learning to accept one of the biggest conundrums in my life, the man in the mirror.
Self acceptance is the main reason I’m not only here today, but able to look at myself in the mirror.
November 7, 2023
A light touch does not detract from this intense book of honest and extraordinary personal reconstruction. Truly a phoenix rising from the ashes of a ruined life to reconnect with family, friends and inner contentment. Page 183 “What happens if I just stop, start looking around at what’s happening now and not think about the past?” Gregory Smith mused that “Just like getting sober, living in the moment required a lot of practice.” Every chapter has first-hand, down-to-earth, mind-expanding knowledge Greg gained through very personal, very traumatic circumstances. It is truly amazing what we humans can do when we set our minds to saving our own life. Personally I think it would be a good idea for everyone in the world to read this book. Powerful stuff to face the bitterness of truth as Greg did, then identify problems and work on rectifying them. Judging by his ABCTV interview, he has resolved his life and become pretty much an ordinary dude with a job and family. More kudos to him.
July 20, 2024
From the abusive Catholic Institutions for children, to the streets, to the hermitage of the forest, Gregory shares his harrowing life of addiction, isolation, despair and loneliness - but also how he manages to rise from the gutter to university education and beyond. I found his book to be very inspiring and humbling, as I could see the ‘every man’s struggle’ to survive, be loved and be seen. I am left dumbfounded at how this man ever found the strength to get up and keep going knowing what he went through and then, to share his experience and inner mist thoughts with the public. I don’t think I could have survived this, but then, it’s not my story. Everyone has their own journey, I cannot judge, I can only listen to another person’s life experience with awe at the strength and intelligence of the human spirit. Thanks for sharing your story with me Gregory, I think it will stay with me.
September 28, 2023
Listened to the audiobook version.
ALC via the Libro.fm Educator ALC program.
ALC via the Libro.fm Educator ALC program.
February 25, 2024
Interesting story, it may or may not be a bit of a trigger for some people, Gregory had a particularly traumatic start to life. Overall I found the book interesting, quite a quick read.
May 31, 2024
What an amazing journey! Highly recommend. I’ve been telling everyone how inspiring and interesting this book is. Fantastic.
February 10, 2026
Couldn't finish the book as I didn't find it interesting. However, the author has had an amazing life of tragedy/adversity and came out the other end- admirable.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews