Beauty and the Soul: The Extraordinary Power of Everyday Beauty to Heal Your Life

by Piero Ferrucci

The bestselling author of The Power of Kindness shows how the ability to appreciate beauty-far from being a luxury or an afterthought-is vital to leading a happy, balanced, and satisfying life.

Beauty is all around us-in a flower, a song, the sound of falling water, or a dramatic painting. We often think of it as just "window dressing." But it's not. It is the balm of our existence, and we cannot live full and satisfying lives without it.

Transpersonal psychologist Piero Ferrucci helps us to see everyday beauty in a whole new way-and to understand its powers to guide us through periods of darkness or stress, to speed recovery, to make life feel purposeful. He uses stories, case studies, clinical histories, and anecdotes to explain how different kinds of beauty complement and complete our lives in different ways.

So much of the malaise and low-grade depression we may find in our lives and those of people we love is due to our inability to understand the extraordinary power-and necessity-of taking time to "smell the flowers." Ferrucci shows how we can place ourselves in closer proximity to the therapeutic healing that only beauty can bring.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Spirituality

304 pages, Hardcover

First published August 20, 2009

About the author

Piero Ferrucci is a psychotherapist and a philosopher. He graduated from the University of Torino in 1970.

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only read the first 20 pages and I'm blown away, becoming emotional and buying the hardback right off the shelf for full price (something I haven't done in FOREVER).

Ferrucci speaks of how beauty is one way to open one up and allow for healing and thriving. He contrasts this to the distracted task-to-task "wasteland of the soul" that is arid, desperate, and grey. He talks about how modern culture "assaults" us with too much stimuli, eliciting emotions that are not really ours- that have been manipulated and amplified. We end up feeling that we can probably have anything we want, but paradoxically "feel that we ourselves are nothing."

Anyone who's ever been released from anxiety or worry by rustling tree leaves, a child's impossibly tiny fingernail, or whatever your beauty draws are, will love how Ferrucci talks about how this expansive feeling is a royal road that we can use to help us feel calm, content, and alive.

Obviously, I'm eager to read the rest.

[R.K. Goff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored it.

It's like sitting down one lazy evening in front of a fire with an old friend who happens to be a philosopher and (even better) a dude who likes to just contemplate. He is in the mood to chat about one of his favorite topics--beauty. Add a cup of tea and you have about the right relaxing, interesting and lovely atmosphere of this book.

Very interesting. Very thought provoking.

I will be buying this one and reading it again.

[Marianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much in this book resonated within me. The one thing I couldn't help thinking throughout was how different would our inner cities be if they contained more natural beauty?

[Cri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super mind blowing, quello di cui avevo bisogno

[Amina Ahsan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the concept and the anecdotes. It was quite repetitive though.

[Hazel Joy Lozada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kept my soul giddy while reading. I would definitely reread

[Chelsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was absolutely fascinating. Ferrucci spoke of beauty as how i’ve always perceived it but was not aware of a whole book that emphasizes the realization of beauty’s depth & impact. this book has helped me learn even more about beauty beyond what i’ve perceived of it on my own. Beauty is Good.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ferruci's argument beauty is both something we need for well-being and something we become more aware of in our daily imperfections and efforts to create defends our aesthetic senses while recognizing what is beautiful varies from person to person and culture to culture. Beauty and creating beauty as part of pain control and strengthening happiness may intrigue seekers of both.

[Harpreet Dhindsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am currently reading this book seems very interesting, and it makes you see and think about life outside the box, and what possibilities await upon us. This book makes you you think about everything in a unique and mind blowing way.

[Rachel Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning read. Informative and transformative. A great wake-up call to turn our attention to the marvellous seemingly mundane in our everyday life.

The power of developing our aesthetic intelligence, perception and receptivity!

[Katy Hampton · Rating 1 out of 5]

The text was incredibly repetitive and frankly boring.. I really don't like to read books without finishing them, but I just felt it wasn't worth my time.

[Miraj (Papyrus) Khaled · Rating 5 out of 5]

it will change your perception on how you view the world and the everyday beauty surrounding you.

[Lucretia Cioata · Rating 5 out of 5]

A verry good book !Beauty is an extraordinary tonic. It revives us when we feel depressed, it leads us to finding sense in our lives, it feeds our hopes and helps us dream .