AARP The Secret of Shelter Island (eBook)

ALEXANDER GREEN is the Investment Director of The Oxford Club, Chairman of Investment U, and the Editor of Spiritual Wealth. He has been featured on CNBC, Fox News, and The O';Reilly Factor, and has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, and many other publications. He is the author of the bestselling title The Secret of Shelter Island.

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction xvii

PART ONE A Rich Mind 1

Are You Suffering From Affluenza? 3

Why Money Won't Get You to "Level Three" 7

The Great Mystery 10

The Decent Drapery of Life 14

The Difference Between Getting Rich and Being Rich
17

The Key to Perfect Freedom 21

The Secret of Inspirational Leadership 24

Are You One of the 4 Percent? 27

Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life 30

The Value of Being Utterly, Gloriously Wrong 34

Advice From a 2000-Year-Old Slave 37

The Hardest Victory 41

In Praise of Difficult Pleasures 44

The True Gentleman 49

Beyond Self-Actualization 52

The Last Lesson of Culture 57

Wealth That Can't Be Tallied 60

Stumbling on Happiness 63

The True Meaning of Success 66

PART TWO What Matters Most 69

What's on Your Bucket List? 73

How to Calculate Your Real Wealth 77

The Most Valuable Thing You Own 80

The Biggest Question 83

Dreams with Deadlines 87

The Most Beautiful Place on Earth? 90

How to Avoid "The Mañana Syndrome" 93

Gentlemen, Stop Your Engines! 96

Enjoy Every Sandwich 99

The Best Spiritual Advice 102

Can a Mozart Violin Sonata Change Your Life? 105

How to Transform Your Life 108

Six Steps to a More Relaxed Life 111

One of the Best Secrets of Life 114

This View of Life 117

Why I Hope Steve Jobs Is Wrong 121

A Resolution Worth Keeping 123

A Thorn with Every Rose 126

The Best Way Out 130

PART THREE Attitudes and Gratitude 133

What Matters Most 135

The Last Human Freedom 138

Why You Should Think Before You "Blink" 141

The Most Stupid of Vices 145

The Psychology of Optimal Experience 148

The Courage of Randy Pausch 151

Are You Ready for the 21-Day Challenge? 153

No Such Thing as a Bad Day 157

The Antidote for Greed 161

The Greatest Virtue . . . and the First 165

Who's Your City? 169

The Healing of Karen Armstrong 173

The Cheapest Medicine . . . and the Best 176

The Science of Giving 179

Are You Keeping the Embers Alive? 182

PART FOUR The Search for Meaning 185

Discovering the Laws of Life 189

The Sage of Monticello 193

The Wolf in Monk's Robes 197

From Grand Truths to Grand Caverns 199

The Great Disconnect 202

The Atheist and the Apologist 205

Guideposts on the Footpath to Peace 210

Two Great Thinkers on "The Good Life" 213

The Formula for Re-Enchantment 217

In Praise of Lifelong Learning 220

The Mysterium Tremendum . . . and You 223

My Kind of Martyr 227

Finding Meaning in an Age of Doubt 230

Renewing a Forgotten Virtue 234

The Secret of Shelter Island 238

Afterword 241

Bibliography 243

About the Author 249

Index 251