An internationally acclaimed spiritual author says her new book aims to help Kiwi women combat the pressure of living up to expectations set by celebrities like Beyonce, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie.
New Zealand spiritual author, Marnie McDermott, says ‘Beyond Happiness: The 12 Principles of Enduring Bliss’ is designed to help Kiwi females find inner peace without comparing themselves to A-Listers who make juggling many demanding roles appear easy.
McDermott’s US award winning memoir covers her 12 guiding principles of how to achieve happiness through a deeply personal account of her own experience.
McDermott was inspired to write the self-help book after a devastating house fire saw her lose everything she believed defined her.
The incident was both traumatic and liberating, as it allowed her to simplify her life and discover her true pathway to happiness, she says.
“For a long time I was caught in the ‘manufactured’ happiness trap, where I thought having luxury items would make me happy. This has almost become an epidemic in the western world,” she says.
“I obsessed with finding happiness through attaining things, and I would make constant plans about when and how I would be happy – by buying a bigger home, having flasher clothes, or earning more money.”
McDermott says that as she continued to upsize her life she just became more miserable.
“I worked my way up to earning six figures as a national corporate communications specialist, and I had the wardrobe full of shoes and clothes to go with it, but somehow I still felt empty. I kept convincing myself that if I did and had more I would be happy someday,” she says.
“I kept adding distractions to my life, effectively blocking myself from happiness, rather than just pausing to realise it was already within me.”
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