Check your spam folder (or even your inbox) and you'll see a tsunami of emails from coaches, gurus and prophets, all of them offering advice on everything from getting up in the morning to becoming a billionaire, by way of walking on coals. Some of this advice is offered in exchange for money, to which I have no objection; some is there for the taking. This whole area of advice-giving runs all the way from sacred texts and worthy Victorian self-help books to assertively-expressed life-coaching, meditative practices, therapeutic interventions and collective therapies such as the 12 steps for overcoming addiction.
The advice isn't always consistent. Some teachers advocate emptying the mind, others filling it with good things. The same guru could one minute be telling you to be grateful for your current situation and the next minute telling you to make bold changes to your life. Credibility can be a problem. We can be told that we are entirely responsible for what has happened to us and/or that we can do anything we set our minds to. This advice must ring hollow with innocent victims of others' misdeeds and those who (like most people) have some limitations on their physical or mental capacity. Is it actually all worthless hype, or are there some verifiable techniques for leading a good life? And what is such a life like?