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As the founder and owner of Greenbrier Academy for Girls in rural Southeastern West Virginia, L. Jay Mitchell leads a therapeutic boarding school that emphasizes supportive, healing approaches to emotional trauma and distress. A respected voice in his field, L. Jay Mitchell explores aspects of self and identity in his book Decide Now: The Good Life or the Best Life.
A foundational idea of the book is that a pivotal aspect of identity lies in what you believe about yourself. This is a “hopeful” approach in the sense that it implies a degree of self-agency in whether you attain positive relationships and an authentic sense of worth and life enjoyment.
Extensive research presented in the book suggests that experiences and hereditary disposition may be overcome as we strive to achieve “better selves.” One aspect of this involves looking beyond an oft-cited goal of “feeling good” as the main objective in life. Rather than a life full of emotional satisfaction, Mr. Mitchell proposes that we strive for one “of rich meaning and purpose.”
This implies that the relationships we forge with others, involving the giving and receiving of love, are of at least equal importance as simply feeling good.
