“Deeply moving and easy to understand, The Reality Slap is a book that takes us to the heart of being human to really help us change from the inside. Russ Harris has given us a truly compassionate gift that explains how we can enlighten ourselves on our journey through life’s storms and calms. I had so many insightful moments that reading this book was a delight.”

—Paul Gilbert, PhD, author of The Compassionate Mind

“Sooner or later, reality is going to slap you. Loss, disease, betrayal or other misfortunes will arrive unexpectedly and shake your very foundation. At that moment, this wise book is one to keep within reach. It will do more than soothe you—it will ground you, guide you, and help you grow. Taking the time to treat yourself with kindness and awareness doesn’t remove the pain, but it dignifies it and turns it into a profound teacher. This book will help you learn the lessons that pain can teach. You will want this book, not just for you, but also for those you love, knowing that sooner or later, reality is going to slap them, too.”

—Steven C. Hayes, PhD, Foundation Professor of Psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno, and author of Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life

“Deeply personal, profoundly insightful, and above all, highly practical, this book will show you how to deal with “reality slaps”—those painful wake-up calls that we all have when things go wrong. Russ Harris has produced another excellent book about what it means to be truly human, how to deal with life’s difficulties, and how to live a more engaged, meaningful, and pleasurable life.”

—Anthony Grant, PhD, director of the coaching psychology unit at the University of Sydney and author of 8 Steps to Happiness

“No matter what we attempt to do, pain and suffering are inevitably going to creep into our lives, and the capacity to handle this pain is essential for fulfillment. So if you want a short-term boost of happiness with simple, banal ideas that your kindergarten teacher could have told you, go elsewhere. But if you want to create a stable platform of mindfulness, meaning, and purpose in your life, and develop the ability to handle pain effectively, then this is the book to read. It is my great hope that people will find this book and flexibly adopt the ideas within.”

—Todd B. Kashdan, PhD, author of Curious? and Designing Positive Psychology

“Russ Harris is a world-renowned and highly respected trainer of acceptance and commitment therapy, a modern scientific model of human psychology that overlaps to a great extent with aspects of traditional spiritual wisdom. In The Reality Slap, drawing from both scientific findings and his own personal experience, Harris invites us all into a vital conversation on how to handle life’s rough edges. Read it, enjoy it, and you will find some genuine treasures in your life!”

—Niklas Törneke, MD, coauthor of The ABCs of Human Behavior

“Gripping and compassionate—a must-read for anybody going through a difficult life transition, such as divorce, illness, career change, or the death of a loved one. This is a rare work, one that is at once deeply personal and universally applicable.”

—Joseph Ciarrochi, PhD, associate professor at the University of Wollongong and author of Emotional Intelligence in Everyday Life

Russ Harris is a medical practitioner, psychotherapist, and bestselling author of The Happiness Trap, which has now been translated into twenty-two languages. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and he regularly travels all of Australia and internationally to train a wide variety of professionals in this approach. His other books include The Confidence Gap, ACT with Love, ACT Made Simple, and the novel Stand Up Strummer.