“Ambition is a blessing. It is a key motivator driving people to achieve their hopes and dreams. In a culture obsessed with fame and celebrity, the burning desire for acclaim, conquest, and domination can be overwhelming—to the detriment of one’s personal life. This is ambition addiction: the all-encompassing yearning for success at any cost.”
Does this sound like you? It does for self-described ambition addict Rabbi Benjamin Shalva — author of Spiritual Cross-Training — who in his new book identifies the signs and symptoms of ambition addiction and profiles iconic achievers to help readers identify unhealthy motivations.
In addition to helping readers make a diagnosis, understanding if they are dying to win, and learning to build bridges,
Shalva reveals the five steps to living a fulfilling life of healthy, productive ambition in which grand but elusive fantasies give way to the true happiness of the here and now.
The Road to Recovery:
1. Slow Down
2. Enjoy
3. Give Thanks
4. Donate Time
5. Dream Anew
If you’d like to get the inside scoop on beating your ambition addiction, stay tuned for our Q&A with the Rabbi whose new book offers a remedy for what ails us on InkandescentRadio.com.
And click here to read our interview with Shalva about his first book, Spiritual Cross-Training.
ABOUT BENJAMIN SHALVA
BENJAMIN SHALVA is the nationally renowned author of Ambition Addiction: How to Go Slow, Give Thanks, and Discover Joy Within and Spiritual Cross-Training: Searching through Silence, Stretch, and Song and has been published in the Washington Post, Elephant Journal, and Spirituality & Health magazine. A rabbi, writer, meditation teacher, and yoga instructor, Shalva leads spiritual seminars and workshops around the world.
Shalva received his rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and his yoga-teacher certification from the Yogic Physical Culture Academy in Los Cabos, Mexico. He serves on the faculty at the Jewish Mindfulness Center of Washington and the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, DC, and leads musical prayer services for Adas Israel Congregation and Bet Mishpachah in Washington, DC.
A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Shalva lives in Reston, Virginia, with his wife and children.
