This wide-ranging book contains a wealth of thoughtful reflection and strategies for achieving a more fulfilling life. Author Hale, a spiritual teacher who holds doctoral degrees in metaphysics, addresses his book to readers who may want to change their lives and overcome mental roadblocks that keep them from living their dreams. The book is organized by topics that contribute to this larger goal. For example, chapter titles include "What Really Matters Most to You?," "Overcoming Fear," and "How to Give Yourself Peace." Each section explores a different aspect of how to change one's perspective in order to find more joy, meaning, and purpose in life. The objective is to be free from negative, limiting thoughts and behaviors that produce a sense of dissatisfaction and yearning for more—in other words, to live "beyond want."

Hale's book is written in a conversational, friendly style that invites readers to reflect on how its ideas might relate to their own lives. It blends Eastern principles of mindfulness with cognitive restructuring exercises intertwined with visualization strategies. There is a balance of theoretical explanation of the various tenets as well as concrete examples of how to apply them in day-to-day life. In particular, the chapter on fear makes the important point that fears can be self-protective but also self-limiting if unjustified or imaginary. Most helpfully, each chapter ends with a section called "Our Steps Become" that sums up the chapter and translates it into a concise action plan. Therefore, by the end of the book, readers are given a ten-point program for achieving a life "beyond want." Dr. Hale ends this program with the motivating observation that "There is no wrong place to start, except not to start."

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