Gregory Smith explains how after a decade living as a recluse in a rainforest he rejoined society and found something better than happiness - contentment. And how you can find contentment too if you just stop trying to be happy.

How do you rebuild a broken life? Where do you begin?

These were the questions Gregory Smith asked himself after stumbling out of a New South Wales rainforest in 2000, close to death after living as a hermit in the wild.

Determined to turn a wretched life into one worth living, Gregory stripped himself bare emotionally, psychologically and spiritually to undertake an extraordinary personal reconstruction.

Today, with a PhD to his name and a loving family by his side, Gregory has overcome a life of homelessness and despair to become one of society’s great teachers. He is a senior lecturer in the social sciences at university, a government policy advisor and an advocate for the dispossessed and downtrodden the world over. And yet he doesn’t consider himself to be happy. ‘It is far more attainable, satisfying and fulfilling,’ says Gregory, ‘to simply be contented.’

In this insightful and empowering book, the author of Out of The Forest shares the mental strategies and practical steps he took to go from a friendless and futureless man to ‘the most contented person I know’, and how they can help you turn your life around, too.