Your heart and your brain need exercise to stay healthy. In this incisive work, psychologist Charles Shelton shows that the same is true for your conscience—the moral muscle that helps you discern what is right, and then act on it.
Achieving Moral Health

Achieving Moral Health
Just like our physical health, our moral health requires commitment and attention. In this book, an accomplished authority on moral and mental health offers a timely exploration of the ways the conscience can develop and provides a set of exercises each of us can undertake to strengthen our conscience and learn to obey what it tells us—even in difficult circumstances, when the right thing isn’t the easy thing. This creative and intellectually grounded work helps recover a lively sense of the crucial importance of developing one’s moral faculties independent of peer pressure, social trends, or professional pressures.
Dr. Shelton assists the reader in the increasingly daunting task of balancing work, family and friendships by providing a formula for a morally healthy life. I found myself continually applying the concepts to my own roles as mother, spouse, daughter, sister, physician, teacher, and friend – all roles which I cherish.”
—Kathleen A. McGann, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Co-Coursemaster, Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital
“Lucidly written, this book is a most welcome addition to the literature on values and personal development. Dr. Shelton’s ability to blend practicality with intellectual rigor makes his book an invaluable text for courses in business and health care ethics. This book will appeal to lay readers, clinicians, and all involved Twelve Step programs.”
—James M. Harbaugh, Ph.D. Instructor of Addiction Studies and Scholar in Residence, Seattle University School of Law
“A wonderful mix of reflection and practical application for the world of work and relationships.”
—Mathew R. Galvin, M.D. Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Co-author of Right vs. Wrong
“This very useful book is most provocative – in a positive way. Dr. Shelton’s step-by-step method of energizing one’s personal conscience will be of use to all government and business leaders, as well as to those of us facing the challenges of ordinary life.”
—General (Ret.) Edward C. Meyer, Former Chief of Staff, United States Army
Paperback / 240 pages
Dimensions: 6 x 9
CROSSROAD, 2000
Conscience, Moral Theology, Psychology, Self-Help, Personal Growth
Categories:
Living, Life, Justice, Dignity