There will be days that it is going to be hard to hold your head high and put a smile on your face. However, happiness is a choice; and sometimes, you just occasionally need a boost to remind yourself of that fact. It is intuitive that people who smile and cut out negativity from their life will live longer, healthier lives. You hear it in TED talks, read it on blogs, and physicians (and psychologists) use it as a mantra. Stress and anger cause health complications that make life harder than it needs to be. It will also leave you with higher medical bills, which will cause more stress if you are struggling financially. This book is designed to help give you that small happiness boost you may require at any time. It provides a variety of quotes, new and older, to help you put perspective on your mood, regardless of where you are at in your life. It is organized for quotes to be consumed once per day, however we welcome you to peruse through the pages until you find one that resonates with you at that specific moment. No matter who you are, be it a teenager or in later stages of life, whether you are married or divorced, an entrepreneur or a career professional, or even unemployed, choosing to be happy helps you in all facets of your life. Take it a day at a time, and find the quotes that speak to your needs for the day. Read, reflect and refocus when the stress and trials of the day attempt to derail your mood. You deserve to be happy so find it in your mind.

    He argues that, while formal religious affiliation may be waning, spiritual practices remain relevant because they can cultivate bonds to the self, others, the natural world, and the transcendent. Ter Kuile explains the significance of a variety of religious practices, including pilgrimage, prayer, and meditation, and proposes ways to capture their significance through everyday activities ("anything can become a spiritual practice--gardening, painting, singing, snuggling, sitting") by focusing on intention, attention, and repetition. This approach leads to inventive explorations of social trends; for instance, the famously cultish appeal of the Crossfit fitness program is explained in terms of vulnerability and community. In ter Kuile's understanding, religious traditions are "inherently creative" and therefore good starting points for considering personalized, meaningful spiritual practices.

    It may be for us, a family member, or a troubled child. It might be a mountain of family or financial trouble, or some unseen force that fills us with fear.The late John Osteen has good news for us. We can have a miracle from God, for God is a miracle worker. And He has recorded many of His miracles in His Word, the Bible. Rather than running around searching for needed miracles, Osteen shows us how to put the power of God's Word into daily practice. When we agree with, believe in, and confess the Word of God, miracles reveal themselves.

    She offers examples from her own life, from her childhood in the hills of eastern Tennessee to her life as the iconic performer she is today.From one of the legends of our time, Dream More is an honest, funny, and uplifting anthem for all who want to take charge of their lives and forge a future on their own terms.

    And Jennifer Dukes Lee was no different. For years, she wrestled with a constant nagging sense that she wasn't as happy as she could be. At the same time, she felt guilty for wanting something so "shallow." After all, doesn't God only care that we find joy in our circumstances? Or is it possible that God really does want us to be happy?Determined to get answers, Jennifer embarked on a quest to find out whether our happiness matters to God and, if so, how to pursue it in a way that pleases him.In The Happiness Dare, you'll learn what she discovered, including how to:Understand the five happiness styles and maximize yoursOvercome the four biggest obstacles that stand in the way of your happinessFind your happiness sweet spot--the place, relationship, or activity that gives you the greatest sense of well-beingDiscover what you can do in just five minutes a day to be happierWill you take the dare?Join Jennifer in the pursuit of your truest, most satisfied, and most faith-filled self.

    In The Courage To Be Happy, Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga again distil their wisdom into simple yet profound advice to show us how we, too, can use twentieth-century psychological theory to find true happiness.

    . . This clever, cute step-by-step guide will show you practical ways to get the most out of your creativity and live the life you want. There are also 10 original crafty projects to make and do.

    In this inspiring book, Kay Warren teaches women what joy really is, where to find it, and how to choose it in the good times and the bad. With compassion and wisdom, she shows readers--even those who live with the constant companions of discouragement and depression--that true joy is deeper, richer, and more accessible than they might think. Perfect for small groups or individual reading, "Choose Joy" will empower women who feel like their emotions and well-being are at the mercy of others by helping them understand the life-giving truth that joy is within their grasp--every day.

    "They say love is a two-way street. But I don't believe it because the

    For those who wish for more Scriptural depth in their quiet time, the Digging Deeper feature provides additional Bible scriptures that relate to the day s reading.

    It's a Tuesday.Bradley Michaels is just another man ending just another workday at just another job. He can list the usual complaints, can point his finger at the usual causes, and he can go about his routine as if one day is absolutely no different from the next. Until God himself just shows up uninvited and shakes up Bradley's entire existence by flaunting his own. It's not fair, but Bradley never claimed life is. And he tries to handle the new, omniscient presence in his head with calm attention and cool collectedness. But God happens to be a bit of a kid. He likes to joke, to prod, to stir things up. And what God sets his mind to, God succeeds at. Just as Bradley believes he's got life all figured out, God has to throw a wrench into it. But not at all in the way that Bradley—or you—can expect. Just when you think life is going according to plan, you find out your plan sucks. And it's time for a new one.

    

    However, when these are faced with a calm and clear mind supported by spiritual practice, they can all be successfully resolved. By contrast, when our minds are clouded by hatred, selfishness, jealousy, and anger, we not only lose control, we lose our sense of judgment. At those wild moments, anything can happen. Our own destructive emotions pollute our outlook, making healthy living impossible. We need to cleanse our own internal perspective through the practice of wise compassion.When you are caught up in a destructive emotion, you have lost one of your greatest assets: your independence. At least for the time being, your mind is disturbed, which weakens your capacity for sound judgment. In the grip of strong lust or hatred, you forget to analyze whether an action is suitable, and can even speak crazily and make wild gestures. Afterward, when that emotion fades, you often end up embarrassed and sorry for what you have done. This shows us that, while you had fallen under the influence of that strong emotion, your capacity to distinguish between good and bad, between suitable and unsuitable, was nowhere to be found.Although unfavorable conditions need to be removed, when they are removed with hatred, the means of relief creates its own problems, because hatred, distorted by its bias, does not see the true situation. But unfavorable conditions can be removed through analysis—by examining the facts and discerning the actual situation—without any negative emotional side effects.Only human beings can judge and reason; we understand consequences and think in the long term. Human beings also can develop infinite love, whereas animals have only limited forms of affection and love. However, when humans become angry, all this potential is lost. No enemy armed with mere weapons can undo these qualities, but anger can. It is the destroyer. When animals act out of lust or hatred, they do so temporarily or superficially; they are incapable of committing destruction in ever-increasing strength and variety. However, humans can think from a great many points of view. Because our intelligence is so effective, humans can achieve good and bad on a grand scale.When we look deeply into such things, the blueprint for our actions can be found within the mind. Self-defeating attitudes arise not of their own accord but out of ignorance. Success, too, is found within ourselves. From self-discipline, self-awareness, and clear realization of the defects of anger and the positive effects of kindness, come happiness and peace. For instance, at present, you may be a person who gets easily irritated. However, with clear understanding and awareness, your irritability first can be undermined, and then replaced.If we allow love and compassion to be dominated by anger, we will sacrifice the best part of our human intelligence—wisdom, which is our ability to decide between right and wrong. Along with selfishness, anger is one of the most serious problems facing the world today. Anger plays a large role in current conflicts, such as those in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as those between highly industrialized and economically undeveloped nations. These conflicts arise from a failure to understand how much we have in common.Answers cannot be found in the development and use of greater military force, nor can they be purely political or technological. The problems we face cannot be blamed upon one individual person or a single cause, for they are the result of our own negligence. What is required is an emphasis on what we have in common. Hatred and fighting cannot bring happiness to anyone, even to those who win. Violence always produces misery, so it is fundamentally counterproductive.How can a world full of hatred and anger achieve real happiness? If we examine our long history of turmoil, we see the obvious need to find a better way. Attempts by global powers to dominate one another through arms races—whether nuclear, chemical, biological, or conventional—are clearly counterproductive. The sale of weapons, thousands and thousands of types of arms and ammunition by manufacturers in big countries, fuels the violence, but more dangerous than guns or bombs are hatred, lack of compassion, and lack of respect for the rights of others. External peace is impossible without inner peace. As long as hatred dwells in the human mind, real peace is impossible. We can only solve our problems through truly peaceful means—not just peaceful words, but actions based on a peaceful mind and heart. This is the way we will come to live in a better world.On every level, the most mischievous troublemakers we face are anger and egoism. The kind of egoism I refer to here is not just a sense of “I,” but an exaggerated self-centeredness that leads to manipulating others. As long as anger dominates our disposition, we have no chance of achieving lasting happiness. In order to achieve peace, tranquility, and real friendship, we must minimize anger and cultivate kindness and a warm heart. As we become nicer human beings, our neighbors, friends, parents, spouses, and children will experience less anger, prompting them to become more warm-hearted, compassionate, and harmonious. The very atmosphere becomes happier, which even promotes good health. This is the way to change the world.It is time for all of us, including world leaders, to learn to transcend differences of race, culture, and ideology in order to regard each other with appreciation for our common human situation. To do so would uplift individuals, families, communities, nations, and the world at large.Those countries that have achieved great material progress are beginning to understand that the condition of society, and of our physical well-being, is closely related to our state of mind. This is where profound change has to begin. Individually, we have to work to change the basic perspectives on which our feelings depend. We can only do so through spiritual training, by engaging in transformative practice with the aim of gradually reorienting the way we perceive others and ourselves.

    We live in a fast-paced, high-octane society where feeling lost in the jostling crowd is the norm and finding our own significance is oftentimes the biggest challenge of all. Fearless love champion Judy Clement Wall will guide you through this challenge--to fill your well for 30 days and tap into the miracle that is you! When you learn to love and value yourself, your relationships with everyone else will change, because the person that you bring to the world will be the fullest, truest, best-loved version of yourself. So step up and take this challenge. Carve out a few minutes each day to fully engage with yourself; reflect, unwind, and have fun! Here's a sneak peek at just some of the prompts:#2: Be outrageously grateful#3: Create a life list#4: Appreciate your body in all its awesomeness#6: Doodle your perfect t-shirt#11: Find your life theme#12: Call "BS" on "should"#14: Text love.Using a stimulating mix of coloring, creative prompts, and other daily activities, master writer, artist and doodler Judy Clement Wall will help you uncover the undeniable awesomeness that is you.

    Research psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky's pioneering concept of the 40% solution shows you how Drawing on her own groundbreaking research with thousands of men and women, research psychologist and University of California professor of psychology Sonja Lyubomirsky has pioneered a detailed yet easy-to-follow plan to increase happiness in our day-to-day lives-in the short term and over the long term. The How of Happiness is a different kind of happiness book, one that offers a comprehensive guide to understanding what happiness is, and isn't, and what can be done to bring us all closer to the happy life we envision for ourselves. Using more than a dozen uniquely formulated happiness-increasing strategies, The How of Happiness offers a new and potentially life- changing way to understand our innate potential for joy and happiness as well as our ability to sustain it in our lives. Beginning with a short diagnostic quiz that helps readers to first quantify and then to understand what she describes as their "happiness set point," Lyubomirsky reveals that this set point determines just 50 percent of happiness while a mere 10 percent can be attributed to differences in life circumstances or situations. This leaves a startling, and startlingly underdeveloped, 40 percent of our capacity for happiness within our power to change. Lyubomirsky's "happiness strategies" introduce readers to the concept of intentional activities, mindful actions that they can use to achieve a happier life. These include exercises in practicing optimism when imagining the future, instruction in how best to savor life's pleasures in the here and now, and a thoroughgoing explanation of the importance of staying active to being happy. Helping readers find the right fit between the goals they set and the activities she suggests, Lyubomirsky also helps readers understand the many obstacles to happiness as well as how to harness individual strengths to overcome them. Always emphasizing how much of our happiness is within our control, Lyubomirsky addresses the "scientific how" of her happiness research, demystifying the many myths that unnecessarily complicate its pursuit. Unlike those of many self-help books, all her recommendations are supported by scientific research. The How of Happiness is both a powerful contribution to the field of positive psychology and a gift to all those who have questioned their own well- being and sought to take their happiness into their own hands.