How to Be Miserable

How to Be Miserable
Author: Randy J. Paterson
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2016-05-01
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1626254087

In How to Be Miserable, psychologist Randy Paterson outlines 40 specific behaviors and habits, which—if followed—are sure to lead to a lifetime of unhappiness. On the other hand, if you do the opposite, you may yet join the ranks of happy people everywhere! There are stacks upon stacks of self-help books that will promise you love, happiness, and a fabulous life. But how can you pinpoint the exact behaviors that cause you to be miserable in the first place? Sometimes when we’re depressed, or just sad or unhappy, our instincts tell us to do the opposite of what we should—such as focusing on the negative, dwelling on what we can’t change, isolating ourselves from friends and loved ones, eating junk food, or overindulging in alcohol. Sound familiar? This tongue-in-cheek guide will help you identify the behaviors that make you unhappy and discover how you—and only you—are holding yourself back from a life of contentment. You’ll learn to spot the tried-and-true traps that increase feelings of dissatisfaction, foster a lack of motivation, and detract from our quality of life—as well as ways to avoid them. So, get ready to live the life you want (or not?) This fun, irreverent guide will light the way.

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Author: Jeanette Winterson
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2012-03-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0802194753

A New York Times bestseller: The “magnificent” memoir by one of the bravest and most original writers of our time—“A tour de force of literature and love” (Vogue). One of the New York Times’ “50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years” Jeanette Winterson’s bold and revelatory novels have established her as a major figure in world literature. Her internationally best-selling debut, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, tells the story of a young girl adopted by Pentecostal parents, and has become a staple of required reading in contemporary fiction classes. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a “singular and electric” memoir about a life’s work to find happiness (The New York Times). It is a book full of stories: about a girl locked out of her home, sitting on the doorstep all night; about a religious zealot disguised as a mother who has two sets of false teeth and a revolver in the dresser, waiting for Armageddon; about growing up in a north England industrial town now changed beyond recognition; about the universe as a cosmic dustbin. It is the story of how a painful past, rose to haunt the author later in life, sending her on a journey into madness and out again, in search of her biological mother. It is also a book about the power of literature, showing how fiction and poetry can form a string of guiding lights, or a life raft that supports us when we are sinking. Witty, acute, fierce, and celebratory, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a tough-minded story of the search for belonging—for love, identity, home, and a mother.

Stumbling on Happiness

Stumbling on Happiness
Author: Daniel Gilbert
Publisher: Vintage Canada
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2009-02-24
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0307371360

A smart and funny book by a prominent Harvard psychologist, which uses groundbreaking research and (often hilarious) anecdotes to show us why we’re so lousy at predicting what will make us happy – and what we can do about it. Most of us spend our lives steering ourselves toward the best of all possible futures, only to find that tomorrow rarely turns out as we had expected. Why? As Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert explains, when people try to imagine what the future will hold, they make some basic and consistent mistakes. Just as memory plays tricks on us when we try to look backward in time, so does imagination play tricks when we try to look forward. Using cutting-edge research, much of it original, Gilbert shakes, cajoles, persuades, tricks and jokes us into accepting the fact that happiness is not really what or where we thought it was. Among the unexpected questions he poses: Why are conjoined twins no less happy than the general population? When you go out to eat, is it better to order your favourite dish every time, or to try something new? If Ingrid Bergman hadn’t gotten on the plane at the end of Casablanca, would she and Bogey have been better off? Smart, witty, accessible and laugh-out-loud funny, Stumbling on Happiness brilliantly describes all that science has to tell us about the uniquely human ability to envision the future, and how likely we are to enjoy it when we get there.

Happier at Home

Happier at Home
Author: Gretchen Rubin
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2012-09-04
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0385670834

Tolstoy wrote, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." This is the statement that inspired bestselling author Gretchen Rubin to wonder whether she could foster an even greater happiness in her home. During The Happiness Project, the same questions kept tugging at her. How can I raise happy children? How can I maintain a tender, romantic relationship with my spouse--after fifteen years of marriage? How do I keep my Blackberry from taking over my private life? How can I foster a well-ordered, light-hearted atmosphere in my house, when no one else will lift a finger to cooperate? This book is Gretchen's account of her second journey in pursuit of happiness. Prescriptive, easy-to-follow, and anecdotal, Happier at Home offers readers a way of thinking and being that is positive and life-affirming. With specific examples following the calendar year, an intimate voice, and drawing from science and pop culture, this book will resonate with anyone looking to strengthen the bonds of family.

How We Choose to Be Happy

How We Choose to Be Happy
Author: Rick Foster
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2004-06-01
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 039952990X

Now featuring new research and the most current information on the science of happiness, this book presents an outline of the nine choices happy people consistently make. Also included are tools for self-assessment to allow readers to measure happiness-and to find out what might be holding them back from having more of it. Insightful, intimate, and inspiring, How We Choose to Be Happy lets readers learn by example, and take substantial steps toward joining the ranks of the extremely happy.

This Is Happiness

This Is Happiness
Author: Niall Williams
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2019-12-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1635574218

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST and REAL SIMPLE A profound and enchanting new novel from Booker Prize-longlisted author Niall Williams about the loves of our lives and the joys of reminiscing. You don't see rain stop, but you sense it. You sense something has changed in the frequency you've been living and you hear the quietness you thought was silence get quieter still, and you raise your head so your eyes can make sense of what your ears have already told you, which at first is only: something has changed. The rain is stopping. Nobody in the small, forgotten village of Faha remembers when it started; rain on the western seaboard was a condition of living. Now--just as Father Coffey proclaims the coming of electricity--it is stopping. Seventeen-year-old Noel Crowe is standing outside his grandparents' house shortly after the rain has stopped when he encounters Christy for the first time. Though he can't explain it, Noel knows right then: something has changed. This is the story of all that was to follow: Christy's long-lost love and why he had come to Faha, Noel's own experiences falling in and out of love, and the endlessly postponed arrival of electricity--a development that, once complete, would leave behind a world that had not changed for centuries. Niall Williams' latest novel is an intricately observed portrait of a community, its idiosyncrasies and its traditions, its paradoxes and its inanities, its failures and its triumphs. Luminous and otherworldly, and yet anchored with deep-running roots into the earthy and the everyday, This Is Happiness is about stories as the very stuff of life: the ways they make the texture and matter of our world, and the ways they write and rewrite us.

Stand Firm

Stand Firm
Author: Svend Brinkmann
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2017-02-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1509514295

The pace of modern life is accelerating. To keep up, we must keep on moving and adapting – constantly striving for greater happiness and success. Or so we are told. But the demands of life in the fast lane come at a price: stress, fatigue and depression are at an all-time high, while our social interactions have become increasingly self-serving and opportunistic. How can we resist today's obsession with introspection and self-improvement? In this witty and bestselling book, Danish philosopher and psychologist Svend Brinkmann argues that we must not be afraid to reject the self-help mantra and 'stand firm'. The secret to a happier life lies not in finding your inner self but in coming to terms with yourself in order to coexist peacefully with others. By encouraging us to stand firm and get a foothold in life, this vibrant anti-self-help guide offers a compelling alternative to life coaching, positive thinking and the need always to say 'yes!'

The Happiness Project

The Happiness Project
Author: Gretchen Rubin
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2012-06-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1443418196

What if you could change your life--without changing your life? Gretchen had a good marriage, two healthy daughters, and work she loved--but one day, stuck on a city bus, she realized that time was flashing by, and she wasn’t thinking enough about the things that really mattered. “I should have a happiness project,” she decided. She spent the next year test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Each month, she pursued a different set of resolutions: go to sleep earlier, quit nagging, forget about results, or take time to be silly. Bit by bit, she began to appreciate and amplify the happiness that already existed in her life. Written with humour and insight, Gretchen’s story will inspire you to start your own happiness project. Now in a beautiful, expanded edition, Gretchen offers a wealth of new material including happiness paradoxes and practical tips on many daily matters: being a more light-hearted parent, sticking to a fitness routine, getting your sweetheart to do chores without nagging, coping when you forget someone’s name and more.

Are We Happy Yet?

Are We Happy Yet?
Author: Lisa Cypers Kamen
Publisher: SCB Distributors
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2017-02-17
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0996213112

Are We Happy Yet? Eight Keys to Unlocking a Joyful Life is an exciting fusion of science and heart, filled with successful tools and techniques for creating your personal “happiness revolution.” Lisa Cypers Kamen, an internationally recognized applied positive psychology coach and expert in life-crisis recovery, reveals her breakthrough system for cultivating sustainable happiness and well-being—regardless of life’s drama, trauma, or challenges. Her inspiring and practical tips, keys, and exercises will boost your “Happiness-Factor” to new levels and show you how to tap into the joy and peace you deserve. You’ll learn how to: • Accept the past for what it is—a reference point, not a destination • Embrace the truth that while life is tough, you can be happy • Transform your relationship with yourself from enemy to ally • Appreciate why less is often more • Focus on what’s right with your life, not what’s wrong • Control the only person you can—yourself • Invest in yourself to become more mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually fit • Use your newly discovered joy to become a more positive and productive influence in the world—and much more “As a reformed depressed person, I did not wander into my happy place. There was a personal evolution to my happiness revolution,” says Lisa of her own journey. A sought-after expert in life-crisis triage, including addiction and trauma recovery, she is acclaimed for her dynamic “H-Factor” process that makes it possible for anyone to elevate their well-being through attention, intention, and action. Lisa’s proven techniques and work as host of the popular Harvesting Happiness Talk Radio show have helped millions of people around the world generate more joy and fulfillment in their lives.

What It Takes To Be Free

What It Takes To Be Free
Author: Darius Foroux
Publisher: North Eagle Publishing
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2019-08-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9083023826

“Liberty is slow fruit. It is never cheap; it is made difficult because freedom is the accomplishment and perfectness of man.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson This book is for people who also believe personal freedom is the most important thing in life. In our free world, we can do what want, spend time with people we like, and have a career that gives us joy. And yet, we don’t use our freedom. Why is that? The problem is that we’re held captive by ourselves. On a deeper level, we all strive for the same thing: To be free. It’s in our nature. Every human has the desire and the need to be free. What It Takes To Be Free will lead you on the path to personal freedom. It’s a highly practical guide that’s based on timeless wisdom and personal experience. You’re the ruler of your own kingdom. You can do anything you want, spend time with people you like, and have a career that you love. If you’re willing to do what it takes, you will be free to do those things.