Becoming Happy for No Reason may not happen overnightthough, as I found in some instances, it can! Having the vision that it exists and knowing the steps to achieve it will put you on the fast track
7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out
Marci Shimoff: Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out
Happy for No Reason is divided into three sections. In the first section, Part I, we'll continue to explore the paradigm of true happiness I call Happy for No Reason. Just understanding this idea can change the way you experience happiness in your own life. You'll find a Happy for No Reason questionnaire that will help you assess and understand your own present level of happiness. You'll also learn three guiding principles that will help you get past the common blocks to happiness in your life and speed your progress. Finally, I'll share with you how I've applied the Law of Attraction to being happier. I'm honored to be featured in the worldwide film phenomenon The Secret, which focuses on this law. I've seen how powerfully it can change lives.
Part II is the how-to section that shows you step-by-step how to raise your level of happiness. Through my research, I discovered that there are seven specific steps for becoming Happy for No Reason. I wanted to make these seven steps easy to remember, and because people's homes are so often a metaphor for their lives, I decided to present them in a simple, easy-to-remember analogy: building a Home for Happiness. The seven steps of building your Home for Happiness correspond to the seven main areas of your life: personal power, mind, heart, body, soul, purpose, and people.
This holistic approach is vital. Many books on happiness just focus on the mind, but if you don't also address your habitual behavior in the other areas of your life, you won't experience true happiness. Here's an overview of the steps (one per chapter):
1. The Foundation—Take Ownership of Your Happiness
2. The Pillar of the Mind-Don't Believe Everything You Think
3. The Pillar of the Heart-Let Love Lead
4. The Pillar of the Body—Make Your Cells Happy
5. The Pillar of the Soul-Plug Yourself in to Spirit
6. The Roof-Live a Life Inspired by Purpose
7. The Garden-Cultivate Nourishing Relationships
Each step has three Happiness Habits, with corresponding exercises based on the latest research and findings on how to raise your happiness set-point, as well as inspirational stories.
As a Chicken Soup for the Soul coauthor, I'd been deeply moved reading over 20,000 stories that had been submitted for my books. When the books were published, the overwhelming response from millions of readers confirmed for me that stories open people's hearts and affect them deeply. That's why I decided to include some of the inspiring first-person stories of transformation from the Happy 100 in this book. From my 100 interviews with these unconditionally happy people, I've selected twenty-one stories that clearly define what it means to be Happy for No Reason.
You'll read phenomenal tales from a variety of people, including a former drug dealer turned minister, a hit filmmaker, a political refugee, and a famous actress who escaped a "family curse," as well as stories from doctors, nurses, mothers, teachers, and business executives. You'll meet Zainab, who lived under Saddam Hussein's thumb and locked up her memories and her happiness in a box hidden deep inside. And Janet, who was living a ho-hum life and working at a dead-end job, until she discovered a simple yet profound way to be deeply happy every day. You'll hear Gay's story of losing 100 pounds, and gaining the life of his dreams, after finding the key to really nourishing himself. These stories are wonderful illustrations that there are many paths to Happy for No Reason, and that we're all capable of arriving at that destination no matter where we begin the journey.
Part III is about being Happy for No Reason-permanently. No more waiting for the other shoe to drop, wondering how long your happiness will last. In this section, you'll get clear direction about how
to put the Happiness Habits into practice every day and find resources that can help you sustain being Happy for No Reason for the rest of your life.
Becoming Happy for No Reason may not happen overnightthough, as I found in some instances, it can! Having the vision that it exists and knowing the steps to achieve it will put you on the fast track to a complete transformation of your life. I know, because it's happened to me and to thousands of others. I've used the tools and techniques presented in this book myself and with my clients. Though I wasn't happy for many years, I've been able to move from a D+ to an A-on the happiness scale. Now, when life tosses my boat around, I return to an even keel more easily; I don't capsize anymore. I'm still on the journey, still a student as well as a teacher, but I am living proof that these steps can move you immediately in the right direction, no matter where you start. Believe me, if I can do it, so can you.
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