Happiness In This Life

A collection of homilies, speeches, and “messages of the day” that brings together Pope Francis’s wisdom on finding happiness in the here and now For Pope Francis, the appreciation of our everyday lives is a spiritual undertaking. Joy is a divine attribute, and creating joy around us an essential part of faith. Every homily and speech in this book delivers, in warm, engaging language accessible to believers and nonbelievers alike, a key lesson, instructing readers on finding love and happiness in a chaotic world. Along the way, Pope Francis discusses the sanctity of women’s rights, talks about how the love of sports can bring out our best qualities, and explains why fighting discrimination is the essence of loving thy neighbor. He shares personal stories and anecdotes from his life, provides comforting messages of hope, and discusses the ways flawed families can make you a better person. The core ideas of Francis’s papacy—mercy, support for marginalized people, and diplomacy—shine through. Praise for Happines in This Life “Though the title of the book mentions happiness, this collection of thoughts addresses something much deeper—joy. Bringing together excerpts from Pope Francis’s sermons, speeches, prayers, and addresses, these pieces address a range of themes, from mercy and humility to simplicity and family. . . . Readers will be encouraged to clear away the cacophony of modern society and embrace the simplicity of joy. A book as loving and encouraging as the man himself seems to be.”—Booklist “With this wide-ranging collection of writings, homilies, and addresses, the current pontiff dispels any notion that religious practice is dour and antiquated. . . . It brings together the pope’s most affecting passages to inspire Catholics (and those of other faiths) to lift up those around them.”—Publishers Weekly “Reminiscent of the gentle encouragement of the Dalai Lama . . . Family-centered and practical—especially on difficult matters of familial contention—these homilies are, on the whole, gentle encouragements to do the right thing. . . . [This] collection offers clear insight into the pope’s doctrinal concerns.”—Kirkus Reviews

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.

Separated by millennia, Aristotle and Sigmund Freud gave us disparate but compelling pictures of the human condition. But if, with Jonathan Lear, we scrutinize these thinkers' attempts to explain human behavior in terms of a higher principle--whether happiness or death--the pictures fall apart. Aristotle attempted to ground ethical life in human striving for happiness, yet he didn't understand what happiness is any better than we do. Happiness became an enigmatic, always unattainable, means of seducing humankind into living an ethical life. Freud fared no better when he tried to ground human striving, aggression, and destructiveness in the death drive, like Aristotle attributing purpose where none exists. Neither overarching principle can guide or govern "the remainder of life," in which our inherently disruptive unconscious moves in breaks and swerves to affect who and how we are. Lear exposes this tendency to self-disruption for what it is: an opening, an opportunity for new possibilities. His insights have profound consequences not only for analysis but for our understanding of civilization and its discontent.

"In this warm, wise, and witty overview, Jonathan Rauch combines evidence and experience to show his fellow adults that the best is yet to come.” —Steven Pinker, bestselling author of Enlightenment Now This book will change your life by showing you how life changes. Why does happiness get harder in your 40s? Why do you feel in a slump when you’re successful? Where does this malaise come from? And, most importantly, will it ever end? Drawing on cutting-edge research, award-winning journalist Jonathan Rauch answers all these questions. He shows that from our 20s into our 40s, happiness follows a U-shaped trajectory, a “happiness curve,” declining from the optimism of youth into what’s often a long, low slump in middle age, before starting to rise again in our 50s. This isn’t a midlife crisis, though. Rauch reveals that this slump is instead a natural stage of life—and an essential one. By shifting priorities away from competition and toward compassion, it equips you with new tools for wisdom and gratitude to win the third period of life. And Rauch can testify to this personally because it was his own slump, despite acclaim as a journalist and commentator that compelled him to investigate the happiness curve. His own story and the stories of many others from all walks of life—from a steelworker and a limo driver to a telecoms executive and a philanthropist—show how the ordeal of midlife malaise reboots our values and even our brains for a rebirth of gratitude. Full of insights and data and featuring many ways to endure the slump and avoid its perils and traps, The Happiness Curve doesn’t just show you the dark forest of midlife, it helps you find a path through the trees. It also demonstrates how we can—and why we must—do more to help each other through the woods. Midlife is a journey we mustn’t walk alone.

A psychologist offers fifty science-backed ideas, activities, and adventures for cultivating a happier mindset. From positive psychology expert Edward Hoffman, Ph.D., Paths to Happiness guides you through fifty fun, stimulating, mind-opening ways to achieve greater joy and feel more fulfilled. From dabbling in watercolors to expressing gratitude, embracing nostalgia to power napping, each suggestion in this book has been shown by scientific research to increase happiness and support well-being. Every topic is explored in a digestible manner and invites readers to reflect on their lives, with easy ways to cultivate a happier mindset. The easy dip-in, dip-out style and engaging activities make this accessible guide to finding happiness in daily living—one that can be revisited again and again.

Learn how to achieve the happiness you deserve "A guide to sustaining your newfound contentment." —Psychology Today "Lyubomirsky's central point is clear: a significant portion of what is called happiness . . . is up for grabs. Taking some pages out of the positive psychology playbook, she coaches readers on how to snag it." —The New York Review of Books You see here a different kind of happiness book. The How of Happiness is a comprehensive guide to understanding the elements of happiness based on years of groundbreaking scientific research. It is also a practical, empowering, and easy-to-follow workbook, incorporating happiness strategies, excercises in new ways of thinking, and quizzes for understanding our individuality, all in an effort to help us realize our innate potential for joy and ways to sustain it in our lives. Drawing upon years of pioneering research with thousands of men and women, The How of Happiness is both a powerful contribution to the field of positive psychology and a gift to people who have sought to take their happiness into their own hands.

Nautilus Book Awards Winners for 2007 (category: Self-Help/Psychology/ Personal Growth) "Like many people, Kathleen Hall found that despite great success and material wealth, she had yet to identify purpose, meaning, and balance in her work and her life. She left her Wall Street firm and devoted herself to understanding the relationships between mind, body, and spirit, and between professional and personal fulfillment. Since then, she has studied with great spiritual leaders including the Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and the exiled Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. She has also learned from medical experts like Dr. Dean Ornish of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and Dr. Herbert Benson at the Harvard Mind-Body Institute. Inspired by those diverse influences, Dr. Hall has written A Life in Balance, a guided journey to joy, peace, and an intentional life grounded in the four roots of the SELF: * Serenity. Find what brings us peace, and channel it into everything we do * Exercise. Align the body with energy and health through walking, yoga, martial arts, and more * Love. Build community and relationships that heal others as well as ourselves * Food. Pay attention not just to what we eat, but to what we experience through all our senses Our lives pull us in many different directions; to find happiness, we must first create balance. Filled with wit, wisdom, and compassion, A Life in Balance will help any reader identify and stay true to his or her authentic self."

Small in size, but big in purpose, The Little Book of Happiness is a guide to realizing and achieving true joy in one's life. Full of heartfelt wisdom communicated in a mantra-like style, this little take-along volume gives a lift wherever it's needed: at work, at home, or in a quiet moment. It offers readers such tender tidbits as . . . Be forgiving, forgiving of yourself . . .. Tell no lies, and remember, leaving important things out counts as telling a lie. . . . If you want to be happy, always tell the whole truth. . . .Happiness is not far away.