Happy Ever After


Book Description

'A passionate, provocative book. It isn't just a self-help book. It is a manifesto for a better society' Sunday Times 'One of the most rigorous articulations of the new mood of acceptance...a persuasive demolition of many of our cultural stories about how we ought to live' Oliver Burkeman, Guardian Paul Dolan, the bestselling author of Happiness by Design, shows us how to escape the myth of perfection and find our own route to happiness. Be ambitious; find everlasting love; look after your health ... There are countless stories about how we ought to live our lives. These narratives can make our lives easier, and they might sometimes make us happier too. But they can also trap us and those around us. In Happy Ever After, bestselling happiness expert Professor Paul Dolan draws on a variety of studies ranging over wellbeing, inequality and discrimination to bust the common myths about our sources of happiness. He shows that there can be many unexpected paths to lasting fulfilment. Some of these might involve not going into higher education, choosing not to marry, rewarding acts rooted in self-interest and caring a little less about living forever. By freeing ourselves from the myth of the perfect life, we might each find a life worth living.




Escape from Happiness


Book Description

Escape from Happiness takes place in the kitchen of an old, slightly rundown house in a not-so-classy section of a large city. It's home to Nora, a good-natured, slow-moving, fairly batty middle-aged woman; her daughter Gail, who is tough, sensible, and a little high-strung; Gail's husband Junior, an affable but rather dim fellow. Also living here is Tom, who is dying of some unspecified disease; Tom is, according to Nora, a stranger who looks exactly like (and coincidentally has the same name as) her husband, who deserted the family ten years ago after trying to burn down the house.




Escape to Happiness


Book Description

Im sitting on the couch again when it happens. The nightmare vision of that night plays like a movie in my head.




The Happiness Trap


Book Description

A guide to ACT: the revolutionary mindfulness-based program for reducing stress, overcoming fear, and finding fulfilment – now updated. International bestseller, 'The Happiness Trap', has been published in over thirty countries and twenty-two languages. NOW UPDATED. Popular ideas about happiness are misleading, inaccurate, and are directly contributing to our current epidemic of stress, anxiety and depression. And unfortunately, popular psychological approaches are making it even worse! In this easy-to-read, practical and empowering self-help book, Dr Russ Harries, reveals how millions of people are unwittingly caught in the 'The Happiness Trap', where the more they strive for happiness the more they suffer in the long term. He then provides an effective means to escape through the insights and techniques of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), a groundbreaking new approach based on mindfulness skills. By clarifying your values and developing mindfulness (a technique for living fully in the present moment), ACT helps you escape the happiness trap and find true satisfaction in life. Mindfulness skills are easy to learn and will rapidly and effectively help you to reduce stress, enhance performance, manage emotions, improve health, increase vitality, and generally change your life for the better. The book provides scientifically proven techniques to: reduce stress and worry; rise above fear, doubt and insecurity; handle painful thoughts and feelings far more effectively; break self-defeating habits; improve performance and find fulfilment in your work; build more satisfying relationships; and, create a rich, full and meaningful life.




Escape from the American Cage


Book Description

Never doubted, We the People love our country, but are we ready to love its people too? Are we ready to write a New Declaration based on Truth, Dignity, and Love? Are we ready to escape from the American Cage and fly away to our new home - new America? This book is about how to escape from our American Cage and regain our lost independence by living in accordance with "The New Declaration." It is about how to regain not only our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness but also find purpose, attain dignity, build meaningful relationships and find love. It is a dream about human-centered capitalism and democracy in a united, prosperous, and flourishing society. On the surface, indeed, the United States of America looks like a great nation and country, the biggest world power, the most prosperous economy ever created, the best democracy, the land of unlimited possibilities for everyone who wants to make their American dreams come true, and an oasis of freedom and respect for life and happiness. In Escape from the American Cage, author Konrad Milewski argues that this vision belies the fact that America is only a dreamland for a small percentage of its population. The majority of Americans feel tired, used, betrayed, abandoned, unsafe, and hopeless. They hide frustrations that can easily turn into anger and aggression. The U.S. is performing poorly and substantially below most comparably wealthy nations when it comes to happiness. America is a violent country. The rate of murder by firearm is the highest in the developed world. America experiences huge socioeconomic inequality and injustice. Millions of Americans live in poverty, without healthcare, and without education. America has the world's highest rates of substance abuse. About 35% of adult Americans are chronically lonely. Americans are divided. The system that has been created is clearly preventing people from flourishing. And paradoxically, the point is not that the economic system or the justice system are seriously broken. It works exactly the way it was designed to work. This book is an invitation to build a safe, prosperous, united and happy society, the United Societies of America - the best human-centered economy and superpower on earth. "An incredible book about an incredible nation. It seeks out the deepest truths, challenges the most difficult problems, offers long-awaited solutions as well as faith, hope and love. It is about the greatest escape in human history from the most precious, most guarded, and strongest golden cage ever made - The American Cage." The prize is great and monumental. Your independence and our independence. Your happiness and our happiness! Support the movement: The United Societies of America, U*S*A www.unitedsocietiesofamerica.org www.americancage.org




Positive Directions


Book Description

How do you refocus on the positive under any circumstance? Positive Directions is about the specific changes you can easily make that will result in the biggest differences in your life. Dr. Ryder explains how to develop nine psychological skills that empower the individual to conquer problems such as stress, fears, frustrations, misery, lack of energy, sabotaging patterns, and bad decisions. The book simplifies our complex nature and identifies the polar opposites which either swing in the negative (bad) or positive (good) direction. When you are going the wrong way, turn in the opposite - positive direction. This system gives you the knowledge and skills to know how to reverse any negative direction in your life and propel you towards greater success and fulfillment - the positive direction! This book contains a great deal of useful information, fascinating ideas, and fun exercises with helpful tables, graphs, and instructions that can improve your life and relationships.




The Algebra of Happiness


Book Description

An unconventional book of wisdom and life advice from renowned business school professor and New York Times bestselling author of The Four Scott Galloway. Scott Galloway teaches brand strategy at NYU's Stern School of Business, but his most popular lectures deal with life strategy, not business. In the classroom, on his blog, and in YouTube videos garnering millions of views, he regularly offers hard-hitting answers to the big questions: What's the formula for a life well lived? How can you have a meaningful career, not just a lucrative one? Is work/life balance possible? What are the elements of a successful relationship? The Algebra of Happiness: Notes on the Pursuit of Success, Love, and Meaning draws on Professor Galloway's mix of anecdotes and no-BS insight to share hard-won wisdom about life's challenges, along with poignant personal stories. Whether it's advice on if you should drop out of school to be an entrepreneur (it might have worked for Steve Jobs, but you're probably not Steve Jobs), ideas on how to position yourself in a crowded job market (do something "boring" and move to a city; passion is for people who are already rich), discovering what the most important decision in your life is (it's not your job, your car, OR your zip code), or arguing that our relationships to others are ultimately all that matter, Galloway entertains, inspires, and provokes. Brash, funny, and surprisingly moving, The Algebra of Happiness represents a refreshing perspective on our need for both professional success and personal fulfillment, and makes the perfect gift for any new graduate, or for anyone who feels adrift.




Escape Everything!


Book Description

What if the door is open and we can leave any time we like? We will each spend an average of 87,000 hours at work before we die. We will spend another 5,000 getting to and from work. And we will spend countless more preparing for, worrying about and recovering after work. Most of us hate our jobs, so why do we insist on grinding away only to be rewarded with stress, debt, isolation and general unhappiness? Where does our commitment to these traps come from? In I’m Out: How to Make an Exit, Robert Wringham examines these questions and more, showing us how, if we are daring enough to make the attempt, we can take control of our fate and say goodbye to a lifetime of meaningless drudgery.




The Conquest of Happiness


Book Description

The Conquest of Happiness is Bertrand Russell‘s recipe for good living. First published in 1930, it pre-dates the current obsession with self-help by decades. Leading the reader step by step through the causes of unhappiness and the personal choices, compromises and sacrifices that (may) lead to the final, affirmative conclusion ofThe Happy Man




The Book of Joy


Book Description

An instant New York Times bestseller. Over 1 million copies sold! Two spiritual giants. Five days. One timeless question. Nobel Peace Prize Laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have survived more than fifty years of exile and the soul-crushing violence of oppression. Despite their hardships—or, as they would say, because of them—they are two of the most joyful people on the planet. In April 2015, Archbishop Tutu traveled to the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamsala, India, to celebrate His Holiness's eightieth birthday and to create what they hoped would be a gift for others. They looked back on their long lives to answer a single burning question: How do we find joy in the face of life's inevitable suffering? They traded intimate stories, teased each other continually, and shared their spiritual practices. By the end of a week filled with laughter and punctuated with tears, these two global heroes had stared into the abyss and despair of our time and revealed how to live a life brimming with joy. This book offers us a rare opportunity to experience their astonishing and unprecedented week together, from the first embrace to the final good-bye. We get to listen as they explore the Nature of True Joy and confront each of the Obstacles of Joy—from fear, stress, and anger to grief, illness, and death. They then offer us the Eight Pillars of Joy, which provide the foundation for lasting happiness. Throughout, they include stories, wisdom, and science. Finally, they share their daily Joy Practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. The Archbishop has never claimed sainthood, and the Dalai Lama considers himself a simple monk. In this unique collaboration, they offer us the reflection of real lives filled with pain and turmoil in the midst of which they have been able to discover a level of peace, of courage, and of joy to which we can all aspire in our own lives.