Happiness Through Hardship


Book Description

Does your diagnosis have you desperate as to what to do next? Shocked, scared and practically paralyzed with your next steps? Help is here in this brilliant, quick and simplified book backed with the best advice from a two-time cancer survivor who walked in similar shoes. Like a good friend holding your hand, Caryn Sullivan’s Happiness through Hardship is written in support of cancer patients, their caregivers and/or friends who need direction during the first few weeks after diagnosis. This cancer-surviving guide book empowers readers to take immediate steps for being prepared, less-stressed and able to find a little joy within the journey. Happiness through Hardship directs those facing an initial cancer diagnosis with positivity and hope. Structured with thoughtful tips and anecdotes, this short book provides gentle guidance from the first few days to the thickness of treatments, and includes a journal and note-taking pages to be used as a reference during doctor appointments and meetings. After her own cancer diagnosis, Caryn understands the importance of a book that’s easily digestible and not overwhelmingly long. Her insight provides a little light during the darker days. The first few weeks after diagnosis are often most challenging. Caryn was blessed to have three angels, Ellen Cavaiuolo, Mary Ann Wasil and Meghan Zucker guide her throughout the early days. This book is dedicated to them and half the proceeds will be donated to metastatic breast cancer research through The Cancer Couch Foundation.




Hardship & Happiness


Book Description

Essays from the Stoic philosopher instructing how to find happiness in a world full of adversity. Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE–65 CE) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and advisor to the emperor Nero, all during the Silver Age of Latin literature. The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca is a fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations of his works in eight accessible volumes. Edited by Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum, this engaging collection helps restore Seneca—whose works have been highly praised by modern authors from Desiderius Erasmus to Ralph Waldo Emerson—to his rightful place among the classical writers most widely studied in the humanities. Hardship and Happiness collects a range of essays intended to instruct, from consolations—works that offer comfort to someone who has suffered a personal loss—to pieces on how to achieve happiness or tranquility in the face of a difficult world. Expertly translated, the essays will be read and used by undergraduate philosophy students and experienced scholars alike. Praise for Hardship and Happiness “[The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca] brings together many preeminent anglophone scholars of Seneca as editors and translators and succeeds in its aim to reach a wider audience through readable, modern English translations. . . . The overall high quality of the translations and notes make this volume (and its respective series) highly desirable for scholars and libraries alike.” —Classical Journal “A significant improvement over what has been available in English of the previous century. . . . The translations presented here admirably achieve the aim set out by the series’ editors: ‘to be faithful to the Latin while reading idiomatically in English.’ . . . Hardship and Happiness is a handsome volume, beautifully conceived and executed.” —Review of Metaphysics “We owe a debt of gratitude to Chicago for this one-volume selection of essays from long ago, which still have the power to stimulate our minds today.” —Classics for All




Unconditional Bliss


Book Description

We can be happy in spite of hardship, heartbreak, or a job we hate. Pie-in-the-sky? This down-to-earth guy shows us how. When personal tragedy struck, Howard Cushnir already knew the Zen practice of staying in the moment. But he wasn't prepared for the gift of grace he received. One day, all but lost, he was suddenly suffused with a complete sense of well-being---not a passing experience, but one available from then on. Paying close attention to the changes in his own inner states, Howard soon realized that feeling blissful is a choice we can always make, regardless of our circumstances.




Option B


Book Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • From authors of Lean In and Originals: a powerful, inspiring, and practical book about building resilience and moving forward after life’s inevitable setbacks After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. “I was in ‘the void,’” she writes, “a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe.” Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build. Option B combines Sheryl’s personal insights with Adam’s eye-opening research on finding strength in the face of adversity. Beginning with the gut-wrenching moment when she finds her husband, Dave Goldberg, collapsed on a gym floor, Sheryl opens up her heart—and her journal—to describe the acute grief and isolation she felt in the wake of his death. But Option B goes beyond Sheryl’s loss to explore how a broad range of people have overcome hardships including illness, job loss, sexual assault, natural disasters, and the violence of war. Their stories reveal the capacity of the human spirit to persevere . . . and to rediscover joy. Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. Even after the most devastating events, it is possible to grow by finding deeper meaning and gaining greater appreciation in our lives. Option B illuminates how to help others in crisis, develop compassion for ourselves, raise strong children, and create resilient families, communities, and workplaces. Many of these lessons can be applied to everyday struggles, allowing us to brave whatever lies ahead. Two weeks after losing her husband, Sheryl was preparing for a father-child activity. “I want Dave,” she cried. Her friend replied, “Option A is not available,” and then promised to help her make the most of Option B. We all live some form of Option B. This book will help us all make the most of it.




Happiness in Hard Times


Book Description

This book is about: • surviving when you’re broke • how happy people think – and how you can be like them • liking yourself before you lose that extra weight • persevering after you get the sack • being happy before you meet your dream partner – and when they become a ‘learning experience!’ Filled with Andrew’s charming cartoons, and inspiring stories of people who have lost everything they had or almost been beaten by alcohol, illness, abuse or outrageous misfortune, Happiness in Hard Times shows us how we too can find our way through the pain to the contentment that seems out of reach.




Happier, No Matter What: Cultivating Hope, Resilience, and Purpose in Hard Times


Book Description

Even when everything is going wrong, the science of happiness can help you! Pioneering positive psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author Tal Ben-Shahar shows us how in Happier, No Matter What. Ben-Shahar busts the all-too-common ideas that success brings happiness and that we can seek happiness itself. When hard times thwart our success and steal our joy, these ideas actually invite despair by leaving us with nothing to do. But we can do something: We can climb the SPIRE—Ben-Shahar’s five-step staircase to hope and purpose. Spiritual: I am experiencing meaning. Physical: My body’s needs are met. Intellectual: I am learning. Relational: My friends support me. Emotional: I am allowed to feel. By truly living these five elements of well-being, we build the resilience to carry us through anything—from a personal loss to a global pandemic. Ben-Shahar’s all-new SPIRE method shows us the way to becoming “whole again”—and when we’re whole, we invite happiness in.




Meltdown


Book Description

Meltdown is an instruction manual to turn your hardship into happiness by measuring and managing the things that are broken in your body, brain and business.




Solve for Happy


Book Description

In this “powerful personal story woven with a rich analysis of what we all seek” (Sergey Brin, cofounder of Google), Mo Gawdat, Chief Business Officer at Google’s [X], applies his superior logic and problem solving skills to understand how the brain processes joy and sadness—and then he solves for happy. In 2001 Mo Gawdat realized that despite his incredible success, he was desperately unhappy. A lifelong learner, he attacked the problem as an engineer would: examining all the provable facts and scrupulously applying logic. Eventually, his countless hours of research and science proved successful, and he discovered the equation for permanent happiness. Thirteen years later, Mo’s algorithm would be put to the ultimate test. After the sudden death of his son, Ali, Mo and his family turned to his equation—and it saved them from despair. In dealing with the horrible loss, Mo found his mission: he would pull off the type of “moonshot” goal that he and his colleagues were always aiming for—he would share his equation with the world and help as many people as possible become happier. In Solve for Happy Mo questions some of the most fundamental aspects of our existence, shares the underlying reasons for suffering, and plots out a step-by-step process for achieving lifelong happiness and enduring contentment. He shows us how to view life through a clear lens, teaching us how to dispel the illusions that cloud our thinking; overcome the brain’s blind spots; and embrace five ultimate truths. No matter what obstacles we face, what burdens we bear, what trials we’ve experienced, we can all be content with our present situation and optimistic about the future.




Letters on Ethics


Book Description

“An exceptionally accessible” new translation of “the lively and urgent writings of one of classical antiquity’s most important ethicists” (Choice). The Roman statesman and philosopher Seneca (4 BCE–65 CE) recorded his moral philosophy and reflections on life as a highly original kind of correspondence. Letters on Ethics includes vivid descriptions of town and country life in Nero’s Italy, discussions of poetry and oratory, and philosophical training for Seneca’s friend Lucilius. This volume, the first complete English translation in nearly a century, makes the Letters more accessible than ever before. Written as much for a general audience as for Lucilius, these engaging letters offer advice on how to deal with everything from nosy neighbors to sickness, pain, and death. Seneca uses the informal format of the letter to present the central ideas of Stoicism, for centuries the most influential philosophical system in the Mediterranean world. His lively and at times humorous expositions have made the Letters his most popular work and an enduring classic. Including an introduction and explanatory notes by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long, this authoritative edition will captivate a new generation of readers.




Real Happiness


Book Description

Drawing from years of groundbreaking research in positive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness-based practices, and neuroscience, Real Happiness provides a simple path to reach lasting happiness. The principles of happiness - gratitude, kindness, mindfulness, forgiveness, self-compassion, optimism and connection - are masterfully presented with fresh ideas and insight. 35 easy-to-implement exercises increase awareness to achieve lasting change to your life. It is indeed possible to become happier; Real Happiness shows you the way. Reviews: “Fresh, insightful and enjoyable read on the important topic of well-being.” - John B. Arden, PhD, author of Brain2Brain,The Brain Bible, and Rewire the Brain “Paquette presents readers with the latest in the science of happiness, and does it in a way that is both accessible and practically useful.” - Acacia C. Parks, PhD, Scientific Advisor to Happify.com “Simple strategies and exercises rooted in scientific research to help you improve your emotional well-being and feel more content, optimistic, and yes, happier!” - Nataly Kogan, co-founder and CEO, Happier Inc