Choosing Happiness: Keys to a Joyful Life

This book is a treasure-not to be read quickly but savored when settled into a quiet moment with a cup of tea. It is like self-therapy: encouraging on a bleak day, uplifting when needed, enhancing the best moments, and consoling during the worst. Less structured than many of Stoddard's other works, this book meanders like daily thoughts, exploring reoccurring themes such as:> Defining the ingredients of happiness. ("Often we learn about unhappiness from being unhappy. We need strategies and tools to better cope with unhappiness, disappointment, and pain.... Approximately half of the ways to increase our happiness can be derived from wise, imaginative choices. The other half comes from our willingness to accept whatever happens, to make the necessary adjustments and move forward....Pleasure is experienced in our outer environment; joy originates within. Love of life and others is the goal. Choosing happiness is the way.")<br>> Cultivating mindfulness. ("By developing the capacity to be fully present in each moment, we will live a life of greater depth and meaning.... All experiences have the power to transform us when we're fully alive to the beauty of a present moment's encounter.")<br>> Sensitivity to our environment. ("The care and maintenance that we put into our immediate physical environment, our homes, our gardens, our possessions, our clothes, will always add to our sense of well-being and inner peace.") <br>> Cultivating our "inner garden." <br>> Ways to prioritize. ("When we prioritize what tasks we must perform, we're able to immerse ourselves in what we do. Whenever we try to do too much in too little time, we are less effective and don't do anything well.")<br>> Developing our defining words to help us "be true to ourself in our life choices."<br>> Counteracting the negative with the positive. ("We get good vibes by giving them....Being fully present. Listening well-these small gestures of caring are magical when they become a habit, a happy continuing experience....Miserable people cause most of the problems.... A gentle opposing energy can bring balance.")<br>> Expending energy to gain energy. ("Whatever positive vibrations we send out come back to us in rich benefits.... The more often we give off good energy-even if only in optimistic, compassionate thoughts and insightful ideas-the more opportunities we'll have to live vibrantly moment to moment.... Appreciation energizes.")<br>> Following goals. ("When we decide what we want to do with our life, and move in the direction of our goals, when we challenge ourselves to personal growth as a regular discipline, we put everything we have into everything we do.")<br>> Thanking others. ("Thanking people for services they perform for you can bring dignity and pleasure to their jobs. The extra little effort, whether made in person, over the telephone, or in writing, adds grace to the giver as well as the receiver and encourages the energy of happiness.")<br>> Handling pain. ("Painful times

as always, with alexandra's books, I was not disappointed. I will add this one to my shelf to read and reread. My daughters (22-24yr) also enjoy borrowing my alexandra books for inspiration on decorating and life in general. I savor her books!

In this book, as in all her works, Alexandra Stoddard is not telling you to change YOUR bedside lampshades just because she mentions it in her book. She's not telling YOU to wear acid green, that she loves and she's not telling YOU to check the Caffeine label on the coffe. She's telling you what SHE does and how SHE chooses happiness. No one is going to be able to "Choose Happiness" by following HER suggestions verbatim. What she IS telling you is to look at her examples and find these things in YOUR life. Hers may be silly and trite to you, as some of the negative reviews have mentioned, but the basic idea is sound indeed. You just have to find your own.The most I got from this book is BEING MINDFUL. Now, we all know this, it's nothing new, but all of this is cumulative anyway. It won't do you a whit's good to practice these tips for a day or a week. It has to be all the time....It may not be YOUR path to happiness, but it's a fine start. Thanks Alexandra, I read it often.

This book is a breath of fresh air. The author tells us that "happiness lies in the passions we pursue and the pressures wedecline." She boldly states that's "Happiness is a choice."In challenging times which we all have, you can choose happinessor get caught up in and dwell on the unpleasant things we all face in our life. Even in the most tumultuous of times, one can find "happiness in the little things in life, which might be as simple as hot cookies from the oven, a smile from a friend, or fresh cutflowers. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it.I also recently read the book "Working on Yourself Doesn't Work"by Ariel & Shya Kane. It was equally as enjoyed and is about "Living in the Moment." What I learned from both these book is if one doesn't dwell on the negative or worry about the futureor the past, life can be magical!

This is a beautiful book. It talks about how to get around the "bad stuff" and savor the better parts of life. In a section called "transcending pain" Alexandra says, "Our painful experiences stregthen us in becoming more empathetic, more caring, and deeper human beings. We grow in depth of understanding, with greater appreciation for the miracle of life. We all have our struggles. None of us is spared. Pain is inevitable. We try to learn from our experiences how to move our energy into pure, positive directions. We must remain focused on our goals so that our light shines as brightly as possible in situations that require our inner strength." When she gets to talking about the better parts of life, there is a section about reaching for dreams and goals that I especially enjoyed. The whole book is beautifully written and thoughtful and I found it uplifting and inspiring. I guess that I should underscore what I've written by admitting that Alexandra Stoddard is my favorite writer and I have most of her books. However, Choosing Happiness and Daring to be Yourself are my two favorite favorites. It would be really sad for anyone to miss out on this perfect little book about being happy.