The Happiness Diary: Practice Living Joyfully

by Barbara Ann Kipfer

Overview

The Happiness Diary offers practical advice and exercises for cultivating a happiness practice from the author of the million-copy bestseller 14,000 Things to Be Happy About, Barbara Ann Kipfer.

Through stories, lists, thought-provoking questions, and whimsical illustrations, you will learn tangible ways to capture and record happy moments based on your own style.

Happiness is an age-old need. Yet, modern life—with its attendant pressures and disconnection—is making it more elusive. However, new science is showing that happiness is a skill set that can be taught and cultivated. With The Happiness Diary, learn how to cultivate your own happiness practice via reflective and journal exercises.

Featuring beautiful illustrations, this inspiring book presents journal prompts, reflective exercises, and inspirations that encourage reflection on what makes you truly happy. You’ll start by defining your own version of happiness, then explore different methods for starting on your happiness path. The exercises are divided by theme, including:

• Focus on the Present Moment
• Secrets to Mindfulness
• Capturing the Little Things
• Changing Your Brain
• Sharing Happiness

By doing the exercises, you’ll get a personalized plan for cultivating mindfulness, living each day in the present moment, and finding joy in life’s everyday events.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592338580
Publisher:	Fair Winds Press
Publication date:	03/12/2019
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	654,409
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Author of the bestseller 14,000 Things To Be Happy About, Barbara Ann Kipfer has written more than 75 books and calendars of wit and inspiration, thesauri and dictionaries, trivia and question books, archaeology reference, and happiness and spiritually themed books. Kipfer is a professional lexicographer and holds PhDs in Linguistics, Archaeology, and Buddhist Studies.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

My story is the story of a tiny spiral notebook that eventually became a million-copy bestseller. I started writing in it in sixth grade, when I felt like I didn't fit in. Around that time, I happened to find a children's book called The Happy Book by Patricia Martin Zens, published in 1965. It was a short book of twenty pages, a list of things to be happy about. I liked the idea, so I started my own list.

The things I wrote down were simple. The first entries included blueberry muffins, green peas, bumper pool, cooking, and purses. I carried the notebook with me, opening it randomly. I always felt a boost from reading a few entries. When my notebook filled up, I started another ... then another. Eventually the notebooks turned into a book, 14,000 Things to Be Happy About, and a website, thingstobehappyabout.com, which features a database of more than 164,000 things.

Most importantly, those simple notebooks turned into a practice, a way to cultivate happiness and mindfulness. And with this journal, you can use it, too.

Mindfulness is an important factor, a first step, but mindfulness alone is not enough. Savoring and ingraining the good things you experience grows you a garden from which you will be able to pick flowers when challenges come. It is long-term, resilient happiness inside of you that does not rely on obtaining stuff or on outward circumstances being perfect. This practice is valuable in good times and bad times, a constant companion to help navigate the ups and downs of life.

Let's get started!

(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "The Happiness Diary"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc..
Excerpted by permission of The Quarto Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Introduction, 6,
1. Your Definition of Happiness, 8,
2. Methodologies, 34,
3. Focus on the Present Moment, 46,
4. Secrets to Mindfulness, 82,
5. Capturing the Little Things, 98,
6. How to Compile Your Own Collection, 122,
7. Changing Your Brain, 134,
8. Sharing Happiness, 150,
About the Author, 160,