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Put your happiness to work in the lives of others. Learn about things you can do, and that others are doing, to make the world a happier place.
Want to Start Meditating?
Practice

Ready, Sit, Meditate

Here’s a closer look at the three forms of meditation that are most popular today. Read about each one to see how they might benefit you: Compassion and loving kindness This practice is designed to cultivate warm, compassionate feelings toward others, even toward those we may not like. It begins by cultivating feelings of self-compassion, then moves toward developing feelings of love and compassion toward others. A study from Stanford University led by researcher Cendri A. Hutcherson found that even a short, seven-minute compassion meditation can increase feelings of social connectedness with others. Read More: A Step-by-Step Guide to Compassion Meditation Focused attention A wandering mind is the greatest challenge to effective meditation, and in focused attention, the meditator concentrates on the cycle of each breath as it goes in and out. Each time the mind begins to wander, the meditator returns his or her focus to the breath. At Emory University, a study revealed that different areas of the brain lit up as the attention shifted, further supporting findings that meditation—even in short increments—creates physiological changes within the brain. Read More: Give Yourself a Mindfulness Makeover Mindfulness Mindfulness meditation involves observing what’s going on during meditation—sights, sounds, smells, sensations and thoughts. Instead of being engaged in them or carried away by them, meditators observe and dismiss them, and studies have shown that those who practice mindfulness experience diminished activity in areas of the brain typically associated with anxiety, such as the amygdala and the insular cortex. Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD, assistant clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, teaches that walking and eating meditations are particularly effective for those who want to learn mindfulness. Both can be started informally, such as just being more “present” and aware while walking or eating, and then can become a more formal practice if desired. Want more from Paula? Listen to her interview this week (and any time) on our podcast Live Happy Now, available for download from iTunes.
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Find Your Meaning in Life
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5 Ways to Get in Touch With Your Higher Calling

Finding meaning in one’s life is such an integral concept to Martin Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology, that he includes it in his shorthand for happiness, PERMA, which stands for Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement. While the fleeting happiness we get from something like watching a gorgeous sunset is nice and part of the “pleasant life,” Martin says, if we want to be happy in the long term, we need to strive for “the Meaningful Life” in which “we find a deep sense of fulfillment by employing our unique strengths for a purpose greater than ourselves.” It sounds wonderful. A “purpose-driven life” as it were. But how do we find it? In church, synagogue or mosque? Alone in the wilderness with our thoughts or while finding a deep sense of connection with our friends and families? Some seem to have a clearer view of how to arrive there than others. The passionate artist, the pediatric surgeon, idealistic missionary or dedicated social worker ... they seem to already know or quickly find their strengths, follow their passions, help, teach and give to others, and gain a deep sense of satisfaction from their work. But most of us spend a little more time wandering in the wilderness. Here are a few ideas for those who are still searching for a greater sense of purpose in life: 1. Volunteer Working with children, seniors, at-risk teenagers … anyone who needs help will give you a quick on-ramp to the purpose superhighway. Many cities have volunteer clearinghouses like Volunteer Match that will help match you with an organization. Or if you prefer, stay close to your community and pitch in at the local elementary school. The rewards will be immediate and plentiful. When we pursue a meaningful future, it sheds a special light over our daily life, painting the most mundane and pedestrian activities in brighter colors.” — Ran Zilca, research scientist, author and chief data-science officer at Happify. His latest book, Ride of Your Life, was released this year.** 2. Get in touch with the divine Pray, meditate, walk outside, stargaze. There are myriad ways to remind ourselves that we are small bits of a large, interconnected universe. Whether you believe in God, a higher power or the power of humankind, prayer and meditation, as well as reconnecting with nature, are ways to get in touch with the sacred. I believe that meaning is an experience that we can cultivate, influence, and in a certain sense, create… The best way to make this meaning—to have this experience—is by identifying and then living our life purposes." — Eric Maisel, Ph.D., a California-licensed family therapist who has written more than 40 books, including Life Purpose Boot Camp 3. Spread positive emotion Give to the world what you would like to get back. See how you might add more positive emotion to your life by strengthening relationships and being kind and compassionate toward friends and strangers alike. Start performing small Happy Acts as a way of giving back. We can endure the most difficult of times and even thrive in the midst of the chaos around us when we give our lives meaning." —Barb Schmidt, international speaker, philanthropist, spiritual mentor and best-selling author of The Practice. 4. Practice gratitude Focus on things already meaningful in your life instead of taking them for granted, invest each one with a deep sense of gratitude. Soon you may feel motivated and energized to help and protect the people and things you care about, whether that means writing a letter to a nephew or starting a non-profit. 5. Create When you were younger, did you love to draw, throw pottery or write short plays? Something about the act of creating makes us feel alive and part of the dynamic universe. We can make something out of nothing! It’s exhilarating. You can do your thing in solitude or join a playhouse or rent space in a collective studio. In this way, a hobby has the potential to develop into not only a great source of purpose and a sense of identity but also of important and meaningful relationships. And once you've gotten really great at something, you can teach others to do it. You will get back much more than you give. For much more on finding a sense of meaning and purpose in your life, see our feature story, "The Path to Purpose," in the October issue of Live Happy magazine—on newsstands September 1. **Expert quotes are from the “Survey” section (pages 28-29) of the October issue of Live Happy magazine.
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Mindfulness Matters: Drastically change the way you think and feel.
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Give Yourself a Mindfulness Makeover

Diane Baumer admits she was fairly certain mindfulness wouldn’t work for her. “I knew it had worked for others, but my depression was so severe and nothing had ever worked [for treating it]. I’ve had it all my life, and it’s completely rearranged the pathways in my brain.”She first became aware of mindfulness in the 1980s, when she was introduced to Buddhism, but had only learned about it in theory. Last year, desperate to ease her depression and obsessive thoughts, she enrolled in an eight-week mindfulness course. The course taught her how to stay in the moment and not get carried away by her thoughts.“I was amazed by the change in me,” says Diane, who lives in Florence, Kentucky. “I didn’t have racing thoughts, and my obsessive thoughts about death and dying were gone. By the end of the eight weeks, I had learned to just notice my thoughts rather than grab them and run with them. It’s been life changing.”Appreciating life as it happensMindfulness, experts say, is a practice that helps us pay attention to and self-regulate our thoughts. Staying mindful, or in the moment, allows us to appreciate life as it happens. When our minds are busy doing that, it’s impossible to also be ruminating about the past or worrying about the future.Although it is based on a 2,600-year-old Buddhist practice, interest in mindfulness has surged globally in recent years. It began gaining significant traction in the U.S. in the 1970s when Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., began studying the effects of mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He created the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, the first documented structured program to teach mindfulness, which became the model for many programs developed since then.Today, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programs have been implemented in more than 200 medical centers, clinics and hospitals around the world. But it also has gone beyond the medical field. Neuroscientists continue investigating how mindfulness can change both the structure and function of our brains; psychologists use it for their own cognitive improvement as well as to help clients with everything from anxiety and depression to compassion and self-acceptance; business leaders are looking at how mindful decision-making can redefine their workplaces; and educators are embracing such concepts as mindful learning and mindful reading.Studies show mindfulness can improve communication and happiness between couples and co-workers, and prisons have even used it to help reduce hostility and mood disturbances among prisoners.It’s about paying attention“When I start talking about all the things mindfulness can do, I sound like a snake oil salesman,” jokes Richard Sears, PsyD, Ph.D., MBA, ABPP, of the Center for Clinical Mindfulness and Meditation at Union Institute and University in Cincinnati and author of Mindfulness: Living Through Challenges and Enriching Your Life in This Moment.“It increases happiness, improves relationships, helps alleviate conditions like depression and chronic pain.…But really, what’s going on is awareness. It’s about paying attention, bringing us back to what is going on right now.”Richard’s work in the area of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a form of MBSR that implements cognitive therapy-based exercises. Cognitive therapy explores and challenges negative thought processes; MBCT is effective in treating problems like depression and anxiety, he says, because it creates a connection between our thoughts and our feelings.Listen to author and Live Happy science editor Paula Felps on the Live Happy Now podcast as she discusses what happens "When Happiness Has a Bad Day."Take a moment, take a breath“Once you’ve experienced depression, it cuts a pathway in your brain and makes it easier to become depressed the next time you feel sad,” Richard says.“MBCT teaches you to notice signs of the problems coming up so you can prevent them.” Mindfulness teaches us to take a moment, take a breath and get back to what is happening right now rather than reacting to the “what ifs” of the situation.For Diane, that means one rough patch in her day no longer spirals into negative thoughts that trigger bad memories and depression. “With more awareness comes better choices,” Richard says. “If I’m aware of how I’m reacting, I can lower my stress response, and that makes other things better. I’m less vulnerable, and my immune system can heal better. Everything improves when you become more aware.”Healthier mind, healthier bodyThe mind-body connection has been well proven over time, and mindfulness proponents and practitioners say it holds many keys to creating a healthier, happier life by influencing the body. “It’s not a cure-all, but it will assist in whatever a person is struggling with, whether that’s physical, mental or emotional,” says Ryan M. Niemiec, PsyD, education director at the VIA Institute on Character and author of Mindfulness and Character Strengths: A Practical Guide to Flourishing.“It offers support and assistance in whatever you’re trying to accomplish. Take for example someone with chronic pain; to learn how to face that directly is a huge challenge. But to bring an honest awareness to your own suffering can completely change your relationship with it.”Studies have documented the effects of mindfulness on physical ailments. Ryan says medical and scientific endorsements have boosted its popularity and have shown the ways it can help both physical and mental challenges. “Before” and “after” brain scans show that certain areas of the brain get thicker after practicing mindfulness for about eight weeks, according to Richard. He equates it to building muscle by lifting weights—over time, you get stronger, but it has to be maintained in order for the results to continue.Read More: 3 Must-Have Mindfulness AppsA powerful tool for healthSome clinical studies have focused on how mindfulness can influence specific ailments, including substance abuse, anxiety, PTSD, depression, autism, cancer, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, AIDS, high blood pressure and headaches. On the broadest level, mindfulness is seen as a tool to improve health because it boosts our immune system. Scientists have attributed this to lower secretions of cortisol and adrenaline, both of which suppress the immune system.Louis Alloro was working on his Master of Applied Positive Psychology degree when he first learned about mindfulness. “Even though I had been involved with personal development my whole life, and had started getting involved with positive psychology, I kept thinking, ‘I don’t know how to do that.’”But once a friend (and fellow MAPP student) started teaching him mindfulness, he realized that not only was it something he could do easily, it was something he had always had the tools for. All he needed was someone who could show him how to use them.Today, Louis can’t imagine daily life without mindfulness and meditation practices, which he says help make him more positive and appreciative and benefit him both physically and mentally.Easy self-care“I think the future of health care is self-care, and mindfulness is such an effective, easy and cheap strategy for self-care,” he says. “We can calm our parasympathetic nervous system, which is our rest-and-digest system, and those are two things that just seem to always be in overdrive today.”Being mindful has allowed Louis to slow his reactions, calm his mind and become healthier. In doing so, he is able to accomplish more while feeling less stressed. “I love the adage that you have to slow down to speed up,” he says. “Mindfulness lets you do that.”Driven to distractionA study by the National Science Foundation discovered that, on any given day, our brain generates some 50,000 thoughts. That averages out to about 52 thoughts a minute during waking hours, so is it any wonder that many of us find it a challenge to “stay in the moment?”As a doctoral student at Harvard, Matt Killingsworth became interested in the association between happiness and what we’re thinking about. He developed the Track Your Happiness app to study the causes of happiness, and monitored users in real time.With more than 15,000 subjects in 80 countries, Matt collected 650,000 “live” reports that led to the conclusion that “a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.” People who were “in the moment” consistently were happier than those whose minds were wandering, even if they were performing a task they didn’t enjoy.Unquiet mindsWhat Matt found most surprising was just how often our minds wander. Overall, our minds are on something other than what we’re doing 47 percent of the time. And, unfortunately, when our minds wander, they usually aren’t visiting a happy place. We often end up with anxiety and worry about the future, or anger or regret about the past. Matt’s studies showed that a wandering mind isn’t the consequence of unhappiness and related anger or anxiety; it’s the cause of it.“The only moment we can ever be in is the present,” Richard points out. “Mindfulness is about being in the moment, bringing our attention back to what’s happening right now.” For most of us, learning to be in the moment takes some work to undo what’s become a deeply ingrained pattern. As children, we have the innate ability to enjoy the present moment as it unfolds, but before long, we’re taught to start thinking about the future.Your life is now“We’re often taught that the ‘good thing’ is coming. It’s always about the next thing,” he says. “Over time, we lose the capacity to enjoy good moments. Even when we [accomplish] a great thing, we’re already thinking about what’s next.”While there is a place for planning, he says the current model doesn’t allow us the chance to enjoy the moment. As children, we start talking about what we’ll be when we grow up; we go to high school and think about college, and while in college we dream of the career waiting for us. The cycle continues once we get that job; we start saving for our dream house, working for the next promotion, building the future. Before long, it’s time to save for retirement and plan for the golden years.“About middle age, a lot of us wake up and realized we’ve been tricked. We realize, ‘This is my life! It’s not coming; it’s already here!’ ” Richard says.Putting it into practiceMindfulness can help put us back in touch with our true thoughts and feelings, and millions of people around the world have found it transformational. One of the most effective paths is through meditation, but Ryan says many people are intimidated by the idea.“The three most common reasons for people to abandon their mindfulness meditation practice is that their mind wanders, they forget to do it or they don’t have time,” Ryan says. “Meditation is a way of cultivating mindfulness, so having a formal meditation process is helpful in improving that. But it’s more about finding the right fit.”For one person, that fit might be a centering prayer; for another it might be self-hypnosis; someone else might choose to do an insight meditation. Many classes and online courses now teach mindfulness and meditation practices. Keep in mind that there’s no onesize-fits-all solution; it’s what works for the individual.Find your fit for meditationLouis, for example, is fond of taking mindful walks as a way to improve positive emotions. “I put away my phone and purposefully attend to the experience of taking a walk,” he says. “I feel my feet each time they connect with the ground, and I see things to be grateful for. I can feel my heart rate slowing down, and I become more calm, more at peace.” Walking or eating mindfully are easy, effective ways to take a break—and they can be done unnoticed by others.Diane practices mindfulness in everything from washing the dishes to taking a walk, being careful to notice the touch of sun or water on her skin or the sounds around her.Other simple, common ways to implement mindfulness can include:• Sit quietly and observe what you’re experiencing in that moment. Observe the sights, sounds, and smells that typically go unnoticed during a busy day.• Take note of the physical sensations you’re feeling, whether it’s the texture of a book in your hands, the feeling of the chair against your legs and back or the feeling of water splashing on your skin as you wash your hands.• When experiencing anxiety, depression or anger, become an observer; look at how your body is responding to the emotion instead of becoming absorbed in the feeling itself.Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD of Harvard Medical School, likens it to watching clouds drift by; Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., compares it to watching soap bubbles float in the air. Try using the experience as an opportunity to understand the feeling rather than reacting to it.• And, when all else fails, just take a breath.“With mindfulness, there is no goal than to become more aware,” Ryan says. “A great place to start is just to breathe. Follow your breath, it’s something we all have. And you’ll notice physiological changes almost immediately.”Listen to author and Live Happy science editor Paula Felps on the Live Happy Now podcast as she discusses what happens "When Happiness Has a Bad Day."Read More: 33 Ideas on Mindfulness
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33 Ideas on Mindfulness
Practice

33 Ideas on Mindfulness

Being mindful helps us to stay in the present moment and to appreciate the world around us. Here are 33 ideas to help you calm your mind.1. Read Be Here Nowby Ram Dass.2. “In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived; how well we have loved; how well we have learned to let go.” —Jack Kornfield3. Watch Peaceful Warrior.4. Download Headspace.5. Listen to “Across the Universe” by The Beatles.6. Read Hardwiring Happinessby Rick Hanson, Ph.D.7. “Be happy in the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.” —Mother Teresa8. Watch I Heart Huckabees.9. Get more Metta.10. Listen to “Thank U” by Alanis Morissette.11. Read Wherever You Go, There You Areby Jon Kabat-Zinn.12. "The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival." —AristotleRead More: Mindful Parenting 10113. Watch The Mindfulness Movie.14. Take a walk without your phone.15. Listen to “No Rain” by Blind Melon.The Mindfulness Coloring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy Peopleby Emma Farrarons.17. Meditate.18. Listen to “Just Breathe” by Pearl Jam.19. Read The Mindfulness Revolution edited by Barry Boyce.20. “Self-awareness is not just relaxation and not just meditation. It must combine relaxation with activity and dynamism. Technology can aid that.” —Deepak Chopra21. Watch Room to Breathe.22. Be present.23. Listen to “Realize” by Colbie Caillat.24. Listen to "Do You Realize" by The Flaming Lips.25. Read The Now Effect by Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.26. “Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different.” —James Baraz27. Watch The Dhamma Brothers.28. Do nothing.29. Listen to “Living in the Moment” by Jason Mraz.30. “Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.” —Thich Nhat Hanh31. Watch The Wizard of Oz.32. Watch Dying to Know.33. Check out the September/October issue of Live Happy for 33 Ideas for finding purpose in life.Read More: 3 Must-Have Mindfulness Apps
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Change Your Life: Keep a Journal
Practice

Start a Journal, Change Your Life

A journal is far more than a blank book—it’s more of a blank canvas on which parts of your life can unfold. A journal can be a safe, non-judgmental place to exhale and explore your thoughts, emotions and experiences. Reflecting upon your life and writing down your thoughts can be a cathartic process that increases self-awareness, alleviates stress and leads to personal growth.If the prospect of keeping a journal sounds overwhelming (who has the time?) you might be surprised to learn that there are many different kinds of journals to keep, and some require very little time. Find the type of journal that resonates most with you.1.Gratitude or Positivity JournalWrite down three things you are grateful for about your day (tiny things count like your cup of coffee, or a great phone call with a friend) or three best moments of your day, and after just a few weeks you will experience a definite boost in your well-being. The effects have been so well documented by happiness researchers from Martin Seligman to Shawn Achor that we may soon see gratitude journals prescribed by our doctors like aspirin for the mood.Read More: 8 Easy Practices to Enhance Gratitude2.Morning Pages JournalJulia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, recommends keeping a morning pages journal—three pages of longhand stream of consciousness writing. There are no rules, you just wake up and write. According to Julia, morning pages are about “anything and everything that crosses your mind, and they are for your eyes only.” Morning pages “provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand.” The concept of keeping morning pages, and the way in which these pages spark and provoke a current of creativity, are at the heart of The Artist’s Way, and a major part of what makes the book so special.3.Dream JournalCapture the stories your mind creates at night by keeping a dream journal at your bedside. Collect the details of your dream right after you wake up as dreams fade fast from our consciousness. You may not be able to decipher your dream precisely, but you can take notice of patterns or reoccurring worries, which you may be able to address later in your waking life.4.Idea JournalDo your ideas come to you in the middle of the night, while you’re on the subway, or anywhere that’s inconvenient and you don’t have a pen. Make sure you’re always ready to write down that million-dollar idea for a screenplay, a business … Grab your idea journal as soon as brilliance hits you and get your idea in ink. Capture thoughts for your home decor, bucket list, first book, or entrepreneurial pursuit. No more scribbles on a napkin for you.Click here to see Live Happy's beautiful Sunshine Journal.5.One-Sentence JournalHappiness expert Gretchen Rubin found the idea of keeping a journal daunting, so she came up with the idea of the one-sentence journal to record memories and appreciate her life more. She credits her one-sentence journal for keeping happy memories vivid and happy memories crisp in order to pass them along to her children.6.Baby JournalYes, you are sleep deprived and super-busy in the first year of your baby’s life, but when you get some sleep in a few years, you will be so glad that you took the time to capture the milestones, like the precious first baby giggle, of your infant’s first year. Photos are a major bonus here.7.Personal Development/Self-improvement JournalIf you love to read books about how to make your life better, consider keeping a personal development journal where you capture the best bits of insight and advice. Write down favorite quotes and gems of wisdom from books, speeches and websites. A personal development journal can be like a study-guide for a better life. Use it to write down and track your personal goals, too.8.Travel JournalEver go on a cruise and you stop at so many different tropical places that you can’t recall them a year later? Keep a travel journal to document the places you go. Write down favorite travel memories, countries, cities and towns. Take a glue stick with you and paste in little mementoes like tickets and menus, if you wish. When you reread your travel journey you can relive special family trips and savor your memories.Read More: What's the connection between travel and happiness?9. Visual JournalMaybe you process the world through pictures rather than words. Some of the most beautiful and meaningful journals are visual—filled with doodles, sketches, portraits of people, often alongside names, places and quotes. A visual journal could also be a travel or baby journal. If you are more an artist than a writer, by all means, record your moments using this amazing strength.10.Everything JournalIf you are more of a creative free-spirit, keeping a journal where you do some or all of the above might appeal to you. Don’t restrict yourself with the type of journal you keep, just doodle, capture quotes, write down memories or go for stream of consciousness writing. You can write every day or once a month.The simple practice of writing forces you to slow down from the frenetic pace of life and connect with who you are and what you’re up to. Reap the benefits of keeping a journal by staying attuned to your life.Read More: 31 Days of WellnessSandra Bienkowski worked as the national columns editor forSuccess magazine for three years, and is widely published in print and on the web. See more about Sandra atThe Media Concierge.
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Sustainable Happiness
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Sustainable Happiness [Video]

Catherine O’Brien, Ph.D., a professor at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, discovered the link between sustainable living and happiness while working on her doctorate at Barefoot College in Rajasthan, India, in the mid-1990s. That thought became the basis for her concept of Sustainable Happiness, which she teaches in a popular course at the university, combining principles of positive psychology with a sustainability mindset. Learn more about this fascinating topic by listening to our free podcast, where Catherine will discuss "Sustainable Happiness and Well-Being." Take a look at a portion of one of Catherine's hands-on classes: Read more about Catherine in our feature story, "Can Happiness Save the Planet."
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Why Forgiveness Makes all the Difference
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Why Forgiveness Makes all the Difference [VIDEO]

Robert Holden, Ph.D., is a best-selling author, speaker and expert on happiness, forgiveness and well-being. Robert is the author of Happiness NOW!, Shift Happens!, Authentic Success (formerly titled Success Intelligence), Be HappyandLoveability,Holy Shift! 365 Daily Meditations from A Course in Miracles and Life Loves You, co-written with Louise Hay.Robert hosts a weekly show for Hay House Radio called Shift Happens! He contributes daily to his FB page at www.facebook.com/drrobertholden- See more at: https://www.robertholden.org/about-robert/#sthash.WVY77FvW.dpufWant more? Listen to Robert as part of our weekly podcast,Live Happy Now.
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Group of coworkers
Reading

Strengths in Numbers

With the growth of the positive psychology movement, most of us are becoming more familiar with the idea of character strengths. As classified by the VIA Institute on Character,character strengths are 24 specific positive traits and qualities that make us unique. They help shape our interests and abilities, and include such things as creativity, gratitude, perseverance, honesty, teamwork, leadership and humor. VIA's assessment of strengths helps users identify which qualities are most prevalent in their own lives. Knowing which of the 24 character strengths are most present in your personality can help in virtually all areas of your life, from the playground to the boardroom. When you identify the traits that make you unique and then learn how to tap into what drives you, it can help you feel more engaged and excited in what you do. Insight between two covers With the release of the book Character Strengths Matter: How to Live a Full Life, editors Shannon Polly, MAPP, and Kathryn Britton, MAPP, have assembled an all-star lineup of positive psychology experts to take a closer look at character strengths. While many books have explained character strengths and their value, this volume goes one step further and provides actionable ways to apply your own strengths. Each chapter focuses in detail on a different strength. Written by a different expert, every chapter includes shortarticles that show how this character strength may be used in everyday life and suggestions on ways to help build that strength. The chapters end with a few paragraphs that can be read aloud to help reinforce that strength for you. Having many authors gives the book the feeling of a conversation among friends offering sage advice. (The one constant voice in each chapter is Tayyib Rashid’s “Five Actions,” which are his suggestions for ways to build each particular character strength in your own life.) Bite-size Learning “Character Strengths Matter” isn’t the kind of book you’ll necessarily sit down and read cover to cover. The editors suggest choosing your personal strengths and finding out more about them by reading the corresponding chapter; you’ll learn new ways to apply and develop that strength. Or, if there’s an area you’re interested in learning more about —perhaps an area where you’d like to improve—select that for your initial reading. Part of the beauty of this book is that each chapter is designed as a self-contained unit, and that allows the reader much more flexibility in how to approach and apply its contents. While the first section of the book explores character strengths, Part 2 is aptly titled “Taking Action” and delves deeper into how to better apply this newfound understanding of character strengths. Read more: Put Your Strengths to Work Using your strengths The approachable writing tone and many suggestions for how to better utilize character strengths make this feel like a cross between a workbook and a roadmap for better living. For anyone looking to better understand the value of character strengths – or to cultivate those strengths in his or her own life – “Character Strengths Matter” provides valuable insights. Whether you’re new to the study of character strengths, or are just looking for different ways to use your strengths, this book matters.
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The true spirit of Aloha
Giving

Not So Blue Hawaii

Aloha. On Christmas Day 2013, my husband and teenage daughter helped me fulfill a longtime dream of sharing a holiday meal with the homeless. We prepared 18 meals of ham, my famous cheesy vegetables, holiday cookies and rolls, placed into containers with a thoughtful greeting and a ribbon to make it a gift.Family teamworkChristmas evening, we drove around a few miles from where we lived and shared our meals with those we saw in their tents or asleep on the sidewalk. I was the driver, my daughter handled the meals and water from the back seat, and my husband would approach and ask if they would accept our gift. (And we noticed in pictures we took he was even wearing his Live Happy shirt!)A gift from the heartWe were so grateful to know if they had not received anything for Christmas, we were able to place a warm meal in their hands. Having this experience in my heart all year, I just knew I wanted to find a way to continue this project. Struggling with the ‘how,’ I’m ashamed to say I did nothing all year. That is until three days before Thanksgiving 2014, when I got inspired! With my husband and daughter helping me again, we prepared 24 meals of turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and rolls to share.Personalized messagesFor the note, my daughter and I were working to create a message that said “YOU MATTER.” We had just learned about the Live Happy notes, and we both had an inspired thought to use them. We wrote the message “A holiday meal…just for YOU!” and placed the Live Happy note on the container and tied a ribbon around it. I loved that the note could be removed and kept.There were shouts of “Aloha!” (a Hawaiian greeting of love), and we could see tears in the eyes of several people as they read the notes after accepting the meals. My eyes were also filled with tears from this amazing experience and for having my husband and daughter be a part of it.Read about 15 Happy Acts You Can Do Today.Giving back gets biggerMy heart desired for more people to experience this unique way of giving back. On Christmas Day 2014, with the help of 28 people, we were able to share 100 meals. It was so touching to see others get involved and share in this vision. Our system of preparing the 24 meals was just duplicated four times.We had people donate the hams, cheesy vegetables, Christmas cookies, rolls, bottled water, and all the necessary supplies to make it a success. Wrapped toys were donated for the kids, and even dog food donations were made for the pets who were on the streets with their owners.Dreaming even biggerFeeling gratitude for the success that I had just witnessed for this project from my heart, I started dreaming BIG…and my commitment for 2015 is to share on four holidays: Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas! On April 5, for Easter, we were able to share 100 meals with the help of 35 volunteers and the start of a system to build to our larger meal runs. Our Fourth of July run will have 500 meals and will include a special gift basket just for veterans we encounter on the streets.Our biggest run will be on Christmas Day this year; we will be sharing 1,000 meals… Yes, 1,000! We are planning to include wrapped presents for kids as well as practical presents for adults, such as flashlights, blankets and jackets.Read here about some other Happy Acts Heroes.What will your Happy Act be?I am committed to keeping the Live Happy notes as a staple for this project. Countless times, when the meal was given, we could see recipients reading the notes and tearing up or even burying their heads and sobbing.Witnessing this, I am grateful that the message was received by the people who were supposed to be reading it in this unique way!
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