Happy for No Reason - Even in Today's Economy !

Your body energy also makes a difference in your ability to achieve true happiness. If you're overweight and sluggish it's difficult to be happy. Your spirit is another factor. It can guide you through many difficulties in your life and help you bounce back into the happiness zone with renewed vitality. Next, Shimoff advocates that you should have a purpose in life. A purpose will inspire you to accomplish what you thought was impossible and have a huge impact on future happiness.

The seventh step to happiness is cultivating and caring for the "garden" of your life. Take a lesson from a quote from the poem, "Comes the Dawn": "Plant your own flowers and cultivate your own soul," -- because your best-laid plans can crumble. Happiness must be cultivated and diligently guarded, Shimoff states.

Close your eyes and try to remember a time that you were truly happy - and then try to remember how it felt and what was going on in your life at the time. When you were a kid, it may have been a time when your parents played a game with you or took you for an ice cream treat. As an adult, it may be when your children were born or you graduated from college. Remember that exultant rush of elation that you felt? What if you could have that feeling every moment of every day?

Read about how our Happy for No Reason philosophy is being called Brightsiding and discussed during this ABC News story!

I have discovered that one of the main ways we rob ourselves of happiness in life is feeling like a victim.

Unfortunately, this habit can be very subtle and deeply ingrained.

I first became aware of people's victim patterns in my days as a corporate trainer. I used to teach classes on the importance of taking personal responsibility, and at the beginning of class, I'd ask everyone if they'd agree to come back from our breaks on time. They all said yes. Whoever was late would have to stand in front of the class and sing their high school fight song or a song I chose if they couldn't remember back to their alma mater days. I can't tell you how many successful, hot-shot Fortune 500 executives were late and then made excuses, blamed others, or complained about our agreement! It was amazing to see how hard it was for people to take responsibility, even in small ways. But I held steady and by the end of the three-day class, we'd all been treated to numerous renditions of my favorite choice, "Stop in the Name of Love," performed by top executives wearing nametags and sheepish expressions.

Then a few years ago, I went to a three-day seminar where the tables were turned on me. The seminar leader had a rule that any time my seminar-mates or I acted like a victim-any time we blamed anyone, made an excuse, complained, indulged in self-pity, or beat ourselves up-we had to put two dollars into a bucket.

I couldn't get over how many times I did every one of those things in the course of a day! When I was late, I blamed the line at breakfast. Oops! There went two dollars (at least I didn't have to sing). When I complained that I was too cold, it cost me another two dollars. (After all the seminars I've taken where the rooms are like ice-boxes, you'd think I'd know to bring a sweater.) Blaming, feeling shame, and complaining had become so automatic that I was unconscious of doing them. I spent the whole day emptying my wallet, but the two-dollar fine was a small price to pay for learning how often I played the victim.

I wasn't alone-by the end of the three days, our bucket was full to the brim. (We gave it to a local charity.) And we were playing the victim/blame game a lot less-just by paying attention to our habits.

I recommend you try this exercise for one week with your family, co-workers, or friends and see what happens. My guess is that you'll end up having collected some big bucks for charity too. Your new awareness will benefit you as well, providing clear cues for changing your behavior, and nabbing the happiness robbers in your life.

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Most people sit on their laurels, wishful thinking about one day in the future when their life will be just right.  In Happy for No Reason, written by New York Times best-selling author Marci Shimoff, you can discover the key to unlocking your happiness under any circumstances - at any point in your life.

According to Marci, it's not a flourishing love, new home, or dream car that catapults your happiness to a higher plane - it's something you can experience whenever you want to, and is independent from tangible treasures.

Happiness can be cultivated immediately - right this second - and carry on with you in life far into the future without fail.  Happy for No Reason is the book that comes after Marci's accomplishments with the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and the acclaimed book, The Secret.

 
Sign Up for a free audio download on love, happiness, and the Law of Attraction today!

Watch Marci Shimoff, author of Happy for No Reason on the Today Show

An excerpt of her book is available for download at the Today Show link above.

What would it take for you to be happy for no reason? Most people don't have that luxury - they wait for something good to happen to them so that they can feel the exhilaration of happiness, if only for a fleeting moment.

In Marci Shimoff's Happy for No Reason, she unveils seven steps that can teach you how to be happy regardless of what's happened on that day.

Released in January, 2008, Happy for No Reason details the universal goal that mankind embraces - being happy in life. That's all we really want, but it's often so hard to find.

Anti-depressant use is at an all-time high. Since when did we become a world so full or sorrow and depression? Maybe it's our expectations, our focus on everything wrong. If you're like many men and women, you may struggle with finding your own happiness and be searching for some new concepts to change your outlook on life.

You don't want to have happy spikes - moments where you're elated one second and back to being blue the next. You really want to feel like you're in a state of happiness at all times.

Part of the reason our happiness is so jeopardized in society right now is that we've been raised - programmed - to believe our happiness is dependant on outside influences. The media does it, our parents reinforce it - it's everywhere!

What would it mean to you if someone unrolled a map to pure happiness and gave it to you to call upon whenever you needed it? That's exactly what Marci Shimoff has done in Happy for No Reason, with her 7-step formula to sheer ecstasy!

Why do we focus so much energy and attention on changing our world? Because we're striving for a level of happiness that's always just out of our reach. How many times have you seen a miserable rich person and wondered, "Why is he so miserable with all that money?"

The old adage money doesn't buy happiness is true. It's hard to see it when you're the one doing without, but using Marci Shimoff's lead in Happy for No Reason, you begin to understand the concept and why a dirt poor child with no food or clothes can sit smiling, happy to be alive, and a grown man who has all of his needs met can be so unhappy.

When Marci wrote Happy for No Reason, she didn't just sit down and scratch out a bunch of mantras for you to learn. Instead, the book is based on scientific research of people who consider themselves genuinely happy in life.

If there was a formula for this, Marci was going to find it - and she did! As you dig in deep, you begin to see how the stories of others apply to your own life, and you start modeling your happiness after the experts who have mastered this technique.

Let yourself get inspired by your ability to finally unravel the mysteries of where your happiness lies. This book will touch your heart and rekindle your childlike ability to relish the little things in life and not rely on big ticket purchases or perfection to evoke a smile.

Visit the Happy for No Reason website today!

When you sign up right now, you'll also receive a free audio download on love, happiness, and the Law of Attraction.

Here is an overview of the steps (one per chapter):

The Foundation
Take Ownership of Your Happiness

The Pillar of the Mind
Don't Believe Everything Your Think

The Pillar of the Heart
Let Love Lead

The Pillar of the Body
Make Your Cells Happy

The Pillar of the Soul
Plug Yourself In to Spirit

The Roof
Live a Life Inspired by Purpose

The Garden
Cultivate Nourishing Relationship

"Please come up and say hello when you attend one of my talks or workshops." --Marci Shimoff

April 22-23, 2009

"Happy for No Reason"

Central Florida Health Alliance

April 22, Leesburg, Florida

April 23, Titusville, Florida

Registration information forthcoming

May 2, 2009

Private NonProfit Event

Alberta, Canada

May 5~6, 2009

"The Secret"

Bogota, Colombia

Registration information forthcoming

May 14, 2009

"Happiness & Its Causes" Public Event

Sydney, Australia

Registration information forthcoming

May 16, 2009

"Happy For No Reason" Public Speech

Sydney, Australia

Registration information forthcoming

May 18, 2009

"Happy For No Reason" Public Speech

Melbourne, Australia

Registration information forthcoming

May 20, 2009

"Happy For No Reason" Public Speech

Adelaide, Australia

Registration information forthcoming

May 23, 2009

"Happy For No Reason" Public Speech

Gold Coast, Australia

Registration information forthcoming

June 14, 2009

Private Corporate Event

Puerto Rico

July 2, 2009

Private Corporate Event

Orlando, Florida

August 21-23, 2009

"Happy For No Reason" Weekend Workshop

Kripalu Center, Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Registration information forthcoming

September 15, 2009

"Happy For No Reason" Public Speech

Toronto, Canada

Registration information forthcoming

Take a look at the Wall Street Journal's Top Bestsellers for Non Fiction.

"Happy for no Reason" is #2 ...

Wall Street Journal Bestsellers - Weekly Book Index

Rhonda Byrne, creator of "The Secret" wrote...

"The shortcut to anything you want in your life is to BE and FEEL happy now! It is the fastest way to bring money and anything else you want into your life."

An acclaimed "Secret" teacher and co-author of six Chicken Soup for the Soul books, my dear friend Marci Shimoff, passionately agrees and has cracked the code on happiness.

Marci's developed a remarkable 7-step process to boost your happiness and the rewards that come with it in her new book: Happy for No Reason.

This book presents a definitive, broad-based approach to becoming truly happy that combines great spiritual depth, top-notch research, and psychological practicality.

I'm certain that if you follow the practices in her amazing new book, you too will manifest a lifetime of happiness.

Marci will guide you through a straightforward test of 20 questions to determine your level of happiness...

You'll then be given a practical 7-step strategy to increase your level of happiness and decrease the risk of slipping into your old habits.

By the time you finish reading Happy for No Reason you'll know how to experience an authentic state of sustained happiness for the rest of your life.

This book should be on every desk... in every office...
every school... every nightstand.

It should be in the hands of everyone you know.

To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.
-Robert Mueller, Former Assistant Secretary General to the United Nations

Forgiveness is one of the 21 core habits of unconditionally happy people I discovered through my research for my book, Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out. The reality is whether the trespass against you is big or small, you can't be truly happy until you forgive.

I once had a neighbor who was always yelling about something. My garbage cans were too close to her driveway. People parked their cars in front of her house. The neighborhood dogs were digging in her garden. Understandably, she wasn't my favorite person. One afternoon, I heard an ambulance coming down the street. I looked out my window and saw it turn into her driveway. The paramedics loaded the woman into the vehicle and, lights flashing, took off for the hospital. That day I found out my neighbor was a very sick woman; she had a serious liver disease, chronic back problems, and lived every day of her life in constant and excruciating pain. My anger at her disappeared instantly. When she came back from the hospital until she died a year and a half later, I not only felt differently toward her, I found myself doing anything I could to help her.

When you understand the suffering of others, like magic, it transforms your negative feelings into compassion, and sets the stage for forgiveness to occur.

If you thinks this sounds great, but are wondering how to let go and forgive, you've already cleared a big hurdle-just being willing to consider forgiveness is sometimes the hardest part.

Here is a powerful exercise that can guide you through the forgiveness process:

Forgiveness Exercise

1. Sit someplace where you will not be disturbed.
2. Close your eyes and think of someone you are holding anger, hatred, or resentment toward in your heart.
3. Take a couple of deep breaths and let yourself feel your feelings without having to do anything about them. Just notice them.
4. Now, realize that the person's hurtful action can't be changed. It's in the past and there is absolutely nothing that can be done to affect it now. Feel the finality of that.
5. Also realize that this person may never change. They are the way they are. Take a few deep breaths as you accept the truth of that.
6. Now, see that the person is the way they are-and did whatever they did-because they have some pain, some lack, some woundedness. They may not even realize it themselves, but it's there. People only hurt others because they are hurt themselves. See them through the eyes of compassion for their own suffering. Imagine they are a child that is hurting, lashing out at others in their own pain. Can you feel compassion for them?
7. Sit quietly for a minute or two more, just feeling the expansion that compassion-in any amount-brings to the heart.

It's okay if you still feel angry; the purpose of this exercise is to begin to release the pain in your heart, not to excuse anyone for their actions. Keep repeating this exercise until you feel a shift, however small, in your heart. Your forgiveness will grow as you feel more compassion, leading you to greater and greater experiences of being Happy for No Reason.

Einstein once said that the most important question a person can ask himself is, "Is this a friendly universe?" As part of the research I did for my new book, Happy for No Reason, I interviewed over one hundred unconditionally happy people. What I found was that they all answered Einstein's question with a resounding "Yes!"

Rather than thinking the universe is out to get them, happy people believe the universe is out to support them. They see all the events in their lives through the lens of, "Ultimately, this is happening for my good. There are no mistakes. Let me look for the blessing in this." This belief in a friendly universe is the root of their relaxed and trusting attitude in life.

There's even research showing that a belief in a friendly universe can impact a person's health. A recent study conducted by Gail Ironson, Ph.D., M.D., professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Miami, found that people with HIV who believed in a loving universal power remained healthier longer than people who believed in a universal power that was punishing.

This may be a hard concept to swallow. Certainly there are many horrible things that happen in this world: war, persecution, famine, and suffering. It's easy to think that we don't live in a friendly universe. The one thing that's helped me embrace the idea that the universe is always out to support me is the knowledge that all the wise men and women who have ever lived-the sages and saints of the past and present-have shared this belief. I've also seen that people who are Happy for No Reason use it as a guiding principle, and you can use it yourself to raise your own happiness level.

Rather than trying to decide whether this principle is true or not, I suggest that you adopt this perspective for the next week or two, and see how different your life feels. That means that whatever happens, assume that the universe is on your side-even if isn't obvious to you on the face of it.

When I first began doing this myself, I noticed that although I wasn't jumping up and down with joy and loving everything that happened in my life, I definitely felt a lot more ease and peace inside. When you believe that the universe is out to support you, you're able to stop resisting what is happening. This doesn't mean being passive or complacent about the events in the world or in your own life. It simply means not fighting or bemoaning what has already happened and can't be changed. Many of us spend a tremendous amount of energy being upset and resisting life-when you take the view that there are no mistakes and accept what is, you can use your energy instead to deal effectively with the situation now.

Try it and see. You've got nothing to lose but your angst. And I guarantee your happiness level will soar when you realize you do live in a friendly universe after all!