Galen Pearls book, 10 Steps to Finding Your Happy Place (and Staying There), gives us a picture of how extraordinarily happy our lives can be. Yet in our competitive, comparative, egotistical, fast-paced world,that it’s easy to forget that we cause our own misery and our happiness remains in our own hands.
In this wise and heartfelt book, Galen integrates timeless teaching stories, inspiring quotes, words of soul-stirring wisdom, and actionable steps that will move you right into a state of happiness.
10 Steps to Finding Your Happy Place is written with down-to-earth accessibility as Galen tracks her own deeply and personal path to happiness.
Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to uncover the ability to be happy no matter what is going on around you or in the world.
The Contents
Introduction
Step 1: Give Yourself Permission to Be Happy
Step 2: Decide if You Want to Be Right or Happy
Step 3: Give Up the Delusion of Control
Step 4: Feel Your Feelings
Step 5: Make Haste to Be Kind
Step 6: Judge Not
Step 7: Practice Compassion
Step 8: Forgive Everyone
Step 9: Develop an Attitude of Gratitude
Step 10: Be Here Now
The 11th Step: You Can Go Home Again
What You Will Learn
How to live in a state of happiness now and forever.
How spirituality is related to happiness.
How to transform your beliefs and own your feelings.
How love and happiness go hand and hand.
How you can become a generous giver in a fear-filled world.
How to move beyond right and wrong.
How to give up the delusion of control.
How to turn your pain and fear into a happiness habit.
How to give up suffering.
and much, much, more!
Some favorite bits of wisdom:
On your happy place
By happy place, I don’t mean a place of unrelenting inner sunshine. I mean a place of refuge and spiritual sustenance. Of contented fulfillment. Home.
On Responsibility
I would go so far as to say that being happy is one of the most unselfish and socially responsible things we can do in our lives.
On Attachment to Stuff
If I were in a MasterCard commercial, I would be sitting by the creek at my cabin, watching the bugs skim the water, my dog sniffing around for chipmunks, the sun shining through the mossy, green trees. The screen would say, "Contentment: priceless."
On Present Moment Living
Whatever I am doing is sacred. Holding back and waiting for those "special times" is fantasy. Life is here in this moment. Eternity is here in this moment. Indeed, that is the only place it is.
On Forgiveness
Forgiveness is a challenging practice, the hardest of the 10 Steps for many of us. It is related to Step 3, because forgiveness requires us to let go of what we are trying to control. We have to let go of how we wanted things to be in the past, or how we want things to be in the present. When we look deeper, we’ll see that the main obstacle to forgiving others is forgiving ourselves.
For me this bit of wisdom alone is worth the price of the book!
About Galen Pearl
Galen Pearl’s stories have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul and A Cup of Comfort anthologies, and her popular blog, 10 Steps to Finding Your Happy Place, attracts thousands of readers every month. Recently retired from teaching law, she regularly leads retreats and workshops on developing habits to grow a joyful spirit.
A Southern girl transplanted to the Pacific Northwest, she enjoys her five kids and two grandchildren, martial arts, her cabin in the mountains, and mahjong.
In Her Own Words
This book is not about searching. It's about finding, finding our happy place and staying there. Loving ourselves and loving each other. Paying attention to and wallowing in the glory of every moment. Taking a deep breath and experiencing the absolute perfection of, well, everything.
Purchase the Book
You can purchase 10 Steps to Finding Your Happy Place (and Staying There), by Galen Pearl on Amazon.
Generous People are Happy People
All proceeds from the sale of this book and associated engagements will be donated to Edwards Center, a nonprofit organization providing residential and vocational services to adults with developmental disabilities.
I'm giving away two copies of Galen's book and will choose two people that tell us about their happy place in the comments below!
My happy place is inside of me all the time, but I have to remember that it is there. I have to be mindful of every moment that comes my way, with every day that I have left in my life.
There are specific doors that open and show me the way to my happy place. If I remember to open myself to what is behind the door, I will find it.
When my grandson’s face lights up at the sight of me, and when he runs to greet me with a huge smile and a big hug….I have found my happy place.
When the house is quiet and I empty my mind of mundane thoughts, and let the gratitude of being alive envelop me…I have found my happy place.
When my husband and I laugh together at a shared memory, a shared joke, or a shared joy….I have found my happy place.
When I am able to help my aging mom by finding a misplaced hearing aid, fixing a broken lamp, or installing sensor lights in a dark hallway….I have found my happy place.
When I am in my exercise class, and I feel the strength in my arms and legs, and the power of my body to dance to a beat….I have found my happy place.
When I invite my dear friends for lunch and we talk and laugh, celebrate, or even cry – as we have done for the last 30 years of friendship….I have found my happy place.
What all of these happy places have in common is a shared experience with a person, or people, that I love – including myself when I am alone. Love is everywhere and it is the only thing in our life that endures from the moment we are born, beyond our own lifetime. Keep it close in your heart and stay open to its power. You’ll be in your happy place.