The decisions you make and the way you treat others have more impact than you may ever realize.
Speaker and New York Times best-selling author Andy Andrews shares a compelling and powerful story about a decision one man made over a hundred years ago, and the ripple effect it's had on us individually, and nationwide, today. It's a story that will inspire courage and wisdom in the decisions we make, as well as affect the way we treat others through our lifetime. Andrews speaks over 100 times a year, and The Butterfly Effect is his #1 most requested story.
Also included with the purchase of the book is a link to view a 9-minute message of Andrews telling The Butterfly Effect story to a live audience.
Our most commonly held formula for success is broken.
Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, then we’ll be happy. If we can just find that great job, win that next promotion, lose those five pounds, happiness will follow. But recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that this formula is actually backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around. When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work. This isn’t just an empty mantra. This discovery has been repeatedly borne out by rigorous research in psychology and neuroscience, management studies, and the bottom lines of organizations around the globe.
In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor, who spent over a decade living, researching, and lecturing at Harvard University, draws on his own research—including one of the largest studies of happiness and potential at Harvard and others at companies like UBS and KPMG—to fix this broken formula. Using stories and case studies from his work with thousands of Fortune 500 executives in 42 countries, Achor explains how we can reprogram our brains to become more positive in order to gain a competitive edge at work.
Isolating seven practical, actionable principles that have been tried and tested everywhere from classrooms to boardrooms, stretching from Argentina to Zimbabwe, he shows us how we can capitalize on the Happiness Advantage to improve our performance and maximize our potential. Among the principles he outlines:
The Tetris Effect: how to retrain our brains to spot patterns of possibility, so we can see—and seize—opportunities wherever we look.
The Zorro Circle: how to channel our efforts on small, manageable goals, to gain the leverage to gradually conquer bigger and bigger ones.
Social Investment: how to reap the dividends of investing in one of the greatest predictors of success and happiness—our social support network.
A must-read for everyone trying to excel in a world of increasing workloads, stress, and negativity, The Happiness Advantage isn’t only about how to become happier at work. It’s about how to reap the benefits of a happier and more positive mind-set to achieve the extraordinary in our work and in our lives.
From the author of Composing a Life (first published in 1991 and still in print), an inspiring exploration of a new stage of the life cycle, “Adulthood II,” created by unprecedented levels of health, energy, time, and resources—of which we have barely begun to be fully conscious.
Mary Catherine Bateson sees aging today as an “improvisational art form calling for imagination and willingness to learn,” and in this ardent, affirming study, she relates the experiences of men and women—herself included—who, upon entering this second adulthood, have found new meaning and new ways to contribute, composing their lives in new patterns.
Among the people Bateson engages in open-ended, in-depth conversations are a retired Maine boatyard worker who has become a silversmith and maker of fine jewelry; an African American woman who explores the importance of grandmothering; two gay men finding contentment in mutual caring; the retired dean of a cathedral in New York City who exemplifies how a multiplicity of interests and connections lead to deeper unity; and Jane Fonda, who shares her ways of dealing with change and spiritual growth.
Here is a book that presents each of us—at any age—with an exhilarating challenge to think about and approach our later lives with the full force of imagination, curiosity, and enthusiasm. At the same time, it speaks to us as members of a larger society concerned about the world that our children and grandchildren, born and not yet born, will inherit. “We live longer,” she says, “but we think shorter.” As adults find themselves entering Adulthood II, making the choices that will affirm and complete the meaning of the lives they have lived, they can play a key role, contributing their perspectives and their experience of adapting to change. In our day, wisdom is no longer associated with withdrawal and passivity but with engagement with others and the contribution that Bateson calls “active wisdom.”
The Artist's Way meets What Color is Your Parachute? in an innovative approach to reinventing yourself at any stage of life.
Leonardo da Vinci, Monet, Picasso, and Berthe Morisot are some of the most creative thinkers in history. What do these artists have in common with you? More than you think, if you're looking to tackle a major life transition. The skills these artists used to produce their masterpieces are the same abilities required to make successful shifts-whether it's finding a new career or a new purpose or calling in life.
In Becoming a Life Change Artist, Fred Mandell and Kathleen Jordan share the groundbreaking approach made popular in their workshops across the country. There are seven key strengths that the most creative minds of history shared, and that anyone rethinking their future can cultivate to change their life effectively:
Preparing the brain to undertake creative work
Seeing the world and one's life from new perspectives
Using context to understand the facets of one's life
Embracing uncertainty
Taking risks
Collaborating
Applying discipline
As Mandell and Jordan illuminate, at its heart, making a major life change is a fluid process. But, armed with these seven key skills, anyone can overcome the bumps and obstacles effectively. With targeted exercises throughout, this is a book for all ages and stages-from those looking to transition to a new career to people embarking on retirement. Becoming a Life Change Artist sparks the luminous creativity that lies within each of us.
Sometimes life’s hurdles literally stop us in our tracks, sapping vitality and preventing us from participating fully in our own lives and the lives of those we love. Carolyn Scott Kortge recognizes that a key to joyous re-engagement with the world can be—just as literally—to get moving again. With a focus on walking for wellness, Kortge outlines a compassionate, practical program for navigating your way through life’s physical, emotional, and spiritual hard times.
Within the supportive framework of this eight-week walking program you set your own pace, taking steps that restore a sense of balance and order, even if you’re weighed down by the lethargy and loss of control that often accompany illness, depression, or trauma. Discover how to link mental focus with physical movement to create healing periods of stress release. Learn to match your steps with meditation in a way that clears a path through confusion. Move forward, literally, both in good times and in tough ones, with mental and physical steps that lead you away from fear or stress and guide you toward wellness and peace. Engage in a path to recovery that attends to not just the physical, but also acknowledges healing as an emotional, spiritual, and mental journey—a journey of survivorship.
With selected quotations from A New Earth and A Thousand Names for Joy, this stunning gift book combines selected wisdom from two of the most popular spirituality writers of this century with vibrant photos of nature's most colorful gift, the flower.
Conceived by award-winning photographer Michelle Penn, who was personally influenced by one of the central metaphors in Tolle's teaching--the flower, this volume contains over forty full-color photos of flowers wedded to the core teachings of Tolle and Katie. Each flower and corresponding quote provide valuable insight into such key concepts as living in the moment, gratitude, nurturing the soul, and much, much, more.
This is a gift book that will be embraced by those who have been touched by the teachings of both of these spiritual luminaries.
Everyone experiences some level of apprehension about major life decisions—from wedding day jitters to new job nerves. But what about the quieter, less noticeable fears that inform everyday choices and disrupt relationships? Fearing intimacy, change, or failure may sound cliché, but for most people, deeply embedded anxieties such as these can act as subconscious saboteurs.
In Life Unlocked, Harvard psychotherapist Dr. Srinivasan Pillay draws from cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience to show that the biggest roadblock to happiness is fear. Brain imaging studies reveal that when fear is reframed, a person can become less fearful. In fact, fear itself doesn’t cause anxiety—fear of fear is what causes anxiety and dread. Recognizing and understanding fear is the first step toward overcoming it.
Based on his research and extensive clinical experience, Dr. Pillay addresses specific, common problems such as fear of success, economic worries, and relationship anxieties, and also explores broader subjects such as the biology of prejudice and the science of positive thinking. With helpful exercises and proven techniques, Life Unlocked shows how to move past fear and unlock the happiness you deserve.
According to lore, a vampire cannot enter your home without an invitation. Putting a spiritual spin on this well-known, mythological rule, Claudia Cunningham pioneers a powerful strategy for dealing with freeloading friends, suffocating spouses, harmful habits, and other "vampires" who drain the heart, mind, and spirit.
This fun, humorous, and indispensable guide—based on spiritual principles the author used to battle dependency—teaches how to cope with toxic relationships and beliefs. Learn how to take personal responsibility for your life and detect vampires with the light of truth. Arm yourself with honesty, humility, and clarity. Practice self-reflection, prayer, and meditation to establish strong boundaries. With an arsenal of self-knowledge and confidence, you'll be equipped to defeat any Draculas coming your way.
When men stop making lecherous catcalls and Spanx get comfortable in your lingerie drawer, when marketers target you for Activia instead of $200 premium denim, when you have to start wearing makeup to get that “I’m not wearing any makeup” glow and are “ma’amed” outside the Deep South, it may dawn on you that somehow you have crossed an invisible line: You are not the young, relevant, in-the-mix woman you used to be. But neither are you old, or even what you think of as middle-aged. You are no longer what you were, but not quite sure what you are.
Stephanie Dolgoff calls this stage of a woman’s life “Formerly,” the state of mind and body she herself is in now: Her roaring twenties are behind her, but she’s not in hot flash territory, either. My Formerly Hot Life, showcasing Dolgoff’s wacky and wise observations about this little-discussed flux time, demonstrates that becoming a Formerly is intensely poignant if you’re paying attention, and hilarious even if you’re not. From fashion to friendship, beauty to body image, married sex to single searching, mothering to careering (or both), Dolgoff reveals the upside to not being forever 21—even as you watch the things you once thought were so essential to a happy life go the way of the cassette tape. You may be formerly thin, formerly cool, formerly (seemingly) carefree, formerly cutting-edge, but in reading My Formerly Hot Life you are reminded that you are finally more comfortable in your skin (formerly obsessed with your weight), finally following your instincts (formerly ruled by the opinions of others), and finally happy with where you are (formerly focused on the guy or job you thought would take you where you thought you should be). While you may no longer be as close to the media-machine-generated idea of fabulous, you can do many, many more things fabulously.
Wildly entertaining and inspiring, My Formerly Hot Life proves that once you let yourself laugh about that which is passing, life is richer, more fun, and more satisfying. Despite what you’re led to believe, growing older most certainly means growing better.
