Poppy: The Meaning of Life and How to find Happiness Part __
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Should be called "The Meaning of Life and How to find Happiness Part __".  If you don't like the movie most likely you are missing the point that it is about Poppy,  her philosophy on life that isn't necessarily wrapped up neatly and settled at the end, although I feel it was.  Eddie Marsan as "Scott" the Angry Driving Instructor was priceless, and deserved his BIFA award for best supporting actor.  His performance is nothing short of impressive and breathless.  Very early on Poppy links his anger problems with her student that's been bullying other students in her classroom.  Poppy's optimism does indeed nearly get her into some tricky situations, but she insists on rising above them in her own shrug and carry on way.  At the same time people DO hang on quite stubbornly to their anger, and whatever issues brought them there.  Sally Hawkins plays Poppy impeccably, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and would gladly see it again.
2460161
I would give this book 6 stars if possible. If you want to find meaning and purpose in your life without religious hoopla, then this book is for you. While not familiar with the writings of Epictetus before, I must say that the author's interpretation reveals a beautiful philosophy.
The stoic thought of Epictetus predates a few major world religions, yet its morals surpass them all.

Epictetus' philosophy teaches us to control the part of our lives that we can and to let go and accept the parts we cannot control. To adjust to and make the best of what nature and people throw at us. To not only seek wisdom but put it to use. Avoid material and vain desires. Forgive others, be loyal to friends and family.

To name a few more: do what is right in every situation, don't be quick to share your ideas without proper thought, stop looking to religious gurus or the next great philosophy for direction in life.

This has created an energy and confidence in me that comes from within. This book will teach you to tackle life head on with virtue and free of dogma.
4638303
This book will possibly change your life. For me it made me care more about my happiness and less about what I THINK will make me happy.  Most of us spend a lot of time thinking about things like job security, money and stuff, what's the point if we are not happy? We are free when we realize that life is very very short and we should make the most of it by having amazing experiences and taking risk and just having fun and being happy no matter what. The irony is that once we start living that way the other things that we thought we needed to be happy are no longer important and they just tend to appear in your life on their own. Being is the opposite of thinking; thinking is what gets us in trouble. That's something that the book explains very clearly, that thinking is what brings all our suffering. In most cases it is never what is actually happening in the moment that we feel bad about, it is what we are thinking about that is causing us to feel pain. It is a socially acceptable level of dementia. I'm sure you could remember a million times in your life when thinking about something gave you a lot of pain and suffering and at the end it was all a waste of time and energy since nothing even happened. This happens everyday to most of us!
I believe it is one of our main purposes in this life to become so aware of what our brain is doing that it will no longer be able to affect us in any negative way. The world will be a complete different way once more of us start living that way. In the end we all just want to be happy!
4849307
Anyone searching for the Purpose of Life, or How to be Happy,,,,here ya go!!! Easy to understand,simple delivery....and Oh, How I love the large print!!
Insights on Love, Laughter, Contentment.
A pleasure to read.
2206273
Sometimes we feel guilty if we want to be happy. Shouldnt we just want to be holy? Jennifer Dukes Lee gives us permission to be both. Our holiness is intertwined with our happiness.

In The Happiness Dare, Lees reminds us that the gospel is indeed good news, which ultimately brings happiness.

If we say the gospel won't bring happiness, any perceptive listener should respond, Then how is it good news? We need to reverse the trend. Lets redeem the word happiness in light of both Scripture and church history. Our message shouldnt be Dont seek happiness, but Youll find in Jesus the happiness youve always longed for.'

Lees lays out a plan for each of us. She found five ways were wired for happiness. Each person has one primary style (although we dabble in all five).
The Doers
The Relaters
The Experiencers
The Givers
The Thinkers

Then she lays out specific suggestions for each style in the chapters that follow. She gets into the details, including what makes you tick, red flags, and questions for Digging Deeper.

The last section of The Happiness Dareincludes things you can do for just five minutes every day that can increase your happiness.

She also encourages us: Stop believing these four statements that interfere with our happiness.
This is just the way I am.
If I could just be like her.
My life circumstances make happiness an impossible dream.
If only I had __________ .

But were also reminded that happy people do cry. Happinessgenuine happinessallows space for a person to be sad. We just don't have to turn cynical or bitter in the process.

Because despite everything, this old world is still a beautiful place. No matter how hopeless it all seems, theres always, always something to be thankful for. We can be grateful in times of hopelessness because we are gripped at all times by God.

I recommend The Happiness Dare for both its theoretical and practical applications to add a more happiness in each of our lives. My thanks to Tyndale for the review copy of this book.
1937917
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Luci Swindoll simple secrets to a happy life ~*~ 50 ways to make the most of every day

Luci Swindoll shares simple pleasures in a "complication" world. Not out there ~*~ but where I live. Do I complicate the journey, by keeping on heavy winter boots when I could be putting on spring waders to walk in the puddles that will surely come? When I was a young woman, I remember running down the sidewalk barefoot to get a quart of milk at the grocer on the corner. The response to me was, "We know you enjoyed every minute of being in the rain, with an excuse of being out of milk!"

Yes, that would describe me. I love fun, adventure, and indeed, simple pleasures, not complicated as I could make them. So, definitely, I was drawn to this title by Luci Swindoll, simple secrets to a happy life. I have had the blessing of being at a conference where Luci Swindoll spoke. I love her sense of humor and her timing! I had taken three of her books that I loved and had the pages marked that especially delighted me, saying, "Will you please sign here?"... and to my next little bookmark, "and here, and here, please?" And... she did.

Simple secrets to a happy life is so full of treasures. I could not hurriedly read this one, as is practical with all of her books, because of the wisdom and care in them. This is tried and true advice of one who has experienced life and enjoyed every moment of choosing to live as the Lord has provided for us.

Practical, attainable insight to what we can do and be to enjoy a happy life. Fifty times three equals 150 pages of snippets of a life well-lived and being lived. If you have ever wanted an older sister to help you along, in your quiet talks together, you may borrow Luci. Each topic is kept to three pages. So very full in three short pages. There are five sections; Beginning with the Basics, Developing Your Style, Achieving Balance, Living a Good Life, and Staying Connected, with ten topics within each section. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be reading it again more than once. There are notes on journaling, which I especially liked; letting others know you care in practical ways; treating yourself well to stay well; and experiencing God fully. Actively valuing God, others, self; a practical partaker in all of your life.

Thank you, BookSneeze, for providing a copy to me for this review in my own words. I am reminded of Colossians 2:2-3, "My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Thank you, Luci Swindoll, for your simple secrets to a happy life of looking beyond ourselves, sharing who we are, truly listening to others, and the reminder to make scrumptious meals just for ourselves!
3251507
This book is a wonderful source to help you on your search for meaning in life.  It tells us that us that each of can not be expected to be given meaning, but we must find meaning for ourselves.  Hence, life becomes an  adventure for everyone, where we must contemplate our existence to the  extent that we must avoid preoccupation with meaninglessness, separation  and having and instead focus on being.  With being you can uncover your  spiritual quest, intellectual growth, emotional balance and physiological  homeostasis.  This book forces you to think about your present mode of  life.  Are you so busy that traffic, long hours, and plane rides consume  your life?  Do you let yourself buy into that accumulating wealth will  bring you happiness?  Many more questions are presented and analyzed and  this book is recommended for one who is facing difficulty in life or just  interested and curious if there is meaning.  I can say that after reading  this book that I have a much better conception of meaning for myself and  approach the forthcoming years of my life with more understanding that life  is a puzzle that one can put together if you take the time and patience to  carefully think how to put the pieces together.
113110
Just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate the work you are doing. Your website and writings are fabulous. I have never felt so at peace. For most of my life I have walked around with a void in me, a hole I was unable to fill. I did not know what this was, just an emptiness inside and no matter what I did, I was unable to feel fulfilled. Someone I do not know very well sent me the link to The Book of Life (it most certainly was divinely guided to me to read now). I have not been the same since. Instead of a void, I now feel a FULLNESS. Things are different, clearer... It was everything I believed, laid out for me in a way that made sense, put to order my random thoughts about life. It just made me feel so good!
4500926
This is a self help book that helps you be closer to GOD,helps you to be a happy good hard working humanbeing helping the world and shows you how to love people and be a happier person. George Noory is the host of Coast To Coast Am the world's most popular radio programed on over 600 radio stations in the United States and on alot of other radio stations worldwide. This is a self help book,if you want a more peaceful,loving and happier life this is the book for you,if you want a balanced life you should buy this book. If you are looking for a book that gives super human paranormal action hero powers then this is not the book you are looking for. This is not a book about using paranormal super powers and not about witchcraft and it's not going to give you super human abilities. This book just shows you how to use all your senses and your mind to it's full potential and it will make you help you live a wonderful and sucessful life. This is a good old fashioned self help book that let's you understand life better and let's you be a peace with the world. The purpose of this book is to let the truth set you free,it shows you how to expierence GOD's love and enjoy life more,it will wake you up with a smile on your face,you will have your cup of laughter,you will relax and the truth will make you happy so you will use your mind in a healthy way to help humanity,you will have your ever after. After reading this book I highly recommend you continue learning these self help values and further your understanding about the truth of life by reading The Continuing Quest by William O'Meara,Limitless Mind by Russel Targ and Doctor Who and Philosophy. Do yourself a favor buy this book and thank me later,enjoy.
1010484
There are three things that really struck me about what the Dalai Lama has to say.

First, is just the very, very different perspective that the point of life is to live with happiness.  I don't know that that was necessarily presented as the purpose of life to me when I was growing up, so it struck me as a remarkably different angle from which to see the choices we make in life.  And it frankly shifts one's perspective about what really makes us happy or what happiness really means.

Second, is that when one looks at what really makes one happy, what really brings satisfaction to one's life, what the Dalai Lama suggests about shifting 'from me to we' really hits home. When we shift our attention off ourselves, whether individually or nationally, and put our attention on others and how we can be of service to them, we are living with a higher purpose - and this state is what he terms happiness.  Its a different and deeper definition of the word, rooted in compassion.

Third, the Dalai Lama talks about perspective itself and suggests that people need to consider that there are many ways to see the same thing and that just because a person or a culture has an agreed upon perspective about something, in this case 'the purpose of life,' does not mean that is the right or only perspective. He urges readers to be open to seeing in a different way.

This book is incredible for these concepts alone!  The Dalai Lama's point of view immediately brings to mind authors Ariel and Shya Kane's work, which is very much about how to live your life with wellbeing and satisfaction, taking your attention off of yourself, and being of service to others.  I would highly recommend reading their amazing books,&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/How-to-Create-a-Magical-Relationship-The-3-Simple-Ideas-that-Will-Instantaneously-Transform-Your-Love-Life/dp/0071601104/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">How to Create a Magical Relationship: The 3 Simple Ideas that Will Instantaneously Transform Your Love Life</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Working-on-Yourself-Doesn-t-Work-The-3-Simple-Ideas-That-Will-Instantaneously-Transform-Your-Life/dp/0071601082/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: The 3 Simple Ideas That Will Instantaneously Transform Your Life</a>&nbsp;in conjunction with The Art of Happiness In a Troubled World - they compliment each other wonderfully.
2273840
Actress Sally Hawkins is getting a lot of attention (and a Golden Globe award) for her starring role as the relentlessly cheerful character Poppy. It's a comedy and character study filled with people you just want to watch. The film is about happiness: the search for it, how we try to maintain it, and the absence of it. And while it doesn't have much of a plot and meanders (in an enjoyable way) there is a big payoff when the film culminates in a revealing scene between Poppy & her driving instructor Scott.
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Sooner or later, the thinking person must consider their rasion d'etre. Socrates made the observation that the unexamined life is not worth living. Warren takes the reader on a quest of self discovery using the rich resource of the Judaeo-Christian worldview to provide answers to the big questions of life. Why are we here? What is life all about? What really matters?
1055049
The most valuable thing that this book taught me, and is still continuing to teach me as I re-read and re-read it, is that it is possible to feel good about myself at all times, and in every situation in my life, and much more importantly, that is possible to change how I feel at any moment. Admittedly, it is not something that I'm used to doing, and sometimes it really takes an immense amount of concentration, but I have had the experience of changing sadness into joy as a result of what I've learned from this book. The way we feel about ourselves is a habit that we develop as we move through our lives, and it's a damned hard habit to break, but it is possible to have control over our feelings. It is possible to feel good even when a relationship is ending, or when you're experiencing financial challenges. I've done it!! It is possible to look at the pain that we sometimes experience in life as healing rather than as debilitating. I realized as I read AAIIG for the first time how I really felt about myself, and how I really felt about the life I was living, and the life around me.

It is very easy, if we live only by our 5 senses, to arrive at the conclusion that life is unfair, or that life is a struggle. What Abraham and the Hickses are suggesting is that most, if not all, of our opinions about life are learned. Think about it for a minute. If you're born into a rich family, you grow up thinking about money, and yourself in relation to money, in a totally different way than if you're born into a poor family. If you're born into a loving home, the same principle applies. Abraham is suggesting that it is possible that we all come into this world in joy, desiring to live a joyful life, but that that initial spark is eroded by our childhood and early life experiences.

Abraham also suggests that we make decisions about life based on our experiences. How is it that two children born into the same household can grow to live two completely different lives? It must be because one of them made different decisions than the other one, despite the fact of having similiar childhood experiences. Ultimately, we are all individuals making individual decisions about the life, and that is a very, very valuable lesson ... at least, for me it was truly eye-opening.

Even if you are an absolute literalist who does not believe in life before birth or life after death, you can still benefit from the exercises at the end of the book. None of us knows for sure whether anything beyond the evidence of our senses is true or not. Some of us follow only the evidence of what we can see, and taste, and measure. There are others of us who supplement our senses with intuition. My intuition guides me to the possibility that there is more to life than we can sense immediately, but even if you think that this is a crock, read the book once all the way through and then decide. Take note of the things that you might disagree with and keep on reading. You might be surprised that you agree with what is being presented far more than you disagree with it.
734318
This is from page 361: "The atheist view is correspondingly life-affirming and life-enhancing, while at the same time never being tainted with self-delusion, wishful thinking, or the whingeing self-pity of those who feel life owes them something." Can you imagine the world we could have if everyone had this attitude? This line makes more sense and has more meaning for me than any line in any holy book I've ever read.

The more I read on the topic of non-belief, atheism, or whatever you choose to call it, the more I am convinced that logic, understanding, and reason continue to be subverted in the name of religion.
4156766
M. D. Gray, author of "Smilosophy: Getting More Smileage Out of Life gives this book a definite thumbs up. This is a book that will allow readers to examine their own life and then gives specific directions to make life what a person wants and desires it to be. Phillip McGraw hits home where everyone lives. Life is much too short to have a life that has been patterned by others rather than our own selves. McGraw gives step by step instructions on how a person can make their lives truly fulfilled and happy.
A must have book for all.
3598063
In the brevity of this book, there is great wisdom of how to live a life of meaning that is gratifying, purposeful, fulfilling, and even transcendent. As a clinical psychologist, I have confronted the heart of the issue in this book in dealing with many children and their parents who must cope with neurodevelopmental and other psychiatric disorders while finding meaning, hope and courage in what they must do for their afflicted loved ones. What I have learned here will better inform those efforts. This is a book I have already recommended to colleagues and patients as well as parents of disabled children and family members struggling with the meaning of their own lives for its clarity, guidance, and inspiration. Kudos to the author for this meaningful book on how to lead a meaningful life.
3140178
This is an important book for adults and children alike. It translates the simple yet profound message of a positive and universal energy from which every living thing is created into a short parable to be understood and enjoyed by both bedtime readers and listeners. For children, this will help with the hurly-burly of life. For adults, this may spark a more profound understanding of the world in which we live and our place in it. As such, I would rate this book - with its colourful illustrations - on a par with Trina Paulus's "Hope for the Flowers", which has always been a great favorite of mine. As a bedtime story, a parable or a key to a more profound understanding of things - this is an important book.