I came across this book unexpectedly. To be honest when I saw the front cover of the book and read the title I didn’t think it was a book I’d be able to relate to. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important to work on your happiness but it just all looked… so cheezy… 😉

And then I picked it up anyway and flipped through the pages. I was hooked. It was simple to understand, there were personal stories that as a reader I could relate to, and the way in which Will Bowen explained the principles made it that much easier to really take in and apply it to my life immediately!

So what’s the name of the book? It’s called Happy This Year!: The Secret to Getting Happy Once and for All and I found it so fitting that I happened to wrap up the book right before the new year.

While there were many practical principles there were a few that I gravitated toward most, and you’ll chuckle at how simple they really are. Phoebe Buffay would probably yell, “Well, duh!”

Here are a few all too good reminders we could all use:

1. Claiming you are a happy person

   • Like the Course says, we are so intellectually powerful we can actually choose to follow the voice of the Ego or follow the voice of your True Nature. Why not choose to believe you are a happy person instead of choosing to entertain your daily worries and future projections?
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2. Setting a happiness goal and measuring your progress

   • This was a novel idea to me. I never thought of choosing a happiness goal (between 0-10) and checking in on it a few times a day. I thought it was genius! There’s something about cognitively setting a goal and wanting to check in to see how well you’ve progressed. Will also suggests setting an alarm at set times in the day to remind yourself to check in, “How are you doing against your happiness goal today?”
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3. Understanding thoughts turn to action

   • This isn’t anything new to the world of science or spirituality but it is a fantastic reminder to have every so now and then. Your thoughts become the seeds of your action. Imagine a circle and at the top of the circle is your thoughts. Then at the 3 o’clock position there are your words; at the 6 o’clock position there are your actions; and finally at the 9 o’clock position are the resuts which bring you back to another thought, often times the same thought. At every stage we have an opportunity to change our vibration but the longer we wait the more momentum this vibration has. Why not start with a high vibration?
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4. Writing out your gratitude list

   • Again, not a novel idea but sometimes it takes the 50th person to tell you something to take action  😉  For me, it wasn’t the act of writing out the gratitude list that made me nod my head, but it was the way in which I could feel Will Bowen’s gratitude coming from the pages as he listed out what he was grateful for his life at the time of writing this book. That was what touched me the most.

So as we ring in the New Year my wish is that we all be a little more happy this year   🙂

Namaste.