num_pages: 336
description: Joy is not for just the lucky fewits a choice anyone can make. In this groundbreaking book based on his popular course James Baraz helps you discover a path to the happiness thats right in front of you offering a step-by-step program that will reorient your mind away from dissatisfaction and distraction and toward the contentment and delight that is abundantly available in our everyday lives.You can decide to be happy. For years James Barazs online Awakening Joy course has offered participants from around the world the benefits of this simple but profoundly radical proposition. Grounded in simple Buddhist principles but accessible to people of all faithsor no faith at allthis concept provides the jumping-off point for a transformational journey toward a richer more meaningful more positive outlook on life. Now readers everywhere can follow the same ten steps Baraz teaches to his program participants. In this practical down-to-earth guide you will learn how to make happiness a habit by inclining your mind toward states that lead to well-being find joy even during difficult times and avoid the pitfalls that prevent you from achieving the contentment you seek cultivate effective practices for sustaining joyfulness such as reclaiming your natural sense of wonder and finding joy in the midst of everyday experiencesEach chapter of Awakening Joy consists of one step in Barazs ten-step program and includes engaging exercises and practical advice to make happiness your natural default setting. For everyone from the cynic despondent over lifes many sorrows to the harried commuter raging at freeway traffic this book offers up a simple yet powerful message of hope grounded in the realization that joy already exists inside every one of us. Like a precious child it only needs to be recognized embraced and nurtured in order to grow to its full potential.PraiseI've personally taken the Awakening Joy program and can say this It's fabulous and it works! This book filled with moving stories and rich teachings will give you wonderful tools to experience true happiness and well-being. It's a gem! Marci Shimoff New York Times bestselling author of Happy for No ReasonOpening to joy takes courage and intention. This book will inspire you to discover genuine happiness and show you how. Drawing on perennial wisdom and accessible meditative practices James and Shoshana offer teachings that can awaken your love of life. Tara Brach author of Radical Acceptance Awakening Joy is an important guide to transforming our everyday experience into genuine happiness. James and Shoshana's insight kindness and clear and practical language make this a direct pragmatic and valuable manual for a better life.Sharon Salzberg author of The Revolutionary Art of HappinessIn this beautiful and heartwarming book James Baraz and Shoshana Alexander take us on a journey that truly awakens joy. There are stories that bring tears to our eyes and practices that transform our lives. This is a loving wise and compassionate testament to what is possible for each one of us. Highly recommended.Joseph Goldstein author of A Heart Full of Peace I'm so happy that James Baraz's Awakening Joy class is now available in book form. His class has been helpful to thousands of people. I plan to give it to all my clients who are struggling with creating a life of meaning and happiness. Joyfulness is our birthright. This book shows you how to reclaim it.M.J. Ryan author of AdaptAbilityThis is a life-changing book that not only teaches practical useful strategies for increasing your awareness but also illuminates choices about how you can lead your emotional life. Paul Ekman Ph.D. Professor Emeritus University of California San Francisco co-author of Emotional Awareness and author of Emotions Revealed To awaken joy in oneself and others is one of life's great skills a skill taught by sages across the centuries and now distilled in this book.Roger Walsh M.D. Ph.D. University of California Medical School author of Essential The Seven Central PracticesThis book is an inspiring gift that will open your heart to the presence of love and joy in everyday life.Frances Vaughan Ph.D. psychologist author of Shadows of the Sacred Every page of this wonderful book has something that inspires faith or a new story a memorable quote an exercise that invites participation....From beginning to end it is a joy to read.Sylvia Boorstein author of Happiness Is An Inside Practicing for a Joyful Life This book should be read by every person who cares about making this a better world. It can enhance the joys of working to develop a wiser and more compassionate society and help make us both happier and more effective in challenging times.Daniel Ellsberg author of A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers This is an important bookand a great read! With its unique mix of story philosophy and practice we can explore our needs free ourselves from the bonds of suffering and innovate new ways of being that will last our lifetimes. And because James has woven himself and his characteristic smile throughout the book we can have a lot of fun in the process.Rick Foster co-author of How We Choose to Be Happy Faith hope and love have long been considered the essential virtues of the religious life. James Baraz has done us all a great service by elevating joy to its rightful place alongside the trinity of sacred emotions. What a gift is it to be surprised by joy and to awaken in the midst of a difficult world the impulse to rejoice.Patricia E. de Jong Senior Minister First Congregational Church of Berkeley Awakening Joy is an inspirational and practical resource which helps us identify where we are or are not experiencing joy in our lives. This original book addresses the primary obstacles or beliefs that hinder our access to joy and includes timeless practices and ways in which we can expand cultivate express and experience more joy in our lives and within our own nature. Well-written informative and a significant contribution to everyone's well-being.Angeles Arrien Ph.D. cultural anthropologist and author of award-winning Second Half of Opening to the Eight Gates of WisdomIn our pursuit of happiness this moving book should be a dog eared worn out companion....As you work through this elegant material you will find yourself laughing a little longer dancing a little more and awakening to the beauty of what lies inside you and in those nearby.Dacher Keltner Professor of Psychology UC Berkeley and author Born To Be The Science of a Meaningful LifeI have been deeply touched and inspired by James Baraz's accessible practical wisdom. His genuine caring for people and enthusiasm for life generously pour forth and permeate everything that he teaches--now in the pages of this book.Rabbi Margie Jacobs Institute for Jewish Spirituality  Awakening Joy is a wise treasure house of valuable information anecdotes potent quotes and creative suggestions to step into one's power and live life to the max. This book is a rich inspiring resource I'm excited to share with my yoga students.Gabriel Halpern founder and director of the Yoga Circle [Chicago]
language: English
title: Awakening Joy: 10 Steps That Will Put You on the Road to Real Happiness
publisher: Bantam