Zen and the Art of Happiness »

Chris Prentiss is the cofounder and codirector of the world-famous Passages Addiction Cure Center in Malibu, California, and the author of The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure: A Holistic Approach to Total Recovery. He is also the author of a dozen books on personal growth, including the popular Zen and the Art of Happiness and Be Who You Want, Have What You Want. Prentiss has also led personal empowerment workshops in Southern California and has written, produced, and directed a feature film. He resides in Malibu, California.

A timeless work about the Zen of happiness—the art of happiness, the way of happiness, the inner game of happiness. The Zen of doing anything is doing it with a particular state of mind that brings the experience of enlightenment—and through that experience, happiness. In Zen and the Art of Happiness, you will learn how to think and feel so that what you think and feel creates happiness and vibrancy in your life rather than gloominess or depression.

Cutting-edge science and spirituality tell us that what we believe, think, and feel actually determine the makeup of our body at the cellular level. We all have a personal philosophy that influences our thoughts and feelings. It deals with what we have come to believe about the world, its people and its events-about how those events affect us and how we affect them. Whatever your personal philosophy is, it is completely responsible for your state of happiness and well-being because it determines how you respond to events that come into your life.

How can we change what we believe when our experience has convinced us otherwise? By creating a new experience.

The gentle wisdom of Zen and the Art of Happiness will show you how to invite those magnificent experiences into your life and create a philosophy that will sustain you through anything.

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Happiness can be a fickle thing. It can be a snug, magnetic garment, attracting more and more of the same, or it can be an ill-fitting gossamer veil flitting here and there. It all depends on one's psychology, karma, and attitude. This wonderful little book shows that we can overcome the obstacles to happiness. It's for those who want and need change-in expectations, habits, and outlook. Chris Prentiss teaches us how, with a joie de vivre that obviously comes from experience. Use his practical wisdom to get in the habit of being happy-every day. Put this book by your bedside and the Zen of happiness can be yours.

1 The Way 1
2 We Are the Authors of Every Next Moment 13
3 The New Experience 23
4 The Inner Road 33
5 Mindful Happiness 43
6 What's True in the Universe 61
7 Adapting to Change 85
8 Stress and Your Imagination 107
9 Healing Your Past 121
10 The Language of the Universe 131
Notes 143
Acknowledgments 145