If You’re Happy and You Know It…

I’ve decided that unrelenting Jung is no fun, so I’ve started Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out by Marci Shimoff (Canada) to cut the seriousness.

I had the privilege of seeing Marci present at the Rich Dad Annual Forum in Orlando a few weeks ago and I had to get this book, because, like her, I have spent most of my life being “one unhappy camper” and seeking to get better.

So far I’ve read Jack Canfield’s Foreword, the Introduction, and the beginning of Chapter 1.

Her book promises to show me ways to be happier, no matter how happy, or unhappy, I am right now.

Specifically, it promises that “by the time you finish reading these pages, you will know how to experience an authentic state of sustained happiness for the rest of your life” (5).

Wow. That’s a pretty big promise.

Shimoff continues that this is the “kind of happy that is solid, true, and anchored in [your] being, so that no matter what [your] external circumstances are, there is still a feeling of unshakable fulfillment, joy, and inner peace” (5).

All right then!

And, there’s a questionnaire!

Woohoo! I love quizzes and questionnaires.

But I’m not quite there yet.

Shimoff explains that in her search for real happy she tracked down 100 unconditionally happy people and through her interviews with them, distilled being happy down to 21 habits.

Habits are good – they are something I can practice. She also shows that the need for this book is tremendous, 1 in 5 American women are on anti-depressants, and 6 million men start taking them every year (6). I’m sure the percentages are similar in Canada.

I have to add that I’m pretty impressed by her determination to have a successful, happy life. In Chapter 1 she shares her own story and I’m already intimidated.

At 13 she decided she was going to be a public speaker, at 16 she started meditating, and in her early 20s she hooked up with Jack Canfield as a mentee and speaker on self-esteem and success.

She used vision boards and tithing and visualization and had the outward trapping of success but she still wasn’t happy…

I’m looking forward to what comes next.