Based on her more than thirty years as a noted thinker and speaker on personal contentment, Alexandra Stoddard shares what she has learned about the small but significant changes you can make to be happier day by day.
A fun first step: quickly write down ten words that define who you are—perhaps beaches, family, food, home—and what else? This and dozens of other inventive ideas will help you pursue happiness wisely and well.
In challenging times, it is easy to question whether happiness is a choice. Alexandra Stoddard affirms that not only is it possible to choose happiness but that happiness is the best choice we can make. It is the "first principle" of life that unites humankind because it is what we all desire.
Happiness lies in the passions we pursue and in the pressures we decline. It is in knowing how to work and when to play. It is in the treasured objects we keep nearby and in the ordinary moments we elevate into small celebrations. It is in the note we write to a friend and the kindness we show a stranger. Happiness is what you make it, where you make it. Happiness is our best choice.

Choosing Happiness: Keys to a Joyful Life

STODDARD, ALEXANDRA

Reference

William Morrow

From Alexandra Stoddard - beloved lifestyle philosopher, mother, and author of Choosing Happiness, a small book of wisdom about the big questions of life, perfect for new graduates, new mothers, and as a treasured gift from woman to woman.
Alexandra Stoddard, a mother, grandmother, and author of more than 25 books on personal fulfilment, shares a series of succinctly–stated principles worth living by. Each statement is fleshed out in a few brief, useful paragraphs. By turns wise ("Pain is inevitable; suffering is a choice"), controversial ("Don't feel guilty about your feelings toward your parents, stepparents, or in–laws"), affirming ("You don't have to prove anything to anyone"), and humorous ("When you discover something you love, stock up"), these short pieces cut to the essence of what's important and are oases of clarity amid life's chaos.

Things I Want My Daughters to Know: A Small Book About the Big Issues in Life

Religion & Spirituality

In seven sections representing essential domains of life—Time, Home, Style, Enthusiasm, Caring, Purpose, and Spirit—Alexandra Stoddard shows us how to celebrate every moment of life. This treasury of brief essays is chock-full of the wise ideas, personal anecdotes, and practical strategies that have inspired millions of her readers and audiences to live more beautifully and meaningfully every day. She helps readers form their own personal philosophy for living as well as discover specific, small actions that build tranquil time into the most hectic day, add lightness and energy when needed most, elevate a passing moment into a vivid memory. She encourages readers to "take stock, and rethink everything. We need to make the connection between how we spend our time and how well we live our lives."
With each essay offering a memorable mindset for living, Alexandra's observations are searching ("What is your deepest desire?"), surprising ("Lower your standards"), encouraging ("You have 8,766 hours a year to act wisely"), and whimsical ("You've gotta have a look") and are certain to spur readers to new levels of insight and joy.

Time Alive: Celebrate Your Life Every Day

Humor & Entertainment

Movies

With her 25th book, lifestyle philosopher Alexandra Stoddard offers simple steps for taking charge of your life—your way. In brief essays filled with useful examples and optimism, she reveals 50 choices you can make to live joyfully in pursuit of what is true, good, and beautiful. 
As a pioneering writer and lecturer on personal happiness for the past twenty years, Alexandra has inspired millions to break the "rules" and pursue fulfillment. Now, as scientists have begun to discover the benefits of living a happy life, Alexandra provides practical ways to live happily every day. She puts us in charge of our choices, reminding us that we always have a choice about what we think, feel, and do. When we are true to ourselves, we can fly above stress and conflict, contented and confident that we are the right path. 
Featuring essays that help us trust ourselves ("Intuition is your guiding light"), stay steady in a storm ("Your choices count most in a crisis"), embrace the new ("Accept opportunity"), address unfinished business ("Have as few regrets as possible"), surround ourselves with delights ("Redefine what is beautiful"), and remember to have fun ("Cheap thrills are thrilling").
Every choice you make is an opportunity to delight in life. You Are Your Choices offers insight and companionship each step of the way.

You Are Your Choices: 50 Ways to Live the Good Life

Self-Help

Creativity

Things I Want My Daughters To Know: A Small Book About the Big Issues in Life

William Morrow Paperbacks

Throughout her life, Alexandra Stoddard has sought inspiration from writers, poets, and people she has met. In Grace Notes, she shares this wisdom and her own learnings, beautifully captured in brief, motivating observations, in 365 daily meditations of warmth, affirmation, encouragement, and optimism. Season by season, day by day, you'll explore different themes: joy, love, loss, risk, courage, wholeness, growth, play, and success. In addition to offering inspirational quotes from many cultures and two "grace notes," each page provides space to write down your own sacred inspirations. With courage and confidence, Grace Notes takes you on a spiritual journey every day of your life—and whenever you feel the need to be transported to serenity and grace.

Grace Notes

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Alternative Medicine

Pursuing happiness sounds easy, but with so many demands on our time and resources, it can be a challenge. So, how do we find happiness in a relationship—when there are two people who want and deserve to be happy? 
Help is here, from a beloved (and blissfully married) lifestyle philosopher whose books and lectures on personal contentment have helped millions and whose popular Happiness Weekends are filled with dating singles, newlyweds, and long-married couples. In brief, readable essays rich in wisdom, practical strategies, and humor, Alexandra Stoddard shows how two people can be happy together, not at each other's expense. 
Alexandra's essays help couples make personal happiness a priority ("Encourage each other to do something every day that will boost happiness"), connect in simple, powerful ways ("Give the gift of eye contact"), share decisions ("A home has no boss"), set family priorities ("Don't let children control you"), expand your horizons ("Encourage adventure"), be grateful for each other ("Treat each encounter as though it could be your last"), and have fun ("Live a little!"). 
Perfect for couples to read alone or together, Happiness for Two brims with useful ideas to help us "love and live happy."

Happiness for Two: 75 Secrets for Finding More Joy Together

Relationships

In this warm and wise book, Alexandra Stoddard not only celebrates what mothers know—and what we would like them to know—she encourages them to attend to their own happiness in the quest to become better mothers. Raising a good child to become a good person begins with a mother's own inner transformation. Don't think if you are a good mother you will automatically be happy, she cautions. Be happy and you will be good at everything that is meaningful and valuable in your life! From giving practical advice, to taking a more philosophical approach, to offering a comforting pat on the back, Stoddard reaches out to mothers with words that will encourage, support, and cheer them on.

Things Good Mothers Know: A Celebration

Mental Health

In The Shared Wisdom of Mothers and Daughters, the inspirational follow up to the beloved Things I Want My Daughters to Know, lifestyle philosopher Alexandra Stoddard reflects on the lessons she’s learned from her own daughters and offers more words of wisdom in return.
As a mother and grandmother, Stoddard shares some of the most enlightening conversations she’s had with other women and their daughters. 
Filled with enduring and heartfelt stories, Stoddard’s The Shared Wisdom of Mothers and Daughters delivers lessons about love and happiness that have been shared and learned by countless generations of mothers and their daughters.
Alexandra Stoddard’s The Shared Wisdom of Mothers and Daughters: The Timelessness of Simple Truths is a beautiful keepsake that celebrates the deep connections between mothers and daughters.

The Shared Wisdom of Mothers and Daughters: The Timelessness of Simple Truths

Happiness

Creating a Beautiful Home

History

Franklin Classics

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