Walking on sunshine : 52 small steps to happiness

Title:

Walking on sunshine : 52 small steps to happiness

Author:

Kelly, Rachel (Journalist), author.

ISBN:

9781501146442

Edition:

First Atria Books hardcover edition.

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Suggested Age	Status
Book	Searching... Putnam Main Public Library	158.1 KEL	Adult	Searching... Unknown

A compact, accessible, life-changing book, internationally bestselling Walking on Sunshine offers fifty-two tips and tools (one for each week of the year) to increase your happiness year-round and help you manage the mood-altering pressures of everyday life.

In the form of weekly journal entries over the course of a year, journalist and mental health activist Rachel Kelly shares the fifty-two strategies that have helped her cope with depression and anxiety and maintain a calm, happy lifestyle. There's no complicated program involved, no overhaul of your current way of life: just simple shortcuts to lighter, more conscious living--tangible rituals you can use to care for your body and mind. In the pages of this engaging, user-friendly book, you'll find breathing techniques, poetry, prayer, philosophical nuggets, and meditations, all of them lovely, gentle suggestions designed to bring more ease and equanimity into your daily life.

Whether you're going through a particularly emotional time or you're just trying to figure out how to achieve balance and moderate your reactions to conflict, there's something for everyone in this encouraging, comforting book. Written in the candid, conversational style of a good friend and accompanied by delightful cartoon illustrations, Walking on Sunshine is a portable, supportive companion that will see you through your ups and downs.

Author Notes

Rachel Kelly is the bestselling author of The Happiness Diet, Walking on Sunshine: 52 Small Steps to Happiness , and Black Rainbow . She began her career as a journalist in London at The Times . She is now an official Ambassador for SANE and Vice President for the charity United Response. Rachel lives in West London.

Excerpts

Walking on Sunshine 1. THE SPRING IS COMING We are just back from a family trip to the Lake District. Printed below is John Clare's "Young Lambs," his celebration of spring as a time of renewal, when all sorts of things seem possible. This poem slows me down and makes me appreciate and be more attentive to my surroundings, which I tend to ignore when I'm busy and overwhelmed. The spring is coming by a many signs; The trays are up, the hedges broken down, That fenced the haystack, and the remnant shines Like some old antique fragment weathered brown. And where suns peep, in every sheltered place, The little early buttercups unfold A glittering star or two--till many trace The edges of the blackthorn clumps in gold. And then a little lamb bolts up behind The hill and wags his tail to meet the yoe, And then another, sheltered from the wind, Lies all his length as dead--and lets me go Close bye and never stirs but baking lies, With legs stretched out as though he could not rise. Clare describes the first signs of the unfolding season in loving detail. He sees "little early buttercups unfold" into "a glittering star or two." The haystacks from the last harvest have been dismantled and are ready for a new crop, leaving only a shining "remnant" of hay behind. These winter leftovers are so out of place they seem like "some old antique fragment" in a scene where everything else is renewed and brimming with possibility. A lamb bounds out to meet the poet and "wags his tail." Another, basking in the sun, "with legs stretched out as though he couldn't rise," allows him to walk right up. Spring, to Clare, is best represented by a newborn animal, so carefree that it remains flat on its back, enjoying the sunshine even when the poet approaches. Stopping for a moment to imagine Clare's sunbathing lamb always makes me smile. Excerpted from Walking on Sunshine: 52 Small Steps to Happiness by Rachel Kelly All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Introduction	p. x
Spring	p. 1
1 The Spring Is Coming	p. 2
2 Turn Control into Curiosity	p. 4
3 A Helping Hand	p. 6
4 Mindful Moments	p. 8
5 Stuffocation	p. 10
6 Prayer	p. 12
7 Three-Step Breathing Exercise	p. 14
8 Unplug	p. 16
9 Embrace the New Day	p. 18
10 Think Positive	p. 20
11 Words You Say	p. 22
12 Habit Tacking	p. 24
13 Gratitude	p. 26
Summer	p. 29
14 I Will Arise	p. 30
15 Fly on the Wall	p. 32
16 Learn to Love the Journey	p. 34
17 Find Exercise You Enjoy	p. 36
18 Reaching Out	p. 38
19 Balm of Hurt Minds	p. 40
20 Flower Power	p. 42
21 If You Can Keep Your Head	p. 44
22 Nourish Your Body	p. 46
23 The Sound of Running Water	p. 48
24 The Joy of Missing Out	p. 50
25 Mending	p. 52
26 Home Calmer Home	p. 54
Autumn	p. 57
27 Make Me Thy Lyre	p. 58
28 Bird by Bird	p. 60
29 Make Mistakes	p. 62
30 Box Sets	p. 64
31 The Road Better Traveled	p. 66
32 Find a Companion	p. 68
33 Find Your Midpoint	p. 70
34 Body Language	p. 72
35 Wallow	p. 74
36 Unwind	p. 76
37 What You Resist Persists	p. 78
38 The Magic of Baking	p. 80
39 Formation Flying	p. 82
Winter	p. 85
40 The Sky Is Low	p. 86
41 Human Beings, Not Human Doings	p. 88
42 Secret Breathing Exercise	p. 90
43 HALT	p. 92
44 Psychobiotics	p. 94
45 Habit Releasing	p. 96
46 Alcohol	p. 98
47 Play	p. 100
48 The 60 Percent Rule	p. 102
49 Bottled Sunshine	p. 104
50 Rainbow Foods	p. 106
51 Meditation	p. 108
52 Unhistoric Acts	p. 110
Closing Thoughts: Whose Voices Are They Anyway?	p. 112
Acknowledgments	p. 115
Further Reading	p. 116
Notes to Self	p. 118
P.S. Falling off the Wagon	p. 130

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Table of Contents