The New Happiness: Practices for Spiritual Growth and Living with Intention

Amazing book!! Look forward to more from this author

I work in Behavioral health care and I greatly appreciated this book to work with clients and also to use in my own life.We know that happiness comes from within. And, we know that living a meaningful life connected to our values leads to happiness. However, achieving this can be difficult as most of us didn't have role models to teach us and we are surrounded by distractions in our lives.In this book by Dr. McKay and Dr. Wood, we learn accessible tools to truly live our highest values with daily actions including helpful meditations. I like the fact that the examples are spiritual and can be used with whatever religious beliefs you have. Through the wise lessons in this book, we learn to nourish our spiritual needs. I agree with the other reviewer who recommended rereading this book.I feel enabled to connect to my higher power and to my inner strength and resources. I appreciate the sense of reassurance I felt to cope with change, that's usually not in our control, without judgment, and instead with compassion. I highly recommend this book!

The New Happiness is a captivating and well-researched nonfiction read. Although this book touches on many religions, it focuses on a psychological approach to spirituality. I agreed with most of what the authors presented in this book, except for when it came to their definition of grace. As a Christian, I had a difficult time getting past the authors’ thoughts on the subject.The book begins with an exercise, to discover your core values, and life purpose. This I found to be advantageous, since those points, are major players in becoming and staying happy. I thoroughly enjoyed learning new meditations, intentions, and exercises. My favorites from this book were, Still Mind meditation, the two Compassion meditations, and the healing Soften-Soothe-Allow- technique.Everyone is on their own spiritual path, and this book assists the reader in deepening their spiritual walk, especially through meditation. This is not a book to read through just once, but one to ponder, experience, and then read through again.Thank you, New Harbinger Publications and NetGalley, for my advanced review copy.

I had a very mixed reaction to this book. The book helps you as you discern important decisions and puts emphasis on keeping focused on your life mission and values. This is done through deep meditation, paying attention to images, words, or emotions you receive during a state of meditation. Some of these pointers on meditation were helpful, and I've begun using them in my own practice.The book is basically a book on prayer for people of all faiths or no faith at all. I appreciated the authors' efforts to reach out to all people where they are. The basic content is sound and inclusive. However, I would not recommend this to Christian groups. There were too many references to Wiccan and pagan practices for me to use this with adults in Christian settings. Also, a few statements were at odds with Christian beliefs (e.g. the authors' statement that "grace is not a gift from God") and would not be appropriate for use with adult formation groups in Christian settings.For individuals who are not people of faith, however, this book might be just the ticket for learning to pray and meditate. I think the authors would have been wise to have deleted the references to pagan and atheistic practices, as I think these references will turn off many readers.

You may know all this stuff but do you ever actually USE it and apply it to your dailying living?