The Nine Rooms of Happiness: Loving Yourself, Finding Your Purpose, and Getting Over Life's Little Imperfections Read Online Free PDF

full of blessings. All of ours are. For me, the easiest time to identify a perfect moment is when I’m at the water’s edge with loved ones and I see glistening sunlight sparkling on the water, and I can take a mental snapshot of this beautiful scene and tell myself, this is it, a perfect moment. And I feel that my life is lucky, blessed, and full. And then, just like that, the moment is gone. Something interrupts it and I can’t get it back.
    Learning not to let little things bring you down and to appreciate the “perfect moments” in the ordinary day is a life’s work, but there are a few tricks that will help you reframe your nega-speak and self-defeating habits into positive behavior, if you choose to.
    Let’s Be Real—There Are Serious Things to Feel Down About
    We won’t pretend this book can help someone cope with the stress and fear they experience when dealing with life-and-death situations or the trauma of divorce or total financial ruin. We call those A, B, C problems. This book addresses the X, Y, Z problems, the little ones that should come at the end of any “What’s bothering me?” list but tend to push their way to the front of women’s minds. When X, Y, Z problems persist they can grow into A, B, C issues quickly, since, for example, a bored woman who seeksexcitement may be tempted to have an affair, and then what started as a little problem (lack of stimulation) quickly grows into a big one (finding herself tempted to leave her marriage). So if we’re not happy, even when everything is okay in our world, we may blame our spouse or our circumstances, instead of looking inward for the answers. If we don’t address them, the X, Y, Z problems in this book can become A, B, C problems before you know it. It’s within your control to make sure the X, Y, Zs stay at the end of the alphabet, and focus on what really matters in your life.
    Even when there is no reason to be anxious, women create reasons, and often we ruminate on the wrong things, according to a study in Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy , which found that 85 percent of the things women worry about happening never come to pass. Plus, we’d add, women spend an inordinate amount of time fretting over things they can’t control. Yet such thoughts plague us day and night. Worry in general seems to be a female epidemic. See if any of these laments sound familiar:
Whenever there’s a cash crunch in our family, I turn it into a doomsday scenario. We’re broke. We’ll lose everything! Will I ever feel secure?
When I look in my mirror, I compare myself to friends who look ten years younger. Why don’t I look as young as other women? Or as pretty?
My husband is much more patient with the kids than I am. Why can’t I be more like him? I just go off the handle. I need a break.
Why did I waste time watching that stupid movie last night when I could have been reading, working out, paying bills, sleeping? I have so much to do!
I constantly catch a view of myself in a window and think I look fat. What do others think? If I were my honey, I wouldn’t want to sleep with me!
If I ask my boss for a raise, she’ll laugh—or fire me. I don’t understand how to get ahead. I work harder than anyone, but I am not appreciated.
I worry that my life is just passing me by. If I were rich or famous, I’d be happier. Plus, I could make a more meaningful contribution to the world.
    Catherine has heard all of these negative thoughts and many more from her patients, friends, and every woman she knows—this inner monologue is like elevator music for too many of us, constantly playing in the background of our lives. If you don’t have an effective strategy for dealing with these minor problems, they can become the big problems. This is why women need to rethink and shift the paradigm.
    Your Memory Wants You to Remember the Good Times
    Memory is a filter, editing our past like a scrapbook computer program. You go on a trip, and the pictures that make it into