52 WAYS TO A HAPPIER LIFE
Practical ideas you can use to create the life you were born to live
by
Jim Donovan
In 52 Ways to a Happier Life, Jim Donovan shares the principles that changed his course from living in misery and despair to a life that is beyond his wildest expectations. These same simple principles will help you, too, to live the life you were born to live; the kind of life that you will look forward to each day; a life that will amaze you with its magnificence.
We all have the capacity for greatness. All we need to do is take responsibility for our lives, learn to dream again, set worthwhile goals, have faith, and take action.
Within the pages of this book are practical ideas that will help you to take the actions you need to create the life you were born to live. These are the principles used by virtually all successful people. Reading this book for ten or fifteen minutes each day will help you remain in a positive state of mind as you embark upon your journey toward a successful and happier life!
Smashwords Edition
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Published on Smashwords by:
Tremendous Life Books
206 West Allen Street
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
52 Ways to a Happier Life
Copyright 2010 by Jim Donovan
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal use only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
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For the Angels
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Table of Contents
1 Congratulate Yourself for What You Already Accomplished
2 Quieting Your Internal Critic
3 Balancing the Spiritual and the Material Worlds
4 Within You Is the Power to Change Your Life
5 Appreciate and Acknowledge the Abundance in Your Life
8 Are You Settling for Small Goals?
9 How Exciting Are Your Goals?
17 Sometimes You Just Need to Trust
19 Ask Bigger Questions for Greater Results
21 Are You Acting in Alignment With What You Want?
24 Choose Your Thoughts Carefully
26 Sometimes You Have to Fake It Until You Make It
27 What Are the Obstacles to Your Success?
28 Who’s Responsible for Your Life?
29 What if You Didn’t Reach Your Goals
30 Money Is a Measure of Your Service
31 What Do You Believe About Wealth?
32 Where Are You Starting From?
33 The Two Ways to Financial Freedom
34 Change Those Things You Can Change
35 Do You Really Want to Be Rich?
36 How Many Channels Do You Have?
37 How Do You Spend Your Most Creative Time?
39 Who Are You Letting in Your Sandbox?
42 Sometimes You Have to Ask For Help
44 Feeling Better When You’re Feeling Down
46 Change Your Actions, Change Your Life
47 Allowing the Abundance You Desire
51 Give Yourself the Gift of Quiet
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My heartfelt thanks to my wife, Georgia, for her support of my dreams and vision.
To my Mastermind partner, Ski Swiatkowski, for challenging me to grow and for his endless encouragement.
To Donna Eliassen at Viking Services and Denise Adelsberger at I’m Always Typing for their editorial and administrative assistance.
My fellow authors, speakers, and coaches who continue to share ideas to help us all grow and prosper.
I want to especially thank all the readers of my books and Jim’s Jems newsletter who have provided me with encouragement and inspiration throughout the years. I am honored to have been a part of your lives.
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There I was, living in a tiny bedroom in my parent’s small apartment. I had run out of options. My life was out of control. I was one small step away from being homeless, living in Central Park in New York City. Years of rampant excess had brought me to my knees. I had lost everything and hit rock bottom.
I would lay awake at night, unable to sleep, pleading with God to help me. I prayed, begged, and bargained for my life to change.
I had done it all—been evicted from apartments, lived in cars, gone for days at a time without food, moved from place to place, and so on. Each time I told myself, “This time it will be different. This time I’ll get it together.”
I remember looking upward one day and saying, “Okay God, either take me or help me change.” To be quite honest, at that moment, it didn’t much matter to me which option He chose. That fateful day was many years ago, and my life has never been the same from that moment on.
Something in me wanted to live more than I wanted to die. So, swallowing my false pride, I accepted the help that was being offered and entered a treatment program. Upon release, I was on my path to recovery but I wanted more. I wanted the life I once had. I wanted the success that I knew existed, but had somehow eluded me for so many years.
It was during those days of early recovery that I read everything I could get my hands on. Frankly, I had little else to do. At about the same time I was introduced to self-help books. This one small action changed my life forever. I devoured every self-help book I could find, listened to audio programs daily, and attended regular seminars. My life changed for the better and I achieved goals greater than any I had previously imagined.
After several years of immersing myself in this information, I began to write, mainly as my way of sharing what I had learned. Little did I know the impact this would have on my future. My writing, something that has always come easily to me, evolved into my books—Handbook to a Happier Life and This is Your Life, Not a Dress Rehearsal. Since then, these, and my other books, have been published in 22 countries. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to hundreds of groups in seminars and regularly receive letters and email from people whose lives have been changed through my work.
As Og Mandino, one of the greatest self-help authors of all time and my role model, would have said, the hand of God reached directly into my life and changed my course from living in misery and despair to a life that is beyond my wildest expectation.
Today I understand that we all have the capacity for greatness. All we need to do is take responsibility for our lives, learn to dream again, set worthwhile goals, have faith, and take action. We will be shown the next step as our lives unfold.
Today I am totally committed to lifelong learning. I know that reading and listening to positive, uplifting information on a daily basis is what determines the difference between an exciting, meaningful life or the kind of life Henry David Thoreau was describing when he said, “The mass of men (and women) lead lives of quiet desperation.”
Today My Life Has Purpose.
Throughout the pages of this book, you will read some of the key principles that have helped me and countless others achieve the lives of our dreams. These same simple principles will also help you to live the life you were born to live; the kind of life that you will look forward to each day; a life that will amaze you with its magnificence. You deserve it, and you have within you the power to create it.
There are numerous ways in which this book can help you. You may wish to read the entire book from cover to cover, or perhaps a chapter each day.
However you choose to use it, be sure to complete the simple action steps and exercises, for this is what will cause change and growth to take place in your own life.
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