Awakening Joy ─ 10 Steps That Will Put You on the Road to Real Happiness

Joy is not for just the lucky few–it’s a choice anyone can make. In this groundbreaking book, based on his popular course, James Baraz helps you discover a path to the happiness that’s right in front of you, offering a step-by-step program that will reorient your mind away from dissatisfaction and distraction and toward the contentment and delight that is abundantly available in our everyday lives.

You can decide to be happy. For years, James Baraz’s online Awakening Joy course has offered participants from around the world the benefits of this simple but profoundly radical proposition. Grounded in simple Buddhist principles but accessible to people of all faiths–or no faith at all–this concept provides the jumping-off point for a transformational journey toward a richer, more meaningful, more positive outlook on life. Now readers everywhere can follow the same ten steps Baraz teaches to his program participants. In this practical down-to-earth guide, you will learn how to

‧ make happiness a habit by inclining your mind toward states that lead to well-being
‧ find joy even during difficult times and avoid the pitfalls that prevent you from achieving the contentment you seek
‧ cultivate effective practices for sustaining joyfulness, such as reclaiming your natural sense of wonder and finding joy in the midst of everyday experiences

Each chapter of Awakening Joy consists of one step in Baraz’s ten-step program and includes engaging exercises and practical advice to make happiness your natural default setting. For everyone from the cynic despondent over life’s many sorrows to the harried commuter raging at freeway traffic, this book offers up a simple yet powerful message of hope grounded in the realization that joy already exists inside every one of us. Like a precious child, it only needs to be recognized, embraced, and nurtured in order to grow to its full potential.



Praise
"I've personally taken the Awakening Joy program and can say this unequivocally: It's fabulous and it works!? This book, filled with moving stories and rich teachings, will give you wonderful tools to experience true happiness and well-being.? It's a gem!"—?Marci Shimoff, New York Times bestselling author of Happy for No Reason

"Opening to joy takes courage and intention. This book will inspire you to discover genuine happiness, and show you how. Drawing on perennial wisdom and accessible meditative practices, James and Shoshana offer teachings that can awaken your love of life."—?Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance

"Awakening Joy is an important guide to transforming our everyday experience into genuine happiness.? James and Shoshana's insight, kindness, and clear and practical language make this a direct, pragmatic and valuable manual for a better life."—Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

"In this?beautiful and heartwarming book, James Baraz?and Shoshana Alexander take us on a journey that truly awakens joy. There are stories that bring tears to our eyes and practices that transform our lives.??This?is a loving, wise, and compassionate testament to what is possible for each one of?us.? Highly recommended."—Joseph Goldstein, author of A Heart Full of Peace?

"I'm so happy that James Baraz's Awakening Joy class is now available in book form.? His class has been helpful to thousands of people.? I plan to give it to all my clients who are struggling with creating a life of meaning and happiness.? Joyfulness is our birthright.? This book shows you how to reclaim it."—M.J. Ryan, author of?AdaptAbility

"This is a life-changing book?that not only?teaches practical,?useful strategies for increasing your awareness,?but also illuminates choices about how you can lead your emotional life."?—Paul Ekman, Ph.D.,?Professor Emeritus, University of Californi

James Baraz has been teaching meditation for more than thirty years and the Awakening Joy course, both on-site and online, since 2003. He is a co—founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, and is on the international advisory board of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. He lives with his wife, Jane, in the San Francisco Bay area.

Shoshana Tembeck Alexander has studied Buddhism since the early 1970s and is the author of In Praise of Single Parents and Women’s Ventures, Women’s Visions. She has guided the work of several prominent Buddhist authors, including Tara Brach, Sharon Salzberg, and Wes Nisker. She lives in Ashland, Oregon.