The 10 Keys to Happiness According to Chicken Soup for the Soul

COS COB, Conn. – “Happiness is not an elusive lottery ticket meant for only a lucky few. It is a jackpot within everyone’s grasp, and winning it is no mystery,” says Chicken Soup for the Soul’s editor-in-chief and publisher Amy Newmark. “I’ve read tens of thousands of real-life, enlightening stories from our contributors, and I’ve developed an understanding of what makes people tick… and what makes them happy. Now I’ve selected 101 stories from Chicken Soup for the Soul’s library that illustrate the 10 keys to happiness that work best for our writers. I’ve tried these out in my own life and I can report that I am a happier, more grateful, more grounded, and more relaxed person as a result.”

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Your 10 Keys to Happiness (June 7, 2022, 978-1-611590913, $14.95) is broken into 10 chapters, each one focused on a different “key,” and each starting with a guided tour to help readers best utilize the lessons inside. The 10 chapter show readers how to:

1. Count Your Blessings – by using the power of gratitude

2. Free Yourself with Forgiveness – by putting the past in the past

3. Help Someone Else – to make a difference and feel empowered

4. Have Less Stuff – to find the joy in decluttering their homes

5. Think Positive – by changing their thoughts and thus their worlds

6. Make Me Time – by carving out time and making themselves a priority

7. Step Outside Your Comfort Zone – by trying new things & facing their fears

8. Be Yourself – by discovering the unique superpower that only they have

9. Pursue Your Passion – to discover excitement and purpose again

10. Get Outside in Nature – to gain some perspective of the larger world

“The wonderful thing is that you already have all the necessary tools to find your happiness—you just need to learn how to use them,” continues Newmark. “You don’t have to implement all ten keys to happiness, by the way. Even one will make a huge difference in your life!”

According to Newmark the most essential key to happiness is gratitude. She says, “I don’t think you can be truly happy without incorporating gratitude into your life.” She says the second most important key to happiness is forgiveness, calling it “one of the best tools we have at our disposal to create a better life for ourselves.” Why does she think it’s so important? She says it’s because of the emotional weight that we carry when we hold onto resentments. In her introduction to the forgiveness chapter, she likens those feelings to wearing a heavy cloak, and she recommends shrugging our shoulders so that cloak falls to the ground, leaving the bad parts of our pasts “in the past where they belong.”

ABOUT CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL

Chicken Soup for the Soul publishes the famous Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. With well over 100 million books sold to date in the U.S. and Canada, more than 250 titles, and translations into more than 40 languages, the phrase “chicken soup for the soul” is known worldwide and is regularly referenced in pop culture. Today, 29 years after it first began sharing happiness, inspiration and hope through its books, this socially conscious company continues to publish a new title a month. It has also evolved beyond the bookstore, with a podcast, education programs, dog and cat food, licensed products, and video, television and movies through its subsidiary, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.

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For a review copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Your 10 Keys to Happiness or an interview with Amy Newmark or one of the contributors: