In 1988, when my friend was suddenly in deep mourning for the untimely loss of her husband, she felt confused and uncertain of what to do with the rest of his life. It all happened so fast and was left completely prepared to face a future without his partner in their lives. He just wanted things to be done is the same as always, but it was inevitable that changes would happen.

A few days after the funeral of her husband, expressed his concerns to a friend - who was dropped in a quick cuppa - on what he would do in the future. His friend thought for a moment, on what he had said, then suggested he should do something that made it happy.

“What makes you really happy?” called his girlfriend.

My friend thought of the question for a while ‘time and was surprised to discover that it is easily able to answer the question.

“I do not know what makes me happy. I never gave much thought. Life is beautiful and I was busy with a husband, raise a family and working in family business.”

My friend was so overwhelmed by the pressure of events and pain, could not remember everything that makes him happy. He had little time for herself after running round like a whirlwind, doing the duties of husband and family. Things like the farm close to work, learn to manage their operations and hospital visits - when her husband was suddenly taken ill - to stop and contemplate, if you were happy. Life was too hectic.

Instead of becoming easier - after his death - the life has become even more difficult and more busy. With little time to grieve each partner, who had lost so quickly, it is difficult to take care of business decisions that were his to do - and - the future and support its own responsibilities.

Not knowing what made him happy, the pain my friend, yes, one morning, we sat at the kitchen table and began to list in an old book of school year, all the things she did every day, which made his happiness. It should not be things that made his riotously ‘over-the-top’ happy - all that makes her feel good inside.

Took the habit of doing every time you come to mind - or at least - every night before going to bed. He noted, as she says that her happiness seems to increase at an exponential rate. Plus, he wrote, she seemed to be happy! He called his book, “Happy book.

How happy person, of course, it was not long before the first full financial year the book was in turn replaced by exercise books. Through reading the book, which had finished, was a revelation for her! He said a lot about herself and the things he loved to do. Every time I had a bad day - like all of us from time to time - he just looked back through his books and Happy find things we can do to improve their mood.

He said: “Maintaining a good book is an interesting exercise and I recommend to you. It becomes a valuable resource, because - as you know the house - just read your happy times, when you feel blue, it can raise morale. ”

Imagine that! Just read the happiness that had registered on its books Happy every day - raise your mood and makes you happy! After reading for a short time, has chosen a book and fun to do that to improve his mood to a happy. He had learned to find happiness for herself. She worked for her!

My friend was so pleased with this discovery, said that his family and friends, how to keep his book was Happy to help them cope with the challenges it now faces.

When, in the early 1990s, we started working together on the manuscript of a book we have written, titled “About the history,” he nagged and encouraged me to start a good and happy on my book. I hesitated at first, but she insisted. Surprisingly, it did not take long time to complete an A4 notebook.

From the exercise showed me interesting things about me. Looking back through my first book with a nice reading that made me happy, says a lot about the kind of person I was. There are many ideas in them. To me, this is simply a form of psychoanalysis, and helped me to understand more about my inner life.

When later, after surgery, I suffered from life-threatening blood clot that traveled from my leg, to become a pulmonary embolism on my, life is very risky. However, Happy my little book, and a positive approach has helped me to overcome this - and the many other challenges I faced in the coming months - as recurrent blood clots threatened my life. E ‘was an interesting process that easily demonstrates the progress that I was doing.

Knowing that it worked for us, my friend and I started to tell others about the Good Book. They have also been found useful, and - like us - have discovered the secret of happiness, which was recorded in the book. Community organizations have asked us about our book Happy to their members.

Victims friends, people who had lost their partners, friends - or even - the family members Happy books kept with them, as they did on their lives and wrote about them, the happy memory that often flashed throughout the spirit day. This simple exercise has helped many people through the long process of mourning. Later, they told us how to participate in this activity, bring comfort.

Friends, with a range of health problems - especially those whose lives have been blighted by attacks of depression - even thought it useful to be able to raise their state of mind in the depths of despair, to a higher level, happy together. It is human nature to return to what has happened before, before making new entries. After the day are listed, you have a great sense of well being, a little ‘happy to review these events.

In the process they discovered that they are solely responsible for their happiness. Without their partner or their friends or families. Everyone was happy to have learned a technique that has helped to change their attitude, without having to resort to drugs and its side effects potentially addictive.

Some parents have made a good book for their children, helping them to cope with disappointments, they felt at certain moments and to refocus their attention on the good things they enjoy, at this time. This was particularly useful for these children who lost a relative or friend due to illness, separation, divorce or relocation.

All found the little book has helped to change their mood and focus - of misery and negativity of a new, more positive kind of happiness and contentment, so there was less’ blue ‘periods of sadness.

As word spread, we were invited to talk more and more small groups and we discovered that our audience can not wait to get some nice books, like those who have used and read.

We then proceeded to hand to meet demand.

Cover

Conscious of the fact that the tactile and visual sense played an important role in achieving a good state of mind, we decided to cover small, hard-covered books with pretty patterned paper. People have loved and purchased for their visual appeal, but we quickly dissatisfied with the glossy paper, decorative paper. With frequent use, our books are covered with paper has become worn and shabby, which was disappointing, certainly not the image we wanted to project.

Recognizing the need for a durable cover which has been good - with tactile quality that fostered a sense of touch - we have spent time searching the importance of the tactile quality of some tissues, we planned to use to replace the paper covers. Satisfied, we tried some resistance, brightness and texture of fabric color.

The importance of structure

While vision is important, stimulating the tactile sense of the hands is very important to your happiness. Its importance is growing, such as age, and some of our other senses - such as hearing and sight - are beginning to disappear. This is why older people who run the programs, to promote a wide range of handicrafts from their participants.

The specific parts of our hands are sensory areas - similar to acupuncture points - which, when stimulated by touching textured surfaces, may lead to the release of serotonin in the brain to produce a flow of endorphins in the blood, to lift our mood .

That said, we choose our books are covered and bright, the texture of fabrics, which looked so gay, attractive and feel good to handle. We appreciate the preparation and handling of the first batch of these beautiful books and our joy, our limited stock sold surprisingly quickly.

To replace it, we bought some expensive, hard cover notebooks, glue and a set of bright, textured fabrics and began to produce more of the structure covered with books. It ‘been a difficult task for us to make enough books and equipment to prepare our conferences and write our book of stories at the same time, we asked if friends, though a small amount per pound, you cover for us.

Some of these women suffer from the curse of depression and low self-esteem. Just as the processing of books, seemed to give them a more positive emphasis. Soon, moreover, have been converted. All we were told later they started their books and Happy to lead more positive lives.

To our pleasure, the books were inspired look and beautiful work. The fabrics used are very colorful and tactile. Everyone involved in this project seems to be very happy and expect to cover new books (not only was the small amount of money they receive). E ‘a spin-off, we had expected.

Our aid has become scouts. When making purchases, they looked even more beautiful for the fabrics to cover our Happy lbs. Often, they tell us the phone for sales promotion shop, fabric, you could use as covers for books. This is an indication of their commitment to share their new happiness.

When the books were ready, we’ve added a foreword to the front - with a few simple words for use in the Book of Felice and notes on the back - a couple of words of encouragement to keep people once the pages of the book were complete .

To cover our costs - to make and materials - we have sold these beautiful, tactile books for people to grow our audience, at cost (at this stage, for a profit was not an important factor in us). We were convinced of our simple technique for registration of their happiness, it might actually help people find the keys to their domestic happiness, and we look forward to show, Happy book could work for others, as well as our families and close friends.

The little book has become very popular, so we have done more. E ‘was interesting to sit and watch how people treated at the initial stage, enjoying the color and appearance of the plot before opening the cover and reading the front and rear posts.

Many books bought for somebody who knew, who need to cheer “- not for themselves. Hearing this comment, we recommend that you buy two - and keep for their own use. Often were surprised at our proposal.

I spoke with one of my doctors, who were interested in what they were doing and bought some books to give some of his patients. He used the same, that has filled very quickly. One night I received a phone call from him, told me his experience and demand for more books. He was one of our biggest supporters.

He told us that looking back with his book Happy, recognized some important elements of his life that he enjoyed, but only on rare occasions. Then he started to make changes in his life that has brought more happiness. His family life, married and father relationship began to improve as a result of these adjustments to lifestyle. He still occasionally calls and continues to write every day happy in his book, as he likes to discover the hidden key to happiness.

A psychiatrist, who discovered one of his patients in a psychiatric hospital using a book Happy - one that was given as a gift from his sister - are interested in this process. To ensure that the whole concept of strategy has been heard, I decided to write the book “links for your happiness” and to promote www.happinesslinks.com to explain what the book is happy and how it works.

Before you move, increasing the pressure of living in Sydney - the lifestyle more relaxed around the shores of Lake Macquarie - I’m so busy with other aspects of my life I Sidle lining the book I was writing. However, I have more and more encouragement to continue and complete “the link to your happiness,” supporters.

People who have had Happy books, continued to give us a positive feedback on how this simple activity has affected and helped to improve their lives. After a while ‘time - and with lots of encouragement - we can no longer ignore the call of our little books. The talks are once again the happiness of the application by the organizations of the community.