The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life

Welcome to The Joy Diet, a menu of ten behaviors you can add to your way of living and thinking to enhance every day s journey through the unpredictable terrain of your existence. You can add these behaviors gradually and watch your life become steadily more vivid and satisfying. Or you can go on a crash Joy Diet to help you navigate life s emergencies.
The ten menu items are:

Nothing: Do nothing for fifteen minutes a day. Stop mindlessly chasing goals and figure out which goals are worth going after.

Truth: Create a moment of truth to help you unmask what you re hiding from others and from yourself.

Desire: Identify, articulate, and explore at least one of your heart s desires and learn how to let yourself want what you want.

Creativity: Learn six new ways to develop at least one new idea to help you obtain your heart s desire.

Risk: Take one baby step toward reaching your goal. The only rule is it has to scare the pants off you.

Treats: Give yourself a treat for every risk you take and two treats just because you re you. No exceptions. No excuses.

Play: Take a moment to remember your real life s work and differentiate it from the games you play to achieve it. Then play wholeheartedly.

Laughter: Laugh at least thirty times a day. Props encouraged.

Connection: Use your Joy Diet skills to interact with someone who matters to you.

Feasting: Enjoy at least three square feasts a day, with or without food.

No matter what your long-term goals are, The Joy Diet, written with Martha Beck s inimitable blend of
wisdom, practical guidance, and humor, will help you achieve the immediate gift of joyful living in the here
and now. Begin your journey today.