Additional Information:

Release Date: May 29, 2020
ISBN: 9781578690268
LCCN: 2019920792
eBook: 9781578690299
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Here.

SYNOPSIS

Creating thriving, peaceful, and content personal lives, while creating conditions for maximum well-being for all humans, animals, and the planet, requires soul-deep transformation. Through a series of secular sermons on a wide range of happiness skills, this book teaches and encourages that transformation.

PRAISE

“Preaching Happiness is an important voice in our quest for a more joyful and just world. Ginny Sassaman’s down-to-earth wisdom both elevates and elates.”

– Tal Ben-Shahar, co-founder and chief learning officer of Happiness Studies Academy, Potentialife, Maytiv, and Happier.TV

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“Ginny Sassaman’s sermons . . . tell us something we probably do not know about the one experience we all long for, the Holy Grail of Holy Grails: happiness . . . expect the unexpected, and be ready for ideas that will change you and lead you closer to the fulfillment you are thirsty for.”

– Piero Ferrucci, author of The Power of Kindness: The Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life

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“Ginny Sassaman knows happiness!  As a co-founder of Gross National Happiness (GNH) USA and a participant in the national Happiness Walk, she's been studying the subject for many years.  Her approach in these marvelous sermons is both personal and social–she knows we need to change both our behaviors and some of the policies that are wreaking havoc on our planet while actually making us less happy. She doesn't shy away from the tougher questions.  I especially like her sermon on Beauty, an issue of quality of life that has been too often ignored in happiness research, surveys, and action.  But I found great value in all of them and I think you, dear reader, will too.  Don't miss this book!”

–John de Graaf, filmmaker, co-founder of The Happiness Alliance, and co-author of Affluenza: the All-Consuming Epidemic

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“In clear and no uncertain terms Ginny Sassaman lays out for us the significant and uplifting reasons we all ought to be investing in happiness while building the internal life of goodness we all seek to find inside the temples of our living.”

– Maria Sirois, author of A Short Course in Happiness After Loss (and Other Dark, Difficult Times)

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“Preaching Happiness: Creating a Just and Joyful World is a gift…She enables us to envision a world based on the principles of Gross National Happiness instead of a world that measures its well-being based on Gross Domestic Product. Her book is based on her own personal story of how her life has led her to uncovering the truths that she now embraces as a preacher of happiness. Her story is also one of an intellectual who looks deeply into the misguided philosophy underlying a worldview that sees ever greater economic growth as the measurement of all that is good and desirable in this world.”

– Alan R. Parker, Native American attorney and author of  Pathways to Indigenous Nation Sovereignty: A Chronicle of Federal Policy Developments

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“Ginny has an excellent way of combining the interior and exterior aspects of reality, as well as the practical and spiritual nature of who and what we are as individuals, what we value, and how we should live to create a better reality for ourselves, other people, and our planet. GDP is a woefully inadequate measurement of our country's well-being. A new system, which considers more than the amount of money changing hands, should be used. Gross National Happiness is a paradigm shift worth understanding and implementing to create a ‘Just, Joyful World.’"

– Robert Beezat, author of Character Based Management: A Key to More Productive and Effective Organizations and Knowing and Loving: The Keys to Real Happiness

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“If you love animals, including the human kind, then it will do your heart good to read Ginny’s collected sermons. They poignantly remind us that we are all just trying to make our way in the world, that we are all connected, and that our actions influence other people, animals, and the planet. Ginny’s words inspire us, give us food for thought, and provide hope that we may actually be able to find a better, more hopeful, and happier way forward, together.”

– Beth Allgood, U.S. Campaigns Director – International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), GNHUSA Advisory Board Member

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"Preaching Happiness is a book you will find yourself returning to again and again for its wisdom and guidance. Ginny Sassaman speaks with humor and passion of life's most pressing question in this historic moment: How do we thrive together? The sermons presented here artfully combine personal story and social science research to pose new ways of thinking and living. Preaching Happiness will inspire you to engage in everyday practices that promote your own personal growth and fulfillment, and to see new possibilities for the world we can create together."

– Rev. Joan Javier-Duval, Unitarian Church of Montpelier

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"Ginny Sassaman shares several practical lessons on the importance of bringing happiness more fully into our collective consciousness. Through very accessible storytelling, Sassaman speaks to the urgency with which we must create the conditions that support the well-being of people, animals, and the planet. This book serves both as an excellent primer for all who seek to increase their own levels of happiness, as well as a refreshing validation for those who have been steeped in the Gross National Happiness movement for years. It is a collection of sermons every book club should have on their list."

– Paula Francis, co-founder of GNHUSA

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“Move over Gretchen Rubin. Ginny Sassaman brings at once her unique perspective, some valuable lessons, and inspiration. Each sermon is a bite-size entry into positive psychology, the happiness movement, and the lovely wonderful world of Ginny Sassaman. Whether you count yourself as religious, spiritual but not religious, or atheist, this book is a fun and worthy read.”

– Laura Musikanski, executive director of Happiness Alliance and co-author of The Happiness Policy Handbook

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“Ginny's sermons are thought-provoking and will reshape the way you perceive happiness. Not only does she skillfully spotlight the attributes that generate happiness within yourself, but she also creates a bridge between personal well-being and broader concepts such as economics and the environment. Her wisdom and personal anecdotes are exquisitely woven together and make it a joy to read."

–Arathi Ramappa, global speaker, executive & spiritual coach, and management consultant

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“The perfect inspiration for these dystopic times.” – Laurie Forest, author of The Black Witch Chronicles

IN THE NEWS

Story Comic Podcast, July 30, 2021: Storycomic Presents (Episode 96): Ginny Sassaman, Author

Ginny Sassaman’s article “Happiness in the Time of Covid-19, Climate Change, Violent White Supremacy, etc.” was published in Women Writers, Women’s Books on June 7, 2020. Link for the article.

Interview “Be Happy: Local author pens book on happiness,” published in The Times Argus on Jan. 18, 2021. Link for the article.

Feathered Quill Review, June 6, 2021. Link for the review.

Author Interview in Feathered Quill Review. Link for the interview.

MEET GINNY

Ginny Sassaman is a co-founder, past president, and advisory board member of Gross National Happiness USA, and the creator of the Happiness Paradigm. Since 2013, she has served as a lay preacher at Unitarian Universalist churches in Vermont, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and South Carolina. Originally from central Pennsylvania, Ginny and her husband spent many years living in Washington, D.C., before settling near Montpelier, Vermont, in 2001. She has a master’s in mediation and a certificate in positive psychology, and teaches secular meditation classes.