Everyone should read this book!

• Face your fears and take chances. Conquering your fears reaches greater heights on the curves of life than failing reaches the lows.
• Don’t reject yourself before giving someone else the chance to.
• Every date doesn't lead to love, every week of hard work doesn't lead to success, and every car ride isn't full of green lights, but finding value and joy in the experience along the way is what makes the difference.
• Keep your eyes on your own paper and do what makes your life — your paper — the best it can be. This is good advice for when you find yourself feeling you're not as good as, or as smart, or as pretty, or as enough as someone else.
• There's being cautious and there's being closed off. Don't let your past make all the decisions for your future. Don't salt your love and relationship experiences before you've given them a chance. Don't assume someone will let you down unless they have. Don't expect they'll screw up unless they do. Don't blanket the people you meet with the issues from those in the past.
• When making a decision, do it backward. Picture yourself in the future and think about what you wish you'd chosen. Ask yourself: What might I regret more? Mistakes can be fixed, and failures can be improved upon, but inaction is the seed of remorse.
• Instead of sulking in the depths of should haves, would haves, and could haves, make your new mantra this: "I should have, but I didn't, so what can I do now?". "Should haves" have no place in productivity; they do nothing but slow down your forward movement and distract your mind.
• Where there's a loss, there's a benefit. It's like a seesaw: when one side of life feels weighed down, there may be another side lifting up. Somewhere, somehow, in every moment in life, where there is emptiness in one place, there is fullness in another.
• We will only succeed if we focus on succeeding. If we only focus on trying not to fail, fall, or lose, we might end up doing just that.
• Whatever it is that we want in life, should we get our hopes up or lower our expectations? The answer is both; do both at the same time. Expect that you may be disappointed, and then hope for a big happy ending. In that way, in that order, the formula puts you in a place of strength where you feel confidently prepared for what might come, yet raring for the surprises life may drop in your lap. Great things happen to people all the time.
• Don't waste your energy on what you don't know. Instead of worrying about the "what-if's", take whatever steps you can today. Either take a small first step or put yourself in the hands of life until it tells you what's coming.
• Focus yourself on the "why" to plow through the "how". Whatever is tempting you from doing what you know is right, as yourself: What's my why? Because the why — or who you're doing it for — can help force the how.
• Park the car or drive away. Either way, make a decision. Life in limbo will kill your spirit, sap your energy, and add stress you don't need. So either shut off the ignition and lock it up, or roll down the windows and get going on the highway of life.
• People change, wants change, needs change. And like a closet with only enough room for a certain number of clothes, we have to let some things go to let the new things in our lives.
• Among friends, at work, and especially in love, it's the real you or nothing. If the person you like doesn't call, there's other who will; if a boss doesn't hire you, you'll find jobs you're better off in; and if one friend makes you feel bad about yourself, surround yourself with those who help you feel strong.
• You may not have a choice about the matter, but you do have a choice about your mind-set. Far easier than changing someone else or a situation, is changing your attitude or energy with which you come at it.
• Even when your day is feeling down, keep your eyes open for people who shift it in some small way — with a kind word, a warm hug, or a friendly glance. Give those people a shout-out. Make a list of these people every night. Tell them and give 'em all a gratitude shout-out.
• Stop dreading the worst of what life has to offer by finding a way to make it the best. Celebrate the joy of getting errands done with a cocktail, a dessert, or a pedicure. Turn a dreaded to-do list into a fun-filled day with a friend.
• Start a journal called "You Learn Something New Everyday", and write things you learn at the end of every day. Think: What am I learning? What is the universe teaching me with this one?
• Like the camera lens of life, zoom out from the negative stuff and see the whole picture. Pull back and see what else is there — the good stuff.
• Accept the things we cannot change, and change the things we can.
• By seeing someone else smile, you're able to "catch" their mood by smiling and feeling happier yourself. So seek out a "smiler".
• Lower your standards for starting: Look at your next big goal and decide to do less than you think you can achieve. Once you get started, you may find you can't help but produce something better. But either way, a started something is better than nothing at all.
• When you make a mistake, there's nothing you can do about what already happened. There's no going back. Instead, move forward in the most positive way you can.
• A truly happy life isn't about what we'll get or be tomorrow, it's about feeling grateful for our abundance today. Let's not spend out days striving and trying with an "if…then" life (if we get the job or house or boyfriend or couch, then we'll be happy). The "if…then formula doesn't lead to happiness the way appreciating our experience today can.  
• Go for a walk. Get outside your environment, away from your schedule, and give yourself a minute to berate and let me. When you walk outside, you're in a world without walls, a room without a ceiling, a place so big it makes everything seem possible.
• When the possibilities of life overwhelm you — don't worry about the tough stuff that lies ahead. Just fill in the easiest answers first.
• Use colour to change your mood. Grab the colour wheel and steer yourself to a better mood. Because when we find ways to brighten our days physically, we feel brighter figuratively. Numerous studies have proven the effects colour can have on our moods, actions, and how effectively we work.
• Sometimes the roundabout route life sends you on is better than the straight path you'd planned. What seems like a roadblock could actually be a redirection to a better path. Let go of the wheel and let life steer you in the right direction.
• Give yourself a chance to rest. If you're tired of planning, go rogue. If you're tired of dressing up, go natural. If you're tired of meeting new people, grab dinner with old friends.
• If you tend to feel you hold back in conversation, physically leaning into the conversation can change how the conversation goes.
• Using positive language for a negative experience may be stretching it some, but there is a brighter truth if you choose to focus on it. (e.g. when meeting someone new, instead of groaning about work, ask about their favourite movie, the best meal they've ever had, etc. — set a positive tone and see what develops).
• You know what perfection is? Finding happiness in the floor models of life: "as is."
• A disaster isn't always a disaster. Sometimes, it's a gift. Take what feels like a moment of defeat and see it as an epiphany — it's a freeing symbol that you are not meant to be doing it. Or buying it. Or playing that sport. Or dating/marrying that person.
• If you're feeling a loss of control in one part of your life, find a way to gain it in another. (e.g. when your personal life feels heavy, clear your physical space: tidy your closet and clean under your bed, and you'll start feeling lighter in your body, too).
• Someone's rejection of you is their problem, not yours. So don't let anyone else's judgment of you change how you feel about yourself. Think of how many people thank the last person who dumped them in love for opening them to find the person they were meant to be with.
• It's not the fabric on your back but the attitude underneath it that makes all the difference.
• Remember this: When you make a big misstep, you simply seem more human and people are more apt to warm up to you because you're more of a possible friend than a possible threat. 
• In cases where you don't know what to do, ask WWMRMD: What Would My Role Model Do? Changing perspectives gets you out of the box you're in a looking at it from another angle. Maybe your role model is a friend, family member, or a quirky iconic TV character? By focusing on a person you respect, you'll make respectable decisions as the person you are.
• A fight, a fall, a failure, or a really tough moment in a relationship is always teaching us something. Look at what you've learned as one more credit toward your diploma in the school of life.
• We need time to be disconnected from our everyday lives in order to recharge our batteries. Build rituals of disconnection from the being online. Give yourself small unplugged doses throughout the day, or build whole days where you don't hit your "on" switch.
• We need to give ourselves the gift of being present in this minute of life. Not through a lens, not through a filter, not as a stepping-stone to tomorrow. (e.g. instead of using your camera to film a concert, put it away and soak the show in). Look at what life is giving you today — this hour — to be happy about and grateful for. Savor the moment.
• Live as if everything you do will eventually be known.
• There are always two opposite ways to see things. And in one of those ways, there is beauty. Take it in.
• Identify what turns on your "vacation" switch, and bring that relaxing fun into your everyday life (e.g. lingering over a cup of coffee, riding a bike, etc.)
• Some things we do today — eating well, working out, practicing guitar — are beneficial to our future selves. But if you're sacrificing the happy you this second only because you don't think a small enjoyment is worth it, you're missing out. From now on, let yourself enjoy the right-this-second! Your future self ten minutes from now will be pretty happy you did.
• Find the good news. Yes, you have the flu; the good news is… you'll get to catch up on your Netflix viewing. Yes, your boyfriend dumped you; the good news is… you get to indulge in the Indian food he never wanted to have. Try the "three good things" exercise: after dinner and before bed, write down three things that went well during the day, then answer the question, "Why did this good thing happen?". Counting one's blessings increases happiness and decreases symptoms of depression.
• The key to a happy life is in benefiting from what you already have. If you want to be happy, look at things bright side up. Your life is what you make of it and your experience is how you see it.

All list items © Amy Spencer