Download or read book Play Anything written by Ian Bogost and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How filling life with play-whether soccer or lawn mowing, counting sheep or tossing Angry Birds -- forges a new path for creativity and joy in our impatient age Life is boring: filled with meetings and traffic, errands and emails. Nothing we'd ever call fun. But what if we've gotten fun wrong? In Play Anything, visionary game designer and philosopher Ian Bogost shows how we can overcome our daily anxiety; transforming the boring, ordinary world around us into one of endless, playful possibilities. The key to this playful mindset lies in discovering the secret truth of fun and games. Play Anything, reveals that games appeal to us not because they are fun, but because they set limitations. Soccer wouldn't be soccer if it wasn't composed of two teams of eleven players using only their feet, heads, and torsos to get a ball into a goal; Tetris wouldn't be Tetris without falling pieces in characteristic shapes. Such rules seem needless, arbitrary, and difficult. Yet it is the limitations that make games enjoyable, just like it's the hard things in life that give it meaning. Play is what happens when we accept these limitations, narrow our focus, and, consequently, have fun. Which is also how to live a good life. Manipulating a soccer ball into a goal is no different than treating ordinary circumstances- like grocery shopping, lawn mowing, and making PowerPoints-as sources for meaning and joy. We can "play anything" by filling our days with attention and discipline, devotion and love for the world as it really is, beyond our desires and fears. Ranging from Internet culture to moral philosophy, ancient poetry to modern consumerism, Bogost shows us how today's chaotic world can only be tamed-and enjoyed-when we first impose boundaries on ourselves.

Download or read book Designing Your Life written by Bill Burnett and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • At last, a book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage • “Life has questions. They have answers.” —The New York Times Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home—at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve. In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.

Download or read book SuperBetter written by Jane McGonigal and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An innovative guide to living gamefully, based on the program that has already helped nearly half a million people achieve remarkable personal growth In 2009, internationally renowned game designer Jane McGonigal suffered a severe concussion. Unable to think clearly or work or even get out of bed, she became anxious and depressed, even suicidal. But rather than let herself sink further, she decided to get better by doing what she does best: she turned her recovery process into a resilience-building game. What started as a simple motivational exercise quickly became a set of rules for “post-traumatic growth” that she shared on her blog. These rules led to a digital game and a major research study with the National Institutes of Health. Today nearly half a million people have played SuperBetter to get stronger, happier, and healthier. But the life-changing ideas behind SuperBetter are much bigger than just one game. In this book, McGonigal reveals a decade’s worth of scientific research into the ways all games—including videogames, sports, and puzzles—change how we respond to stress, challenge, and pain. She explains how we can cultivate new powers of recovery and resilience in everyday life simply by adopting a more “gameful” mind-set. Being gameful means bringing the same psychological strengths we naturally display when we play games—such as optimism, creativity, courage, and determination—to real-world goals. Drawing on hundreds of studies, McGonigal shows that getting superbetter is as simple as tapping into the three core psychological strengths that games help you build: • Your ability to control your attention, and therefore your thoughts and feelings • Your power to turn anyone into a potential ally, and to strengthen your existing relationships • Your natural capacity to motivate yourself and super-charge your heroic qualities, like willpower, compassion, and determination SuperBetter contains nearly 100 playful challenges anyone can undertake in order to build these gameful strengths. It includes stories and data from people who have used the SuperBetter method to get stronger in the face of illness, injury, and other major setbacks, as well as to achieve goals like losing weight, running a marathon, and finding a new job. As inspiring as it is down to earth, and grounded in rigorous research, SuperBetter is a proven game plan for a better life. You’ll never say that something is “just a game” again.

Download or read book The Power of Fun written by Catherine Price and published by Dial Press Trade Paperback. This book was released on 2024-01-02 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you’re not having fun, you’re not fully living. The author of How to Break Up with Your Phone makes the case that, far from being frivolous, fun is actually critical to our well-being—and shows us how to have more of it. “This delightful book might just be what we need to start flourishing.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Adam Grant Journalist and screen/life balance expert Catherine Price argues persuasively that our always-on, tech-addicted lifestyles have led us to obsess over intangible concepts such as happiness while obscuring the fact that real happiness lies in the everyday experience of fun. We often think of fun as indulgent, even immature and selfish. We claim to not have time for it, even as we find hours a day for what Price calls Fake Fun—bingeing on television, doomscrolling the news, or posting photos to social media, all in hopes of filling some of the emptiness we feel inside. In this follow-up to her hit book, How to Break Up with Your Phone, Price makes the case that True Fun—which she defines as the magical confluence of playfulness, connection, and flow—will give us the fulfillment we so desperately seek. If you use True Fun as your compass, you will be happier and healthier. You will be more productive, less resentful, and less stressed. You will have more energy. You will find community and a sense of purpose. You will stop languishing and start flourishing. And best of all? You’ll enjoy the process. Weaving together scientific research with personal experience, Price reveals the surprising mental, physical, and cognitive benefits of fun, and offers a practical, personalized plan for how we can achieve better screen/life balance and attract more True Fun into our daily lives—without feeling overwhelmed. Groundbreaking, eye-opening, and packed with useful advice, The Power of Fun won’t just change the way you think about fun. It will bring you back to life.

Download or read book Self Gamification Happiness Formula written by Victoria Ichizli-Bartels and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you struggling to motivate yourself to start the day, to work on a project, or maintain a healthy habit? Do you think that happiness is hard earned and reserved only for the "chosen ones"? This book will show you that happiness is close by and available to everyone. It will show you how to not take life too seriously and still be excellent in all you want or have to do. Read the book and learn how to motivate yourself by practicing self-gamification -- a unique self-help approach to implementing game design elements into your life. Master three skill sets to be successful in your self-motivational game design, your projects, and your life: See yourself, the world around you, and your thought processes non-judgmentally, as an anthropologist would do. Identify your dreams and goals, and take action, one small and effortless step at a time, the kaizen way. Apply gamification, that is see and treat whatever you are up to as a game: design, play, and improve your (life) games, and learn to appreciate every step on the way by giving yourself points, badges, stars, and other small symbolic rewards. Apply anthropology, kaizen, and gamification together to practice self-gamification, a unique approach that will help you turn happiness into a lifestyle.

Download or read book My Ex Life written by Stephen McCauley and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2018-05-08 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Bestseller Best Book of the Year: NPR, Shelf Awareness “I didn't know how much I needed a laugh until I began reading Stephen McCauley's new novel, My Ex-Life. This is the kind of witty, sparkling, sharp novel for which the verb ‘chortle’ was invented.” —Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air “McCauley fits neatly alongside Tom Perrotta and Maria Semple in the category of ‘Novelists You’d Most Like to Drive Across the Country With.’” —The New York Times Book Review David Hedges’s life is coming apart at the seams. His job helping San Francisco rich kids get into the colleges of their (parents’) choice is exasperating; his younger boyfriend has left him; and the beloved carriage house he rents is being sold. His solace is a Thai takeout joint that delivers 24/7. The last person he expects to hear from is Julie Fiske. It’s been decades since they’ve spoken, and he’s relieved to hear she’s recovered from her brief, misguided first marriage. To him. Julie definitely doesn’t have a problem with marijuana (she’s given it up completely, so it doesn’t matter if she gets stoned almost daily) and the Airbnb she’s running out of her seaside house north of Boston is neither shabby nor illegal. And she has two whole months to come up with the money to buy said house from her second husband before their divorce is finalized. She’d just like David’s help organizing college plans for her seventeen-year-old daughter. That would be Mandy. To quote Barry Manilow, Oh Mandy. While she knows she’s smarter than most of the kids in her school, she can’t figure out why she’s making so many incredibly dumb and increasingly dangerous choices? When David flies east, they find themselves living under the same roof (one David needs to repair). David and Julie pick up exactly where they left off thirty years ago—they’re still best friends who can finish each other’s sentences. But there’s one broken bit between them that no amount of home renovations will fix. In prose filled with hilarious and heartbreakingly accurate one-liners, Stephen McCauley has written a novel that examines how we define home, family, and love. Be prepared to laugh, shed a few tears, and have thoughts of your own ex-life triggered. (Throw pillows optional.)

Download or read book Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens written by Joseph V. Ciarrochi and published by New Harbinger Publications. This book was released on 2012-07-01 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you could only get past feelings of embarrassment, fear, self-criticism, and self-doubt, how would your life be different? You might take more chances and make more mistakes, but you’d also be able to live more freely and confidently than ever before. Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens is a workbook that provides you with essential skills for coping with the difficult and sometimes overwhelming emotions that stress you out and cause you pain. The emotions aren’t going anywhere, but you can find out how to deal with them. Once you do, you will become a mindful warrior—a strong person who handles tough emotions with grace and dignity—and gain many more friends and accomplishments along the way. Based in proven-effective acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), this book will arm you with powerful skills to help you use the power of mindfulness in everyday situations, stop finding faults in yourself and start solving your problems, how to be kinder to yourself so you feel confident and have a greater sense of self-worth, and how to identify the values that will help you create the life of your dreams.

Download or read book The Fun Habit written by Mike Rucker and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-01-03 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the latest scientific evidence for the potent and revitalizing value of fun and how to make having fun a habitual and authentic part of your daily life with “this well-researched and impressive guide” (BookPage). Doesn’t it seem that the more we seek happiness, the more elusive it becomes? There is an easy fix: fun is an action you can take here and now, practically anywhere, anytime. Through research and science, we know fun is enormously beneficial to our physical and psychological well-being, yet fun’s absence from our modern lives is striking. Whether you’re a frustrated high-achiever trying to find a better work-life balance or someone who is seeking relief from life’s overwhelming challenges, it is time you gain access to the best medicine available. “A masterful distillation of science and personal experience” (Nir Eyal, author of Hooked), The Fun Habit explains how you can build having fun into an actionable and effortless habit and why doing so will help you become a healthier, more joyful, more productive person. In the vein of Year of Yes, 10% Happier, and Atomic Habits, The Fun Habit features “practical tips, tools, and tactics for bringing fun into our lives starting now” (Dr. Olav Sorenson, UCLA professor of sociology).

Download or read book Hyperbole and a Half written by Allie Brosh and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-10-29 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 New York Times Bestseller “Funny and smart as hell” (Bill Gates), Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half showcases her unique voice, leaping wit, and her ability to capture complex emotions with deceptively simple illustrations. FROM THE PUBLISHER: Every time Allie Brosh posts something new on her hugely popular blog Hyperbole and a Half the internet rejoices. This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features more than fifty percent new content, with ten never-before-seen essays and one wholly revised and expanded piece as well as classics from the website like, “The God of Cake,” “Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving,” and her astonishing, “Adventures in Depression,” and “Depression Part Two,” which have been hailed as some of the most insightful meditations on the disease ever written. Brosh’s debut marks the launch of a major new American humorist who will surely make even the biggest scrooge or snob laugh. We dare you not to. FROM THE AUTHOR: This is a book I wrote. Because I wrote it, I had to figure out what to put on the back cover to explain what it is. I tried to write a long, third-person summary that would imply how great the book is and also sound vaguely authoritative—like maybe someone who isn’t me wrote it—but I soon discovered that I’m not sneaky enough to pull it off convincingly. So I decided to just make a list of things that are in the book: Pictures Words Stories about things that happened to me Stories about things that happened to other people because of me Eight billion dollars* Stories about dogs The secret to eternal happiness* *These are lies. Perhaps I have underestimated my sneakiness!

Download or read book Better Than Happy written by Jody Moore and published by Faith Matters. This book was released on 2021-09-15 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our unconscious thought patterns determine our relationships, our spiritual life and our connection to God to a much greater extent than we know. That's an alarming thought, because the subconscious mind is a mysterious realm that is really difficult to access and influence...right? No. It's really not! And it's the most urgent and impactful thing we can do. This book will show you how. How do I choose faith over fear when my loved ones are making poor choices? Why don't I feel happier if I'm reading and praying like I've been taught? How can I stop feeling like I'm just not good enough? What am I to do when my spouse is judgmental of me? How do I trust in Christ when everything seems to be falling apart? Get answers to these and other tough questions in the context of Christ-centered principles throughout this book. Jody Moore is a Master Certified Life Coach who has taught and coached tens of thousands of women through her in-person and online workshops and podcast. She brings her characteristic clarity, wisdom, humor and disarming honesty to this groundbreaking book. In Better Than Happy, Jody shows how a simple 5-step model she uses in every session with her clients can reveal the unconscious patterns of thoughts that keep us from deeper and healthier connection with ourselves, with our loved ones and with God. Jody then shows how, once we clear the debris of our unconscious patterns of thought, new streams of understanding of Christ's teachings begin to flow. I am a mother of 4, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and a woman trying to figure out how to minimize resentment, overwhelm and guilt, and replace them with happiness, gratitude and joy. Three years after getting married I found myself with two kids under age 2, a loving husband, and a lot of self-loathing. I struggled with the duties associated with being a mom and wife and then I felt guilty for feeling that way. After all, this was the life I thought I'd always wanted. I have a BA in Communications and an MA in Adult Education along with 15 years of experience as a Corporate Trainer and Leadership Coach, but what has helped me the most to overcome my struggles and to conquer all of my goals, are the tools I use now to coach my clients. Thanks to my extensive training with Brooke Castillo of The Life Coach School, I am now a Certified Life Coach, and I couldn't be more proud of the work I get to do in the world.

Download or read book Play Your Way Sane written by Clay Drinko and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stop negative thoughts, assuage anxiety, and live in the moment with these fun, easy games from improv expert Clay Drinko. If you’ve been feeling lost lately, you’re not alone! Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans were experiencing record levels of loneliness and anxiety. And in our current political turmoil, it’s safe to say that people are looking for new tools to help them feel more present, positive, and in sync with the world. So what better way to get there than play? In Play Your Way Sane, Dr. Clay Drinko offers 120 low-key, accessible activities that draw on the popular principles of improv comedy to help you tackle your everyday stress and reconnect with the people around you. Divided into twelve fun sections, including “Killing Debbie Downer” and “Thou Shalt Not Be Judgy,” the games emphasize openness, reciprocation, and active listening as the keys to a mindful and satisfying life. Whether you’re looking to improve your personal relationships, find new meaning at work, or just survive our trying times, Play Your Way Sane offers serious self-help with a side of Second City sass.

Download or read book Doing Life with Your Adult Children written by Jim Burns, Ph.D and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2019-03-26 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you struggling to connect with your child now that they've left the nest? Are you feeling the tension and heartache as your relationship dynamic begins to change? In Doing Life with Your Adult Children, bestselling author and parenting expert Jim Burns provides practical advice and hopeful encouragement for navigating this tough yet rewarding transition. If you've raised a child, you know that parenting doesn't stop when they turn eighteen. In many ways, your relationship gets even more complicated--your heart and your head are as involved as ever, but you can feel things shifting, whether your child lives under your roof or rarely stays in contact. Doing Life with Your Adult Children helps you navigate this rich and challenging season of parenting. Speaking from his own personal and professional experience, Burns offers practical answers to the most common questions he's received over the years, including: My child's choices are breaking my heart--where did I go wrong? Is it OK to give advice to my grown child? What's the difference between enabling and helping? What boundaries should I have if my child moves back home? What do I do when my child doesn't seem to be maturing into adulthood? How do I relate to my grown child's significant other? What does it mean to have healthy financial boundaries? How can I support my grown children when I don't support their values? Including positive principles on bringing kids back to faith, ideas on how to leave a legacy as a grandparent, and encouragement for every changing season, Doing Life with Your Adult Children is a unique book on your changing role in a calling that never ends.

Download or read book I Had a Black Dog written by Matthew Johnstone and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'I Had a Black Dog says with wit, insight, economy and complete understanding what other books take 300 pages to say. Brilliant and indispensable.' - Stephen Fry 'Finally, a book about depression that isn't a prescriptive self-help manual. Johnston's deftly expresses how lonely and isolating depression can be for sufferers. Poignant and humorous in equal measure.' Sunday Times There are many different breeds of Black Dog affecting millions of people from all walks of life. The Black Dog is an equal opportunity mongrel. It was Winston Churchill who popularized the phrase Black Dog to describe the bouts of depression he experienced for much of his life. Matthew Johnstone, a sufferer himself, has written and illustrated this moving and uplifting insight into what it is like to have a Black Dog as a companion and how he learned to tame it and bring it to heel.

Download or read book Do It Well Make It Fun written by Ronald Culberson and published by Greenleaf Book Group. This book was released on 2012-05 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to gaining personal and professional success by putting the fun back into life - with a few laughs along the way. It addresses both business and personal issues that typically present themselves at home or in the office: stress, health, communication, parenting, conflict, meetings, hobbies, and even death.

Download or read book The Great Mother written by Erich Neumann and published by . This book was released on 1963 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Sociology of Fun written by Ben Fincham and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-06-30 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: hat is fun? How is it distinct from happiness or pleasure? How do we know when we are having it? This book is the first to provide a comprehensive sociological account of this taken for granted social phenomenon. Fincham investigates areas such as our memories of fun in childhood, the fun we have as adults, our muted experiences of fun at work and our lived experiences of having fun. Using first-hand accounts and a new approach to interpreting fun, the paradox of fun as not serious or unimportant whilst at the same time essential for a happy life is exposed. Addressing questions of control, transgression and the primacy of social relationships in fun, The Sociology of Fun is intended to provoke discussion about how we want to have fun and who determines the fun we have.

Download or read book Life Begins When the Kids Leave Home and the Dog Dies written by Barb Taub and published by . This book was released on 2018-01-19 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chapter 1. A California girl named Barb met her prince of a guy. He was tall, dark, and handsome. (Actually, he was a Republican. But he was definitely tall.) They fell in love, and got married.Chapter 2. He brought her to his castle in England and they lived happily ever after. THE END****Luckily, 35+ years of living happened between Chapters 1 and 2, giving Barb plenty of material for this collection (in no particular chronological order) from her newspaper columns, articles, blog posts, and that time she killed Mom. And that's before Chapter 3 even starts."I have learned to put down the coffee and place breakable objects at a safe distance when a post from Barb Taub comes up. It is very hard to drink coffee and laugh at the same time without redecorating the desk..."--author Sue VincentBio:In halcyon days BC (before children), Barb Taub wrote a humor column for several Midwest newspapers. With the arrival of Child #4, she veered toward the dark side (an HR career). Following a daring daytime escape to England, she's lived in a medieval castle , a hobbit house, and a Scottish isle with her prince-of-a-guy and the World's Most Spoiled AussieDog. Considering all her days are now Saturdays, Barb is amazed that this is her sixth book.