123 Ways to Instant Sunshine

123 WAYS TO INSTANT SUNSHINE Copyright © Summersdale Publishers Ltd, 2005 Text by Vicky Edwards Condition of Sale This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher. Summersdale Publishers Ltd 46 West Street Chichester West Sussex PO19 1RP UK www.summersdale.com Printed and bound in Great Britain ISBN 1 84024 458 5

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For Lily; my most precious little ray of sunshine

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1 Take a trip down (happy) memory lane: read old letters or meander through old photo albums.

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2 Spend five minutes organising your pants drawer. Fling out the old, grey, elastic-rotten drawers and restock with new knickers. You might even find your favourite ‘lucky’ pair or, for the chaps, those once cherished Star Wars boxer shorts. 123 Ways to Instant Sunshine

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3 Wise words Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments. Rose Kennedy

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4 Run really fast.

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5 Make animal noises with a friend. Don’t hold back. Embrace your inner moo-jo.

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6 Sing. Even if you sound like a strangled tom cat, singing is a great way of boosting your mood. Put on your favourite CD, grab that hairbrush and make like Stars In Their Eyes.

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7 Hug someone you love. Research from Canada points to hugging as a way of releasing the calming hormone oxytocin.

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8 Sniff a baby’s head. The smell of newborn baby and talcum powder has an ‘ahhh’ factor all of its own.

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9 Give a friend or colleague a ‘Happy Pedicure’ by painting smiling faces on each of their toenails – or toes! Get them to return the favour.

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10 Take a virtual holiday. Close your eyes and concentrate on the sounds you would hear; let your mind’s eye envisage the details of your surroundings; get your nose twitching by conjuring up the smells you associate with your fantasy retreat. 123 Ways to Instant Sunshine

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11 Look up. Even in the town where you live you’ll see things you never noticed before – an intriguingly shaped chimney or a beautiful window. Remember that your problems, like the view, are often just a matter of perspective.

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12 Build a bonfire and look for fairies and goblins in the flames.

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13 Play classical music.

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14 Recall your five funniest memories of all time. Picture yourself doubled up and helpless with laughter.

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15 Do a good deed without getting found out, e.g. weed a friend’s garden when they are at work, or pop a copy of their favourite magazine through their letterbox.

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16 Take a dog for a walk and play stickie. Fresh air combined with unconditional love from Rover is a splendid soother of frazzled nerves.

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17 Girls: have your eyebrows professionally shaped. Guys: go to an oldfashioned barber’s. A relatively cheap way to indulge yourself and lift your mood.

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18 Clean your shoes. The application of elbow grease and the resulting well-buffed footwear is a strangely satisfying experience.

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19 Wise words Yesterday is a cancelled cheque. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is cash in hand; spend it wisely. Author unknown

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20 Roly poly down a hill.

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21 Collect happy faces by smiling at everyone you meet. See how many grins you can get reciprocated in the space of ten minutes.

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22 Make your bed and lie in it: clean sheets, a good book and crisp cotton nightwear never fail to provide a cosy sense of well-being.

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23 Visit the seaside and go for a paddle – even if it’s winter.

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24 Read a story to a child or, better still, challenge your improvisational skills and make one up on the spot, including yourself and the child in the adventure.

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25 Watch an old black and white movie – but in character. For instance, if Casablanca is your all-time favourite flick, dress up as Ingrid Bergman or Humphrey Bogart and prepare some Mediterranean nibbles. 123 Ways to Instant Sunshine

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26 Wise words Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. Anne Frank

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27 Wax lyrical with stuff and nonsense and read some silly poems such as Spike Milligan’s Silly Verses for Kids or similar dafties by Ogden Nash and Edward Lear.

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28 Turn off the TV and play a board game or an old fashioned parlour game instead.

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29 Have a good stretch. Reach as high as you can and then hold the position for five seconds. Repeat ten times. By the time you have finished any physical tension will be well and truly banished.

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30 Be creative. Knit a scarf, rearrange your furniture, or paint a mug or a plate at a ceramic café.

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31 If you’re feeling hard done by, write a gratitude list. Include everything from the basics (a roof over your head) to your talents and abilities, your friends and family, and the downright frivolous, such as that snazzy pair of shoes that you snapped up in the sales. 123 Ways to Instant Sunshine

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32 Visit your local pond or river and feed the ducks.

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33 Set the table with flowers and your best cutlery and crockery, and dine in style.

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34 Hit the sweetie shop and indulge in some Pick ’n’ Mix.

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35 Organise a game of rounders with friends and insist that everyone plays wearing a silly hat.

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36 Treat Time. Buy yourself the necklace, cufflinks or box of luxury chocs that you would usually only buy as a gift for someone else.

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37 Go to the dentist and get your gnashers cleaned. Happy is he or she who has a sparkling set of pearly whites.

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38 Visit your local art gallery or card shop and buy postcards of the pictures that make you feel most cheerful. Take them back home or to the office and start a ‘Happy Gallery’.

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39 Clean the windows and let the sun in (or so you can see the rain being kept out).

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40 If you are worried about impending change, stop fretting about it and embrace it instead. Think of it as an adventure rather than a daunting prospect, and remember that it’s not change itself that causes pain, but our resistance to it. 123 Ways to Instant Sunshine

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41 Write a letter. In these days of e-mail and instant messaging putting pen to paper is a novelty that will distract you from your doldrums. Make sure that you use a nice pen and classy paper and envelope.

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42 Mowing the lawn is a great stress buster, as the smell of the chemical released when grass is cut is said to help you chill out.

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43 Pick out faces in the clouds.

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44 Draw or paint. If you don’t have an artistic bone in your body then go for an abstract. Use as many bright colours as you can.

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45 Wise words My favourite thing is to go where I’ve never been before. Diane Arbus

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46 Read a classic kids’ book. Gallop alongside Black Beauty, do it parrot fashion in Treasure Island or wave your red flannel petticoats with The Railway Children.

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47 Make cakes that involve the sort of mixture that can be licked out of the bowl as you go.

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48 Throw an impromptu theme party. Wigs, heroes, pyjamas and children’s TV characters are all good themes.

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49 Clean the house. The smell of furniture polish, the sight of a tidy kitchen and no unmentionable stains in the loo will have you doing the scuzzbuster two-step in delight of a job well done.

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50 Go to the funfair. It’s impossible to feel down in the dumps when you’re up in the air and travelling at 70 mph.

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51 Swim. Get into a rhythm and do as many lengths as you can without stopping.

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52 Watch tropical fish.

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53 Do the thing that has been causing you sleepless nights. Whether it’s having a difficult conversation with someone or talking to your bank about your overdraft, get it over and done with, and then enjoy the happy sensation of relief. 123 Ways to Instant Sunshine

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54 Put on your best clothes even if you’re only going out to buy a paper.

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55 Polish brass or silver.

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56 Use your brain and do a crossword puzzle, or find a tricky jigsaw at the local charity shop.

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57 Eating fish and chips out of the wrapper on a beach is hard to beat as a moment of bliss.

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58 Discreetly put clothes pegs on the back of the shirts of everyone at a family gathering and then sit back and giggle at your own juvenility.

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59 Volunteer for a good cause – working in a charity shop, hospital visiting or baking cakes for a fundraising fête. Helping others practically is a sure-fire way to stop you dwelling on your own troubles.

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60 Get witty and read the likes of Dorothy Parker, Oscar Wilde or Mark Twain.

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61 Visit a church. Even if you’re an atheist or an agnostic, churches usually have an air of calm that can soothe a heavy heart.

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62 Light candles instead of using the electric lights.

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63 Wise words The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is to celebrate. Oprah Winfrey

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64 Blow bubbles.

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65 Watch a wildlife programme and marvel at nature.

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66 Talk to your plants.

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67 Go to an auction and see what you can buy for a fiver.

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68 Grind fresh coffee and inhale the aroma.

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69 Make a compilation tape or burn a CD for a mate.

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70 Put rubber ducks in your bath.

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71 Have a water pistol fight with your (grownup) friends. The wettest person buys the drinks.

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72 After a good rainfall brush the cobwebs off your wellies and splash through puddles.

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73 Play with your food. Try different and unlikely toppings on your toast or jacket potato. Who knows? Maybe tuna and chocolate on wholemeal will catch on.

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74 Picture your boss slipping on a banana skin. Experts say laughing reduces high cortisol levels that are triggered by stress.

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75 Buy doughnuts for your colleagues and declare an ‘Eat a doughnut without licking your lips’ contest.

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76 Play hookie and spend the day watching your favourite movies in bed.

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77 Pinch a pert bum.

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78 Have a turkey sarnie or a bar of chocolate. Both release the happy hormone serotonin.

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79 Go to the cosmetic hall of a department store and see how many samples you can blag without spending any money.

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80 Wise words There are only two ways to live your life… One is as though nothing is a miracle, and the other is as though everything is a miracle. Albert Einstein 123 Ways to Instant Sunshine

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81 Fake tan makes you glow – quite literally.

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82 Play If I won the Lottery I would buy… with a friend.

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83 Dance to a feel-good song that always sets your feet tapping.

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84 In good weather see if you can hitch a ride with a friend who owns a soft-top. With the wind in your hair, turn up the stereo and enjoy the ride.

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85 Walk along cobbled streets and ponder on the lives of others who have walked there over the centuries, and how you’re a tiny speck in the great scheme of things… as is whatever you’re worrying about.

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86 Grow sunflowers…

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87 … Or in spring, admire the daffodils. After the drabness of winter, those bright sparks of yellow evoke sunshine and the brighter days ahead.

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88 Celebrate your friends. Be it a cup of tea or a glass of champers, drink a toast to those who know you best and whom you love.

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89 A hot bath has got to be one of the best feelings in the world. Stay in until you resemble a wrinkled prune.

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90 Go for a walk in the rain.

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91 Go and watch lock gates. They are such a simple idea, but it’s awesome seeing them holding back twenty feet of water.

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92 Buy an inexpensive gift that’s ideal to send to a friend ‘just because’. Choose something that is significant to you both – e.g. a picture postcard of somewhere you visited together.

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93 Watch classic Disney films and recall the excitement you felt when you first saw them as a child.

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94 Wise words Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures. H. Jackson Brown Jr.

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95 Go to the park and play on the swings.

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96 Have an ‘ahhh’ kit in your car. Put a photo of a person or a place you love on the back of your sun visor and fill door pockets with sweeties, a stress ball and scented wet wipes.

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97 Remember your first passionate kiss in minute detail.

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98 Make a special birthday card for a friend. Grab the sticky-back plastic and revisit your days as a Blue Peter fan.

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99 Write cheerful messages on some balloons before blowing them up. Go to your favourite local beauty spot and release them into the air.

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100 Make a den. Even if you don’t have kids, grab a mate and hole up in the manner of Enid Blyton heros, with slabs of chocolate and lashings of ginger beer.

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101 Watch live theatre.

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102 Share your problems with someone else who is in need of an emotional exfoliation. Be each other’s agony aunt.

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103 A good cry is a great tension reliever as tears contain stress hormones including adrenalin. Grab a hanky and get blubbing.

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104 Get someone to wash your hair. Unwind as their fingers massage your scalp.

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105 Learn the words of a happy song such as ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ and sing it in the shower.

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106 Wise words God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Attributed to Dr Rheinhold Niebuhr 123 Ways to Instant Sunshine

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107 Hand-pick and arrange a posy of flowers – and then present them to yourself. Researchers have found that flowers put genuine smiles on 100 per cent of recipients’ faces.

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108 Get up before first light and watch the sunrise. As dawn breaks make three wishes.

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109 Stand up straight. You breathe better when adopting good posture, and when you breathe better you shrug off tension more efficiently.

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110 Wear blue. Psychologists tell us that this is the colour of calm and serenity.

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111 If it’s TLC you are hankering after try wearing pink. Research suggests that shades of rose inspire tenderness in others.

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112 Make yourself a boiled egg and soldiers. Don’t forget to draw a happy face on your egg.

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113 Arrange to meet an old friend. Stop procrastinating and set a date.

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114 ‘I am a gorgeous, talented, compassionate and lovable person and I wear the best shoes.’ Make up a positive affirmation and repeat it out loud to yourself every morning and evening.

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115 Believe in miracles.

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116 Eat a cheese sandwich. Nibbles that combine protein with complex carbs will help keep you calm as well as boosting your energy levels.

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117 Explore different cultures. Start by listening to some world music. Clear a space on your coffee table or desk and beat in time to the African drums.

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118 A little praise goes a long way (remember that teacher who managed to get the best out of you just by encouraging you?). Watching someone blossom from your cheering them on is a wonderful feeling. 123 Ways to Instant Sunshine

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119 Do something completely new. Whether it’s skydiving, visiting a nudist camp or learning to play polo, challenge yourself as you have never done before.

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120 The sky on a clear night is a magnificent sight. Look for the man in the moon and wish upon a star.

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121 When you’re wrong, own up pronto and apologise. Nagging discomfort at our own misdeeds is a real sunshine stealer.

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122 Keep a joy diary. Every time something makes your heart rejoice, write it down. Compliments, kindness, surprises, random observations – include anything that when you read it back will allow you to tap into happiness. 123 Ways to Instant Sunshine

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123 Wise words In heaven the only art of living Is forgetting and forgiving. William Blake

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www.summersdale.com

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