An instant New York Times bestseller. Over 1 million copies sold! Two spiritual giants. Five days. One timeless question. Nobel Peace Prize Laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have survived more than fifty years of exile and the soul-crushing violence of oppression. Despite their hardships—or, as they would say, because of them—they are two of the most joyful people on the planet. In April 2015, Archbishop Tutu traveled to the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamsala, India, to celebrate His Holiness's eightieth birthday and to create what they hoped would be a gift for others. They looked back on their long lives to answer a single burning question: How do we find joy in the face of life's inevitable suffering? They traded intimate stories, teased each other continually, and shared their spiritual practices. By the end of a week filled with laughter and punctuated with tears, these two global heroes had stared into the abyss and despair of our time and revealed how to live a life brimming with joy. This book offers us a rare opportunity to experience their astonishing and unprecedented week together, from the first embrace to the final good-bye. We get to listen as they explore the Nature of True Joy and confront each of the Obstacles of Joy—from fear, stress, and anger to grief, illness, and death. They then offer us the Eight Pillars of Joy, which provide the foundation for lasting happiness. Throughout, they include stories, wisdom, and science. Finally, they share their daily Joy Practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. The Archbishop has never claimed sainthood, and the Dalai Lama considers himself a simple monk. In this unique collaboration, they offer us the reflection of real lives filled with pain and turmoil in the midst of which they have been able to discover a level of peace, of courage, and of joy to which we can all aspire in our own lives.

Passages of Joy will help you profoundly and deeply embrace specific moments, pieces of each day, that you can infuse with feel-good sensations, thoughts and emotions. It will encourage you to make that conscious choice to embrace your JOY. It will inspire you with an abundance of positive affirmations to fill your psyche. It will powerfully and optimistically draw you into the flow of creating your own reality and tune into your place of inner peace, despite any challenges that may be happening in the outer world. You will come to better align with the concept that you can choose happiness. Let these passages shift your mindset —and your life — in an incredibly beneficial and uplifting way!

You may retire at the lakeside, but retirement is a vast ocean. Joyful Passage: A Woman's Path to Retirement is not a book about financial security, it is about investing in personal growth. It tells the true story of one woman's approach to the retirement threshold, her struggles with the decision, identity questions, loss of status, the changes in family dynamics and friendships; and how she found unexpected joys and riches in retirement. "Whoever said retirement is a full-time job was spot-on. Joan B. Reid's debut book, Joyful Passage: A Woman's Path to Retirement, discusses her journey from her first thoughts about the warp and weave of leaving her job to part time work, and, finally, to full departure. She encounters good times and humbling events at each stage. Hers is not a roadmap, but rather an unveiling of competencies as her adventure unfolds. Joyful Passage makes a fine gift for retirees and for those somewhere along the retirement road. " Nancy Hartney, author of If You Walk Long Enough, a coming home from Vietnam novel, and two collections of short stories, If the Creek Don't Rise and Washed in the Water. "Reading Joyful Passage is like talking to a friend. It encourages you to go forward, inspires you to create positive changes, and empowers to never give up." Joan Y. Edwards, M.A., B.S., Retired Elementary School Teacher, author of Flip Flap Floodle and Joan's Elder Care Guide.

This rare collection of time-honored wisdom gently guides, inspires, and opens us to life as it is meant to be, even in its ups and downs-joyous, peaceful, and prosperous. It shares 81precious sayings distilled from the world's ancient wisdom along with the author's own perceptive comments. Both will help you find insight, peace, and guidance in our busy, modern world. These elegant principles for enlightened living cover everything from creating enduring relationships to achieving a quiet and contented heart to the best way to face conflict, loss, and danger. "Following the path of the secrets," says Chris Prentiss, "has brought me and others to whom I have revealed the secrets all the good things we most dearly cherish: true friendship, prosperity, peace, happiness, wonderful relationships with people we love, rewarding professions, and relationships with our children that are loving, truthful, and totally satisfying." With its beautifully designed interior, The Little Book of Secrets makes a meaningful gift for any occasion. Small enough to fit into every backpack, pocketbook and briefcase, it can become a well-loved friend and trusted companion as you travel along the twists and turns of life's journey.

"Besides Jesus, no one has kept me from despair, or taken me deeper into the mysteries of the gospel, than the apostle Paul." —John Piper No one has had a greater impact on the world for eternal good than the apostle Paul—except Jesus himself. For John Piper, this impact is very personal. He does not just admire and trust Paul. He loves him. Piper gives us thirty glimpses into why his heart and mind respond this way. Can a Christian-killer really endure 195 lashes from a heart of love? Can a mystic who thinks he was caught up into heaven be a model of lucid rationality? Can an ethnocentric Jew write the most beautiful call to reconciliation? Can a person who lives with the unceasing anguish of empathy be always rejoicing? Can a man's description of the horrors of human sin be exceeded by his delight in human splendor? Can a man with a backbone of steel be as tender as a nursing mother? If we know this man—if we see what Piper sees—we too will love him. Paul's testimony is a matter of life and death. Piper invites you into his relationship with Paul in the hope that you will know life, forever.

Do you ever wonder whether God even cares if we’re happy? This world can be so hard, and we aren’t promised an easy road. But that’s not the whole story. The Bible is filled with verses that prove that ours is a God who not only loves celebrations but also desperately wants his children to experience happiness. Why else would he go to the lengths he did to ensure our eternal happiness in his presence? We know that we will experience unimaginable joy and happiness in heaven, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also experience joy and happiness here on earth. In Happiness, noted theologian Randy Alcorn (bestselling author of Heaven) dispels centuries of misconceptions about happiness, including downright harmful ideas like the prosperity gospel, and provides indisputable proof that God not only wants us to be happy, he commands it. Randy covers questions like: How can I cultivate happiness in my life? What’s the difference between joy and happiness? Can good things become idols that steal our happiness? Is seeking happiness selfish? How can I achieve happiness through gratitude? What does it look like to receive God’s grace? The most definitive study on the subject of happiness to date, this book is a paradigm-shifting wake-up call for the church and Christians everywhere.