Mattering, which is about feeling valued and adding value, is essential for health, happiness, love, work, and social well-being. We all need to feel valued by, and add value to, ourselves, others, co-workers, and community members. This book shows not only the signs, significance, and sources of mattering, but also presents the strategies to achieve mattering in our personal and professional lives. It uses research-based methods of change to help people achieve a higher sense of purpose and a deeper sense of meaning. Each chapter gives therapists, managers, teachers, parents, and healthcare professionals the tools needed to optimize personal and collective well-being and productivity. The volume explains how promoting mattering within communities fosters wellness and fairness in equal measure. By using the new science of feeling valued and adding value, the authors provide a guide to promoting happier lives and healthier societies.

The motto of this book is smarter through laughter. The Laughing Guide to Change combines humor and science to make you happier and healthier. To improve your well-being you need to master your behaviors, emotions and thoughts. These are important drivers of change that can be learned and practiced every day. To reinforce the learning, the scientific part of each chapter is followed by funny stories. In the Behaviors chapter you will learn how to set a goal and create positive habits. In the Emotions chapter you will study the secrets of cultivating positive emotions and managing negative emotions. After reading the Thoughts chapter you will be able to master the art of challenging negative assumptions and writing a new story about yourself. The Laughing Guide to Change is a user friendly manual for tackling different aspects of well-being, from psychological to interpersonal to physical well-being. If you are interested in improving your personal, family, or occupational life, this book is for you. The book will motivate you to take action through a series of achievable steps. The humor will keep you entertained, while the science will keep you engaged.

The motto of this book is smarter through laughter. If you can laugh about it, you can probably change it. The authors use a heavy dose of humor (the laughing side), and a healthy measure of science (the learning side) to help you improve yourself, your relationships, and your surroundings. The book introduces the "I CAN model," which stands for Interactions, Context, Awareness, and Next steps. Interactions are powerful determinants of health and happiness. There are two skills that can make our interactions healthier: the ability to connect and the capacity to communicate. Context is also a powerful but often neglected driver of change. The contexts of our lives consist of people, places, and things. To leverage context to our advantage we need to master the art of reading cues and changing cues in the environment. Awareness is the next driver of change. Regardless of where you are in the process of change, there is always a next step to strengthen your change, maintain your gains, and keep thriving. To do that, you need to make a plan, and you need to make it stick. The book will teach you how to use these drivers of change to flourish and thrive.

Mattering, which is about feeling valued and adding value, is essential for health, happiness, love, work, and social well-being. We all need to feel valued by, and add value to, ourselves, others, co-workers, and community members. This book shows not only the signs, significance, and sources of mattering, but also presents the strategies to achieve mattering in our personal and professional lives. It uses research-based methods of change to help people achieve a higher sense of purpose and a deeper sense of meaning. Each chapter gives therapists, managers, teachers, parents, and healthcare professionals the tools needed to optimize personal and collective well-being and productivity. The volume explains how promoting mattering within communities fosters wellness and fairness in equal measure. By using the new science of feeling valued and adding value, the authors provide a guide to promoting happier lives and healthier societies.