February 23, 2026
According to a survey conducted by the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, about 75% of Americans reported experiencing a physical or mental symptom of stress in the last month, and nearly half of U.S. adults (45%) are stressed at least once a week. Additionally, 16% of respondents reported feeling stressed every day. And, according to Global Statistics, in 2025, anxiety has become prevalent, impacting millions across the United States. Stress and anxiety are closely related, often occurring together, with anxiety typically arising from stress.
Reading uplifting books can provide comfort, inspiration, and a sense of hope, helping to improve your mood and perspective on life. Uplifting books often include feel-good fiction, motivational nonfiction, and poetry that inspires hope and joy.
The Happiness Perspective
When someone says they want to be happy, the definition of what that looks like depends on what’s important to the individual. Many times, it has to do with the way the person sees their life and the world.
The Happiness Perspective: Seeing Your Life Differently addresses over 50 topics that could hinder your ability to be happy and offers ways to move past obstacles that keep you stuck in an old way of being. You can choose the topic most pertinent to your situation or read it straight through.
If you’re struggling with anxiety, try this guidance:
Shift Your Perspective: On Anxiety *
*An excerpt from The Happiness Perspective
We all have bouts of anxiety. It can stem from internal or external sources. The potential for anxiety to arise is ever present. Some experience anxiety more frequently than others, self-perpetuating this state of being with negative self-talk and “what if” scenarios mentally played over and over. Some use it as a motivator to prepare for an important meeting or presentation.
Depending on the intensity of the anxiety, it can be debilitating or motivating. Anxiety can be self-managed in most cases, without the assistance of medication. With mindfulness toward your personal anxiety patterns, it is possible to become an anxiety expert able to control the level and intensity of the anxiety, as well as the duration. Click here for a longer sample
The bottom line is that anxiety is inevitable. Your approach to managing it is critical to your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. In most cases, you have the power to handle it and move on rather than maintaining the stress. For extreme cases such as phobias, posttraumatic stress disorder, or obsessive compulsive disorder, skilled professionals can help.
Becoming an expert in handling anxiety gives you more energy, greater resilience, and more happiness in your life.
Exercise 1-3: To recognize your personal patterns of anxiety, ask yourself three questions: What triggers it? What sustains it? What allows you to release it?
Available in eBooks, paperback, hardback, and audiobook.
5.0 out of 5 stars You don’t need to be unhappy to appreciate this jewel of a book! Verified Purchase
The book is arranged in a way that appeals to the way I problem solve. After a very short introduction, Diane jumps right in to it. She offers up insight into the many perceived obstacles towards happiness. In each obstacle, she offers up a short discussion of an element that may stand in the way of “happiness”. Then she suggests exercises to help you examine that barrier and how to “shift your perspective.” She organizes the barriers into Internal, External, and Eternal.
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