Bryan Cohen-The Happiness Blog Tour

Today I'm thrilled to once again host my author friend, Bryan Cohen. Center Stage, Bryan.

Bryan Cohen here, guest poster and author, promoting my new book The Post-College Guide to Happiness for The Happiness Blog Tour. I'm giving away free digital review copies of the book and doing a giveaway for paperback copies, audio copies and even a Kindle Fire! Read on and check out the info below the post.

"The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make a heaven of Hell and a hell of Heaven."

- John Milton

Really?

Have you ever seen that segment on the late-night comedy show "Saturday Night Live," called "Really? With Seth and Amy?" In this segment, the anchors act as if they're talking directly to a figure in the news that is doing or saying something absolutely ridiculous. The bit is pretty hilarious, but have you ever thought of doing the same thing to your own complaints?

People like to say that something was "the worst" or that it was an "awful experience." Really? I do a lot of freelance work related to diseases in third-world countries and let's face it, there are plenty of people who have things a lot worse than you do. Compared to some of the people experiencing life in the slums of a poor country, you live in heaven. Sure, it may not be as good as some of the mansions and whatnot you see stars living in on television, but it's relatively amazing. You probably have a whole lot going for you and your complaining and blaming is "making a hell of Heaven," as Milton puts it.

What can you do to fix this problem? Being more grateful about the possessions you have and the wonderful past you've experienced can help. In addition, you can be more laid back about when bad things happen to you. Imagine that you're wearing a rain slicker against negativity and that these unfortunate incidents occur, they simply bead up and roll off of you to the ground. It's hard to do, but when you practice letting things slide more often, you get much better at it over time. I used to be hot tempered and would get into screaming matches with the people I loved. Practice hasn't made perfect, but I'm certainly much better in this area.

Dwelling on the negative things that happen to you is a tough habit to overcome, but it too can be shed. You are the one who gets to choose what you think about most of the time. Take that opportunity to think about things you have to look forward to and the people you care about. This is time spent very wisely and eventually it will become a habit to think in such a positive way.

If you are having a rough go of things and it's hard to think of anything positive, choose to have a positive attitude about it. This is what Milton talks about when he says you can "make a heaven of Hell." Choose to be strong and optimistic when times are tough and you will quickly see a change in your life.
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Bryan Cohen is giving away 61 paperback and audio copies of The Post-College Guide to Happiness and a Kindle Fire between now and May 7th, 2012 on The Happiness Blog Tour. All entrants receive a free digital review copy of The Post-College Guide to Happiness. Bryan hopes to give away at least 1,000 copies during the blog tour. To enter, post a comment with your e-mail address or send an e-mail to postcollegehappiness (at) gmail.com. Bryan will draw the names at the end of the tour. Entries will be counted through Sunday, May 6th.

Bryan Cohen is a writer, actor and comedian from Dresher, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 with degrees in English and Dramatic Art and a minor in Creative Writing. He has written nine books including 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts: Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More, 500 Writing Prompts for Kids: First Grade through Fifth Grade, Writer on the Side: How to Write Your Book Around Your 9 to 5 Job and his new book, 1,000 Character Writing Prompts: Villains, Heroes and Hams for Scripts, Stories and More. His website Build Creative Writing Ideas helps over 25,000 visitors a month to push past writer's block and stay motivated.

Feel free to follow along with the tour at The Happiness Blog Tour Hub Page or on the book's Facebook Page.