The Post-College Guide to Happiness–Guest post, free ebook, and giveaway!

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.

"People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy."
- Anton Chekhov

When I worked at a coffee shop, I always tried to change up what I'd ask customers on different days. When I ran out of interesting things to say, I'd simply ask them how they were. I was very surprised by how consistent some of their answers were. Frequently, they would say, "Well, it's nice out," if the sun was shining or, "Well, it's raining," if the dark clouds were rolling in. These people were basing their moods on the weather. The saddest part about this for me was that as a result, their happiness was completely dependent on something they could not control.

When I thought more about this, I realized that people (including myself) do this all the time. We cry when our favorite sports team gets eliminated from the playoffs and we frown upon seeing sad news story. There's nothing wrong with this per say, but if you lack a core happiness to weather the weather and other uncontrollable phenomena, you're bound to be less than partly sunny.

I love me some Chekhov and even wrote a play based on his work. In his plays, when a character can't or won't talk about something important to him, he talks about the weather. I love his quote here because it shows that if you work for happiness (and it can be hard work) you are much more equipped to not sweat the small stuff. The first step on a journey of happiness is to see things in a positive light. Yes, when it rains our, you may get wet, but the plants will also get the water they need to grow and blossom. When your sports team is eliminated, management may get the wake-up call needed to bring in a big free agent. A sad story on a news program could result in spreading the awareness of an issue that could bring in future charitable donations.

Look for silver linings in those dark clouds of life and you're bond to improve your happiness and your ability to weather the weather. --

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.