What separates happy marriages from miserable ones? Surprisingly, it’s not healthy communication. It’s not conflict resolution skills. It’s actually the size of the marriage’s joy gap . Joy Gap/joi gap/ (n.)-1. The length of time between moments of shared joy When the joy gap gets bigger, problems are more likely to overwhelm you, resentment creeps in, and you start to feel distant and alone in your marriage. When the joy gap is smaller, you regularly feel connected and happy, problems feel manageable, and your marriage becomes a reliable source of joy. But how do you ensure that you’re experiencing joy regularly? Marcus Warner and Chris Coursey have studied relationships (and neuroscience) and discovered four habits that keep joy regular and problems small. Some couples do them naturally, but anyone can learn. That’s why each chapter includes 15-minute exercises that boost joy and re-train your brain to make joy your default setting. You’ll learn new skills including how to: return to joy more quickly after disconnection create stronger bonds and elongate times of happiness boost your enjoyment of physical and emotional intimacy Find out what your marriage looks like after a little work and a whole lot of joy.

Is “Joy-Building” the secret to raising mature healthy kids? Joy-filled kids aren’t always happy kids, but they do know how to work for and wait for what is truly satisfying in life. In The 4 Habits of Raising Joy-Filled Kids you will discover a tool box full of skills that you can use with your children to help them grow in maturity and live with greater joy. These tools help your kids, from infants to teens, build skills like: Regulating upset emotions so they can return to joy Forming a stable identity that doesn’t change with each new emotion Developing discernment to distinguish between what is satisfying and what is only temporarily pleasurable Discovering heart values and not just living to please others Building “joy bonds” rather than “fear bonds” The skills you’ll learn in The 4 Habits of Raising Joy-Filled Kids will not only help you parent your children well, but they will also help you grow joy in your family.

Revive your leadership. Grow healthy teams. See great results. Healthy teams begin with healthy leaders, and at the heart of this dynamic is emotional maturity—the quality the greatest leaders possess. Combining solid theology, cutting-edge brain science, and decades of counseling and consulting experience, Rare Leadership shows you how to take your leadership and team to the next level. It will equip you to: Cultivate emotional maturity in yourself and others Develop the four habits of R.A.R.E. leaders Promote a strong group identity Keep relationships bigger than problems Increase productivity through trust, joy, and engagement Whether you are burnt out or just looking to improve, when you prioritize people and lead from a secure identity, you’ll be amazed at the freedom you feel and the results you see. You can lead from a healthy place, respond rather than react, and build the team of your dreams. If you want to take your organization to the next level, it starts with you. Read Rare Leadership and be equipped to lead joy-filled, emotionally mature, relationally connected teams.

Is joy the icing on the cake of life—or the fuel on which it runs? Are some people just born happy? Most of us grew up thinking that joy is random and fleeting, instead of something we can actually count on or build our life around. But brain science has revealed that joy is the perfect word to describe the fuel on which our brains run. So how do we live a joy-filled life? Marcus Warner and Chris Coursey show us how to build habits that fill our lives with greater joy and satisfaction. Based on the latest neuroscience and attachment theory—but written in everyday language—The 4 Habits of Joy-Filled People is practical and easy to comprehend. The authors provide exercises and tools you can put into practice immediately. Joy is possible. It doesn’t have to be a random experience that catches you off guard now and then. Some of the most joyful people have endured unbelievable trauma. Joy-filled living expands our world. It makes life an adventure and teaches us to live for what is truly satisfying. Discover the skills and habits you can develop that will enhance your very quality of life.

Is something from your past impacting your future? No one wakes up and says, “I think I’ll make a mess of my life.” But many people find themselves in places that feel beyond repair. If you’ve made decisions that have left you and others hurt—that have brought you to a place that feels dark or desperate—you’re not alone. Professor and pastor Chris Rappazini looks to real life biblical characters who’ve made messes of their lives and shows how God delights in forgiveness and redemption. Do you need God to do something that feels impossible? Freedom from an addiction or the haunting consequences of bad choices? A second chance at marriage, family, or a career? Maybe you love someone whose devastating path of poor decisions is inflicting heartache upon heartache. Through sharing the personal journey he’s been on with his brother—who is in the process of moving forward after messing up—Rappazini uncovers the true heart of the Father and the dramatic ends He goes to bring restoration. What happens when we honestly face our mess and seek God? Can beauty, love, or hope follow? Failure and regret can create humility and deepen our character. Those who seem permanently wrecked can experience joy, freedom, and a newfound dream. In Moving Forward After Messing Up, Rappazini takes us beyond despair to biblically based forgiveness and a faithful future.

Many of us read our Bibles and pray, but we can still feel fragile, tired, and defeated. This is the book we’ve longed for. We need a breakthrough. We need healing. From our pasts. And from our present battles. But sometimes we feel stuck or despairing—as if nothing is ever going to change. Dr. Marcus Warner shows us the pathway to healing and maturity. Breakthrough! goes beyond the usual one-size-fits-all answers. Written from a Christian perspective, this book takes the Bible and brain science—with the Holy Spirit—and provides an integrative approach to building emotional resilience that changes lives. As you explore five strategies—Be aware of your body, unleash your beliefs, increase your belonging, listen to the Spirit, and defeat demons (BUILD)—you will discover a breakthrough. Our memories and hearts can heal. We can mature and grow in Christ. Whether you’re at your end or simply in need of some spiritual vivacity, this book will not disappoint. Breakthrough! is an excellent resource for Christian counselors, providing essential tools and helpful exercises. It is also for the brokenhearted and those ministering to the weary and brokenhearted. Discover and develop a hope-filled pathway to Christian maturity.

Is joy the icing on the cake of life--or the fuel on which it runs? Are some people just born happy? Most of us grew up thinking that joy is random and fleeting, instead of something we can actually count on or build our life around. But brain science has revealed that joy is the perfect word to describe the fuel on which our brains run. So how do we live a joy-filled life? Marcus Warner and Chris Coursey show us how to build habits that fill our lives with greater joy and satisfaction. Based on the latest neuroscience and attachment theory--but written in everyday language--The 4 Habits of Joy-Filled People is practical and easy to comprehend. The authors provide exercises and tools you can put into practice immediately. Joy is possible. It doesn't have to be a random experience that catches you off guard now and then. Some of the most joyful people have endured unbelievable trauma. Joy-filled living expands our world. It makes life an adventure and teaches us to live for what is truly satisfying. Discover the skills and habits you can develop that will enhance your very quality of life.

On September 2, 2022, following a doctor's visit where I was given some ominous news about my health, something clicked in my life.I stopped looking for happiness, and refocused on the person I was before the series of events that had turned my life upside down. In this way, I rediscover the confident person I was before, able to unfold my unlimited potential and activate my primary driving force : joie de vivre.This guide explains the keys to joy that I've collected along the way. It also shows how, by correcting my mistakes, I rediscovered the red thread of my authentic essence and came to live fully in joy.Weaving together episodes from my personal life and my professional experience, it presents the mechanisms underlying personal development towards joy and the essential keys to understanding and overcoming life's challenges.This book is for you, Champion of Joy : you, too, despite the circumstances that currently overwhelm your life, have the power to come to terms with your past, to return to your unlimited potential, and to realize your full potential !

The Life with God Bible combines the depth of a study Bible with the warmth of a devotional Bible, offering a new way to discover the full riches of the Scriptures. According to Richard Foster, bestselling author and the project′s editor, the Bible is all about human life "with God." As we read Scripture, we should consider how God is with us in each story and allow ourselves to be spiritually transformed. Many people are looking for a new way to read the Bible, not as a text to be mastered. but as a story to enter into and a lifestyle to pursue. This unique Bible, previously published as The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible and spearheaded by bestselling authors Richard Foster (Celebration of Discipline) and Dallas Willard (The Divine Conspiracy), introduces the concept of life with God - or the "with-God life" - a model for seeing the whole of Scripture as the unfolding story of God′s plan for our loving relationship with the Creator. This central theme weaves throughout the essays, introductions, notes, and exercises, powerfully revealing how God is present to his people today and throughout history. Yet our relationship with God should not be passive. Concrete practices - Spiritual Disciplines - have been used throughout church history to guide disciples of Jesus. This Bible integrates the Spiritual Disciplines into the Christian life by showing how they are central to the Bible′s teachings and stories. Abraham and Ruth, Moses and Deborah, Jesus and the disciples all provide amazing examples of the life-changing power of prayer, worship, fasting, celebration, and many other Spiritual Disciplines. Scripture thus becomes a primary means for the discovery, instruction, and practice of these disciplines as well as a tool for spiritual formation. Combining the highest possible biblical scholarship with the deepest possible heart devotion, this new Bible project seeks to nourish inner transformation by unlocking and revealing the profound resources within Scripture for changing our hearts and characters and bringing them in line with what God wants for our lives. The Life with God Bible will redefine what the Bible means for Christian discipleship.