ABOUT THE BOOK
The Joy of Living: How to Slay Stress and Be Happy is your passport to being healthier, wealthier, and happier in a time of unease and misgiving. Part journal, part memoir, part activity book, it's a timely guide to slay stress, beat burnout, and cope with life, post-pandemic. Author Barry Shore reveals eleven strategies that you can use to relieve stress and be happy . . . no matter the circumstance. Imagine standing up in the morning fully healthy and in the hospital that evening completely paralyzed—and not from a car accident or a spinal injury, but from a rare disease. You’ll join the journey as Barry moves from paralysis to now swimming two miles per day, six days a week. All with a SMILE.
Book Details
Title: The JOY of Living: How to Slay Stress and Be Happy
Author: Barry Shore (known as the “Ambassador of Joy”)
Genre:
healthy living, emotions and mental health, journal/workbook, memoir,
motivational self-help, nonfiction, self-improvement.
Publisher: Joy of Living Institute Publishing (May 11, 2021)
Page count: 132 pages
LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH BARRY SHORE
A few of your favorite things: waking up in the morning, seeing my wife, singing , dancing, swimming.
Things you need to throw out: LOL. Tough Q: magazines over 11 years old; clothes over 8 years old that haven’t been worn more than twice in 8 years!! Tie Dye T-shirts . . . (We just moved from our home of 42 years so this was a REAL exercise . . . 18,000 pounds moved . . . 6,320 pounds thrown or given away!) :)
Things you need in order to write: quiet, 55 minutes of dedicated time, pen(cil) and paper as well as keyboard, a good swim.
Things that hamper your writing: not quiet, snatching time, no pen(cil)/paper handy.
Things you love about writing: the flow of the muse, the mot juste, the voice.
Things you hate about writing: nothing, because hate doesn’t work with expressing . . . the “block” that just won’t budge is the worst part . . . writing drivel . . .
Easiest thing about being a writer: touching someone’s heart/head.
Hardest thing about being a writer: touching someone’s heart/head.
Things you love about where you live: LOL!! Just moved after 45 years in southern California minutes from the beach to . . . the desert! Henderson, Nevada, minutes away from Las Vegas strip )OMG!) What we LOVE about being here: NEW community; small town feel (Henderson IS a small town despite the proximity to the mighty Strip), our son/daughter (in-law) and two grandsons ages 4 and 1; lovely home; great aquatic facilities close by, and friends, some old and looking forward to making new ones.
Things that make you want to move: we decamped from Venice Beach CalIifornia, one of the hippest most-visited places in all of SoCal. We left because of family and the political environment which invited vagrants and mentally unstable people to camp on the beach and in neighborhoods!! The past 2 years were very challenging. :(
Things you never want to run out of: love, joy, my wife’s smile.
Things you wish you’d never bought: the time share. The boat. The fractional ownership in a race horse.
Words that describe you: JOY-FUl. Sense of wonder (that of an 8-year-old). Giving and generous. Helpful. Caring. Exuberant.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: Loud. Boisterous. Mr-Know-All.
Favorite foods: artichoke with my wife’s special white sauce. Morning tea with Turmeric/Ginger/Cinnamon (my own blend). Special breakfast prepared lovingly by my wife Naomi (btw . . . of 44 years!) with yogurt, dates, gigs, blueberries, almonds, sunflower seeds (carefully arranged.) :)
Things that make you want to throw up: durian. Double cheeseburger.
Favorite music or song: Song: “Stuff that Works” Guy Clark, “Hallelujah” Leonard Cohen covered by almost any artist, “Always be Humble and Kind” Tim McGraw, “Whatta Wonderful World” Louis Armstrong, “Feelin Groovy” Simon & Garfunkle . . . Basically upbeat positive lyrical songs/music.
Music that make your ears bleed: “heavy metal,” atonal ‘compositions,’ loud without a reason.
Favorite beverage: Raspberry Lime Rickey.
Something that gives you a pickle face: sour pickles!!
Favorite smell: jasmine or lilac.
Something that makes you hold your nose: too much patchouli.
Something you’re really good at: LAUGHING.
Something you’re really bad at: (currently) running.
Something you wish you could do: play piano or any instrument WELL.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Great Q: have thus far in life found that everything has been of benefit somehow . . .
Something you like to do: visit with a few friends.
Something you wish you’d never done: gone to jail.
Last best thing you ate: my special breakfast.
Last thing you regret eating: the last 5 pieces of watermelon after I KNEW I was FULL.
Things you’d walk a mile for: to see my wife, my kids, and grandkids.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: ill-informed people discussing a subject that I KNOW they know little or nothing about.
Things you always put in your books: becoming paralyzed overnight from a rare disease.
Things you never put in your books: jail time.
Things to say to an author: WRITE!
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: stop WRITING!!
Favorite places you’ve been: Venice Beach from 1975-2019; Amsterdam from 1969-1972; Yugoslavia in 1972-73, Italy from 1971-73; Israel from 1979-2019; Bangkok Thailand from 1979-1999; CapeTown RSA 1996-1999; et al.
Places you never want to go to again: Bulgaria. Russia.
Favorite things to do: read, learn, speak with friends/family, write, make videos about JOY.
Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: meetings without an agenda OR meetings with an agenda where the agenda is clearly geared to causing dissension.
Things that make you happy: life, singing/dancing, learning, swimming.
Things that drive you crazy: mean people posing as sweet people.
Proudest moment: swimming one mile on my back after being paralyzed for over 2 years.
Most embarrassing moment: I was in an “adult book store” and a friend walked in!
Biggest lie you’ve ever told: that I won $11,000 in poker game (I won $1,000).
A lie you wish you’d told: that I saved a woman from drowning.
Best thing you’ve ever done: married my amazing wife Naomi.
Biggest mistake: selling most of my stock in my first start up . . . left $25 million on the table!
Most daring thing you’ve ever done: went to Europe in 1969 on a one-way ticket with $200 in my pocket.
Something you chickened out from doing: stealing a Ferrari.
The last thing you did for the first time: shared a YoutTube of Rin Tin Tin with my 4-year-old grandson :) It was black and white and very hokey (I LOVED it growing up). I wanted to see if it could hold his attention for more than 5 minutes . . . just on the edge . . . he’s s used to watching full color fast action “stuff.’ It was very interesting to observe.
Something you’ll never do again: reached out my hand to a cactus to test the needles and learned that it was a JUMPING cactus. My hand was full of needles necessitating a visit to an emergency room. :(
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Barry’s latest book, The JOY of Living: How to Slay Stress and Be Happy is available on Amazon and Apple Books.
Connect with Barry:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | YouTube
Buy the book:
Amazon | Apple Books
