Author Name: Catherine and Rose Petras

“There’s something to celebrate, whether it’s the first green bud of a snowdrop or gathering clean shirts from the clothesline after the sun has warmed them. There are flowers to count and fruits to pick,” says artist Nikki McClure. And she’s right. There’s something to celebrate… which is the point of this book. We’ve collected 337 to remind you that if you know where and how to look, you’ll find something that makes you smile, gives you a boost of positive energy, and makes you rejoice in life. “Nothing More Important Than This Day” is a good choice for those days when all you want to do is crawl back into bed and pull the covers over your head. It’s a call to action; a way to acquire and maintain a positive mental attitude (which might even make you more, at least according to research by psychologist Susan Segerstrom, who found that optimistic law students earned an average of $32,667 more than their pessimistic peers!). But happiness is the reward in itself, of course, as the people quoted in this book will tell you; from Roman emperors to jazz musicians, from Maya Angelou to Frank Zappa. They're a diverse group, there in between: they know how to find happiness no matter the circumstances. In the end, it mostly comes down to how you choose to see things. For example, here's the age-old question: "Is the glass half empty or half full?" Optimists, as the saying goes, see that proverbial glass as half full, while pessimists see it as half empty. But others point out that the glass is actually quite full; half full of water and half full of air. And there are still others who say, "Who cares?"; all you have to do is get a pitcher of water and fill the damn glass! And that's what this book is about: filling your proverbial glass with optimism and hope, with quotes from people who have seized the day and celebrated life to the fullest.