Neil Pasricha is a regular bloke much like you and me. He’s had his ups. He’s had his downs. During a particularly rough patch of downs he found himself grasping to find a few right things in his life. He found that though his heart ached, he was able to fine many “Awesome” things all around him. In fact, the more he looked, the more he saw. In an effort to start focusing on the positive, he started a blog called 1000 Awesome Things. He did not expect it to go anywhere. In fact for a long time his only subscriber was his own mother. But he kept focusing on and writing about the positives. Soon, he doubled his number of subscribers – his father also subscribed to his blog. Evidently his father knew a lot of people because Neil’s blog started gaining more and more views – into the millions. In fact, without applying, he won an award for the most popular blog in the world! Not long after, he was contacted by a literary agent and commissioned to write a book. “The Book of Awesome” was #1 on the international bestseller list for THIRTY weeks! In his Ted video he says that when the hard times come, you have two choices: you can wallow in your misery or you can grieve and learn and move on with your life. I wanted to share his story because it is a great example of what I teach in Happiness 101: no matter what life throws at you, you always have a choice.