Based on a national "joy study," here is a workshop leader's 28-day blueprint to greater happiness broken down into three remarkable steps.

Is it possible to study what creates joy in our lives-and to break down the results into a believable, achievable program for inner fulfillment? Mechanical engineer, corporate manager, and motivational coach Jacqueline Kelm discovered that the answer is yes-and she shares her results in The Joy of Appreciative Living.

One day while preparing for a speech before a local spiritual community, Kelm experienced a breakthrough. She found a simple way of integrating all the principles of positive-thinking philosophies into three basic exercises. These three steps to lasting, meaningful joy require less than five minutes a day, plus fifteen minutes on the weekends. Her workshop audiences were astounded.

Realizing that she was onto something, Kelm designed a study to see how these exercises would work for different kinds of people. Using a cross section of adults around the United States, Kelm's "joy study" showed that after twenty-eight days, 97 percent of participants assessed themselves to be significantly happier. Even more remarkable, participants in the study continued to feel happier even six months afterward.

Just three exercises in twenty-eight days? It sounds so simple because author Jacqueline Kelm makes it simple. The book will highlight exactly how and why these exercises work. The Joy of Appreciative Living transforms complexity, insight, and years of trial into one focused, high-powered program of daily practice that can make all the difference in your world.

With a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in business administration, Jacqueline Kelm has worked as an application engineer, a corporate executive, and a motivational management leader. For several years, she worked with Ernst & Young as a manager in its Leadership and Organization Change Group. For more than twelve years, Kelm has taught and applied the principles of Appreciative Inquiry, a leading-edge business philosophy "that focuses on probing a firm's best attributes and practices" (Harvard Business School Working Knowledge).

Kelm brought her own innovation to Appreciative Inquiry, recasting it as "Appreciative Living," a method of applying positive insights to our personal lives. She has hosted many workshops and presentations in this new approach to positive psychology. In 2006, she conducted a highly successful "study on joy" which tracked a notable increase of happiness in the lives of study participants across the U.S. through the practice of three gratitude exercises. Kelm has been asked to teach a week-long Appreciative Living course at American University this summer, and several organizations and consultants are using and recommending her materials in their training programs.

Kelm lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband and two children.