{"id":1109,"date":"2026-10-15T08:38:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T15:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/?post_type=product&#038;p=1109"},"modified":"2026-10-16T07:12:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T14:12:55","slug":"if-you-would-be-happy","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/product\/if-you-would-be-happy\/","title":{"rendered":"If You Would Be Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3 class=\"ncp-subtitle\">Cultivate Your Life Like a Garden<\/h3>\n<p class=\"ncp-bookmeta\"><em>by Ruth Stout. Foreword by Michaela Lonning<br \/>Norton Creek Press, ISBN 1938099001. 194 pages.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Simple-living advocate Ruth Stout, author of Gardening Without Work and How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back, believed that life just doesn&#8217;t have to be so hard! In If You Would Be Happy, she once again helps you find the sense amid all the nonsense that life offers, and find simplicity amid the rough and tumble of life.<\/p>\n<p>She says: &#8220;It is happiness, not perfection, we&#8217;re concerned with here, and they&#8217;re not necessarily even related.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our activities are successful insofar as they are giving us real satisfaction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Any experience, trivial or important, is likely to give us more pleasure if we are interested, unhurried, and are looking for the best the situation has to offer. It also helps if we expect something good, for in that case we don&#8217;t overlook it if it&#8217;s there in front of us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We must forever keep in mind that it is our inside feelings we are aiming to change; we are really going to become a serene and pleasant person, not merely give the appearance of one.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ncp-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/ruth-stout\/if-you-would-be-happy\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1144,"template":"","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[46],"product_tag":[],"class_list":["post-1109","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-ruth-stout","first","onbackorder","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>If You Would Be Happy - Norton Creek Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/product\/if-you-would-be-happy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"If You Would Be Happy - Norton Creek Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cultivate Your Life Like a Garden by Ruth Stout. Foreword by Michaela LonningNorton Creek Press, ISBN 1938099001. 194 pages. Simple-living advocate Ruth Stout, author of Gardening Without Work and How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back, believed that life just doesn&#039;t have to be so hard! In If You Would Be Happy, she once again helps you find the sense amid all the nonsense that life offers, and find simplicity amid the rough and tumble of life. She says: &quot;It is happiness, not perfection, we&#039;re concerned with here, and they&#039;re not necessarily even related.&quot; &quot;Our activities are successful insofar as they are giving us real satisfaction.&quot; &quot;Any experience, trivial or important, is likely to give us more pleasure if we are interested, unhurried, and are looking for the best the situation has to offer. It also helps if we expect something good, for in that case we don&#039;t overlook it if it&#039;s there in front of us.&quot; &quot;We must forever keep in mind that it is our inside feelings we are aiming to change; we are really going to become a serene and pleasant person, not merely give the appearance of one.&quot; Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/product\/if-you-would-be-happy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Norton Creek Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-16T14:12:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/if-you-would-be-happy-cover.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/product\\\/if-you-would-be-happy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/product\\\/if-you-would-be-happy\\\/\",\"name\":\"If You Would Be Happy - Norton Creek Press\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/product\\\/if-you-would-be-happy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/product\\\/if-you-would-be-happy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/if-you-would-be-happy-cover.jpg?fit=666%2C1024&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-15T15:38:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-16T14:12:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/product\\\/if-you-would-be-happy\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/product\\\/if-you-would-be-happy\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/product\\\/if-you-would-be-happy\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/if-you-would-be-happy-cover.jpg?fit=666%2C1024&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/if-you-would-be-happy-cover.jpg?fit=666%2C1024&ssl=1\",\"width\":666,\"height\":1024,\"caption\":\"If You Would Be Happy cover\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/product\\\/if-you-would-be-happy\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Shop\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/shop\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"If You Would Be Happy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/\",\"name\":\"Norton Creek Press\",\"description\":\"Bringing the best books back to life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\\\/wordpress\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"If You Would Be Happy - Norton Creek Press","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/product\/if-you-would-be-happy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"If You Would Be Happy - Norton Creek Press","og_description":"Cultivate Your Life Like a Garden by Ruth Stout. 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