Dr. Donald Huntington’s new book is best approached armed—with a pen and a highlighter. “How to Put Your Whole Self In” is a book of short passages intended to help readers become “good for (themselves), good for others, and good for heaven’s sake.”

Huntington, a motivational speaker, ghostwriter and the editor of 110º Magazine, wrote “How to Put Your Whole Self In” as a way of sharing with the world his own path to a meaningful life. He searched for fulfillment in a number of ways, including work as a minister, but did not experience a sense of daily internal serenity until he began, as the he put it in his book, “living on purpose.”

He learned through personal experience and study to “keep undimmed the sunshine of internal weather” in the face of adversities such as a bout with cancer and his mother’s death. In the book’s foreword, he describes the way he now lives: “I nearly always go to bed at night with the blessed thought that I hadn’t spent one minute of the day with someone I didn’t want to be with, nor had I done one thing that I didn’t want to do.” He is happy because he chooses to be happy, and his book shows readers how he maintains that mindset.

The book contains 101 daily bite-sized passages that take about 10 minutes to read, each followed by two practical application steps. The instructions are phrased as commands, but Huntington avoids placing imperatives on his readers: “It’s certainly not a prescription. It just gets people thinking.”

Many topics are uplifting and inspiring. “Make Blessings Count” encourages readers to realize the ways in which they’re blessed and use those blessings to help others. “Take Two-Minute Vacations” advocates pausing throughout the day and spending two minutes simply “reflecting on some truth or beauty” in the world. Other passages feature humorous metaphors such as “Be a Potato,” which life’s difficulties can make us “resilient and adaptable,” like a potato in boiling water.

Some of the book’s subjects are challenges. Day 33, “Think No Evil,” urges us to say something nice about those who are objects of gossip. Day 42 tells readers to “reflect on the worst thing that happened in your life and then list three good things that resulted from that negative incident.” In Huntington’s formulation, “The happiest people are not those who have no problems, but are those who have encountered difficulties and even tragedies and have overcome them.”

Though Huntington states in the foreword that readers can consider God to be whatever higher power or personification of the universe they prefer, the author conveys a deep level of spirituality throughout his book. Readers who find passages that rankle them can practice Day 35’s challenge: “Read a book by some author or on some topic that you disagree with most.”

Though Huntington’s book sometimes carries the tone of one who has arrived, he makes a point of reassuring the reader that his new life didn’t come about by magic, but by daily application of the steps described in the book. He asserts that he’s still a work in progress, and that transforming our lives is a perpetual and often difficult journey – but worth it. “Engage completely, to the extent that you can,” writes Huntington. “That’s how you have a fulfilled life.”

“How to Put Your Whole Self In” is available on Amazon.com for $14.95. Visit www.howtoputyourwholeselfin.com for more information.