Book Review: Getting Back to Happy

We love books and being happy! Do you? Here is our latest mindfulness book review, Getting Back to Happy by TCCU Director Kendy Anderson:

Change your thoughts, change your reality and turn your trials into triumphs is the premise of this New York Times bestseller.

Getting Back to Happy reveals their strategies for changing thought patterns and daily habits to bounce back from tough times. Sharing never-before-published stories and advice, the book shows us how to harness the power of daily rituals, mindfulness, self-care, and more to overcome whatever life throws our way–in order to become our best selves.

“The biggest difference between peace and stress is attitude.”

The authors set about to walk you step by step thru the process of increasing your happiness. Chapter one focuses on instituting rituals into your daily life. This is built on the ideas that growth always begins at the edge of your comfort zone and that we are hardwired to perform at our best when we are positive. So, by setting in motion daily positive rituals we can being to increase our happiness quotient.

Chapter two explores the practice of mindfulness as well as scaling back our busyness. True wealth is the ability to experience the present moment fully, say the authors.

The remaining chapters dive into how to surrender attachments that are holding you back and how to recognize the signs that you need to let go. “Being hurt is something you can’t control, but being miserable is always your choice.”

Practical tools like forgiveness, being able to see the end result of hard times, keeping yourself grounded and checking the stories we all tell ourselves about what is happening to us daily are explored in the context of getting back to happy.

How to embrace change from both an action viewpoint and when change is not our choice are explored. “The happiest and most successful people do not live with a certain set of circumstances, but rather with a certain set of attitudes.”

Finding and harnessing your motivation is the next step the authors cover and is facilitated by removing distractions and connecting with your values. Each chapter concludes with exercises you can practice as you begin implementing happiness strategies.

Relationships, dealing with difficult people, setting up your inner and outer environment, letting go of things you can’t control, eliminating excess and walking away from drama are also fleshed out as they relate to happiness.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

• When life gives you every reason to be negative, think of one good reason to be positive. There’s always something to be grateful for.

• Happiness comes a lot more easily when you stop complaining about your problems and start being grateful for all the problems you don’t have.

• Peace does not mean to be in place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart.

• When you try to control too much, you enjoy too little.

• If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.

• Life is a book, and those who do not educate themselves read only a few pages. When you know better, you live better and feel better about yourself.

• Don’t sleep less to get more done. Sleep brings health, focus, and clarity.

• Don’t get caught up in judging and gossiping. Don’t give in to the negativity and drama around you. Be positive. Give people a piece of your heart rather than a piece of your mind. Life is too short to be spent talking about people and stirring up trouble that has no substance. Instead, get caught up in being thankful and kinder than necessary.

• Don’t waste words on people who deserve your silence.

• Stop discrediting yourself for everything you aren’t, and start giving yourself credit for everything you are. We have to learn to be our own best friends, because sometimes we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies.

• Other people’s negativity is not your problem.

Chock full of tips, strategies and exercises to get you well on your way to increasing your happiness, this is a book I highly recommend for everyone to read. It will be a book I read on a regular basis to keep me on my journey with happiness. This is one of our favorite Self Improvement books.

Get a copy for yourself.

Read another book review of ours about Finding Change.