"Happy This Year! The Secret to Getting Happy Once and For All" by Will Bowen

"If I get ______, I'll be happy."
"If I do ______, I'll be happy."

Happiness is not the result of getting or achieving. Rather, happiness is a cause that is the shortest and most direct path to personal fulfillment and achievement. In "Happy This Year!," internationally-bestselling author Will Bowen teaches you how to align your thoughts, words, and actions so that they create the habits, character, and destiny of happiness.

Abe Lincoln said, "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Unfortunately, most of us never make up our minds as the level of happiness we wish to enjoy. This book encourages the reader to set a happiness goal and then to measure his or her success at reaching that goal.

Being a happy person significantly improves all areas of life, leading to better physical health, an increased sense of well-being, greater success at work, and deeper, more fulfilling relationships with others.

Through practical advice, step-by-step instructions, and inspiring stories, Will helps you remove your mental and lifestyle blocks so that happiness flows freely. Will's unique perspective on happiness, formed through a wide range of spiritual and secular influences, infuses timeless spiritual wisdom with scientific study, personal experience, and powerful anecdotes.

Regardless of your challenges, you can experience increased and sustainably higher levels of happiness every day!

My thoughts:  I am sure that the majority of people have a deep desire for happiness. According to Will Bowen this can be achieved. Not because of your circumstances but because you tap into an inner self that focuses on happiness.

Mr. Bowen speaks early on of religious and spiritual aspects in our lives and their effect on our happiness. He seems to dwell on the spiritual part of our being as having a highly causative effect on our pursuit of happiness. But his definition of spiritual and mine are somewhat different.

The author quotes Confucius, Buddhism, and the Christian Bible (as he himself titles it). He seemingly gives more or less equal weight to the validity of each. Personally, I believe that while some sayings outside of those in the Christian Bible are good thoughts, they can not be considered in equal terms with verses from the Holy Bible (consisting of Jewish Old Testament and Christian New Testament sections).

 
Sitting in a prescribed position, holding one's hands in a certain style, and chanting or saying anything repeatedly or a respective sequence of times will not induce a state of happiness.

I think that focusing more on those things in our lives that are positive (our joyful occasions, our blessings, our up-times) and beneficial and less on that which is negative (our down times, our sorrows,  our hurts) will tend to lend a happier countenance to us and outlook on life for us. But sometimes life simply hurts and we have sad moments. It is how we handle those moments and what source of strength we draw from that determines our success in handling the bad moments and the good moments.

 

I personally can not recommend this book although aspects of it were interesting and point-on.

DISCLOSURE: I was sent an invitation to review Happy This Year! and render my honest opinion. Grand Harbor Press on behalf of the author provided a complimentary copy for this purpose. No compensation has been provided for this review. Opinions expressed are solely my own.