Comments on: Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out

By: Pete Bissonette

Pete Bissonette — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:49:50 +0000

I was surprised by the book… I thought it would be namby-pamby or filled with fluff until I read this paragraph in the introduction:”My first major discovery was that scientists have found that we each have a `happiness set-point,’ the genetic and learned tendency to remain at a certain level of happiness, similar to a thermostat setting on a furnace. Fortunately for those of us not born on the sunny side of the street, it’s been shown that we can change our happiness set-points. I’ll discuss this more in the next chapter and offer you specific exercises throughout the book to raise your happiness set-point.”As I read the book I was surprised at most every turn. I was delighted that she included Mark McKergow’s Solution Focus Technique–a longtime favorite of mine that keeps you focused on what’s working in your life instead of on what’s not working….And that she actually tells how to do one of Chunyi Lin’s Spring Forest Qigong techniques that energizes the body and literally brings you feelings of happiness and joy.Part of her process in studying happiness was to interview 100 truly happy people. Another surprise was finding a link where I could actually listen to highlights of the interviews online.So…I’d get the book.

By: Word Lover

Word Lover — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:27:05 +0000

Good, Yes…But Not the Best in Getting and Staying Happier I have read more of the happiness literature than most people because of a work assignment. Granted, by the time I got to this one, much of the information was not new anymore. But when evaluating a book or manuscript, it’s helpful to look at it as if it were the first of its type you have picked up.Happy for No Reason is good, but there are better “happy” books out there. Good promotion is taking this one far. Better by a long shot are STUMBLING ON HAPPINESS (Daniel Gilbert), HAPPY AT LAST: THE THINKING PERSON’S GUIDE TO FINDING JOY (Richard O’Connor), and AUTHENTIC HAPPINESS (Martin Seligman).

By: Joe Tye "CEO and Head Coach, Values Coach Inc."

Joe Tye "CEO and Head Coach, Values Coach Inc." — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:21:25 +0000

Many reasons to read this book When I first saw the title, “Happy for No Reason,” I’ll have to admit that my initial reaction was that this would be just one more new age, touch-feely, full-of-fluff feel-good book. So I was very pleasantly surprised to see how thoroughly-researched, well-written, and down-to-earth practical this book is. “Happy for No Reason” is a groundbreaking philosophy that belongs in the same category as the work of David Burns (cognitive mood therapy), Martin Seligman (learned optimism), Daniel Goleman (emotional intelligence) and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (flow). It is a brilliant blend of scientific research summarized in language that anyone can understand plus stories from people Marci calls the Happy 100, people who are role models of happiness for the sake of happiness, not because of love or money or other exogenous factors.I was so impressed with this book that I gave copies to each of my children as Christmas gifts this year. I’m hoping they will read it with a pen or highlighter in hand, which is what I found myself doing – and would recommend to you as well. It’s easy to be unhappy, which might be why so many people are. Watch TV for an hour and you’ll have a hundred reasons to not be happy; it’s nice to know that you can choose to be happy for no reason at all.