How to be Happier: Teach Yourself - Softcover

Jenner, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1444100939 ISBN 13: 9781444100938

Publisher: Teach Yourself, 2010

Synopsis

Rare Book

About this title

Review

"It's an easy read and will help you to find the silver lining behind every cloud" (- Prima)

From the Author

How To Be Happier has received vastly more reviews than any of my other books and that, in itself, is very interesting, underlining (I presume) the huge need for advice on the subject. I'd like to thank everybody who has posted a review, and that includes the critical ones. Keep them coming. I like to know what's worked and what things can be improved.
What's even more surprising than the number of reviews is the passion the book seems to have aroused. Comments have ranged from `just reading this book improved my happiness' (five stars) and `highly recommend' (five stars) all the way down to `drivel' (one star).
What I'd like to say to anyone reviewing the book, as well as to anyone buying it, is that just as you can't judge a book by its cover, you can't judge a self-help book by merely reading it. You actually have to do the recommended exercises and follow the advice long enough for it to have a chance of working.
Applying that to How To Be Happier means you can't, for example, just read about making lists of your good points and of those of people close to you. You actually have to do it. I know it doesn't sound like much, but referring to those lists when you feel a bit down, or angry with someone close, can really transform your mood. Try it. Don't just read about eating `happy foods', try the `happy meals' for a couple of weeks and see what happens. Don't just read about meditation, actually do it for a month before you make a judgement. Don't just read about banishing negative thoughts. Actually do make an effort to banish them. Then see whether or not you're happier. And, if you feel inclined, write your review.
I've taken note of the criticism by a handful of reviewers that much of my advice also appears in other books. But I don't think I can do much about that one. I see it as tending to confirm that what I say is probably correct. So I happily plead guilty. My book draws only partly on my own research and largely on the very solid research of others, including from the fields of CT and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) as well as scientific studies of the effects of nutrition, exercise, meditation, relationships, sex and spirituality. I can update those sections as new research comes in, but I can't ignore the existing research on the grounds that other authors have included it in their books.
Where I feel I've made the greatest contribution from my own life and research is in my advocacy of `running away' (Chapter 8). The worst advice I was ever given as a child was that running away was cowardly and that once I'd made my bed I had to lie in it. Don't make that mistake.
You'll also find advice on happiness in some of my other books including Help Yourself To Live Longer and Get Intimate With Tantric Sex. As the Tantrikas would say, I wish you all ananda (bliss).

About this edition

• Publisher: Teach Yourself
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1444100939
• ISBN 13: 9781444100938
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288