This Book Will Make You Happy

by Jessamy Hibberd, Jo Usmar

We all experience periods of feeling low, frustrated and lacking in energy--but ignoring the problem and struggling on can start to affect all areas of your life.
Help is at this concise little book shows you how you can reverse negative thoughts and emotions and make yourself happier, and more confident.
Dr. Jessamy Hibberd and Jo Usmar draw on the very latest research in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and modern psychology to give you practical, proven techniques and exercises to combat low mood and, more importantly, increase the happiness in your life. Their friendly, results-driven approach will make you happier, healthier and more fulfilled.
Chapters

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Mindfullness, Personal Development

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 2, 2014

About the author

Dr Jessamy is a chartered clinical psychologist, author and mother of three. She lives in Hove by the sea and loves spending time on the beach with her family, as well as cycling in the South Downs.

In her books Dr Jessamy explores what’s really going on beneath the surface of our everyday lives, writing about the thoughts and feelings we all have - but don’t always say out loud.

Through expert advice and real-life examples from her clinic, Dr Jessamy will help you understand yourself better and most importantly teach you the strategies and techniques to feel your best more of the time. Drawing on more than twenty years of clinical experience – as well as her personal experience of trying to navigate life (and frequently falling short).

Jessamy's motto is: 'What we do every day makes the biggest difference. It’s small steps that lead to the greatest changes.' Something she puts in to practice (you guessed it) every day. She shared this message, as well as her personal and professional experience of how to find happiness, in her TEDx talk ‘Adventure of a Lifetime.’

For more on Dr Jessamy, you can visit her website: https://www.drjessamy.com
Or follow her @DrJessamy on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok

You can watch her TedX talk here: https://www.ted.com/talks/jessamy_hib...

Reviews

[روضـة المهيري · Rating 4 out of 5]

هذا الكتاب سيجعلك سعيداً
لكل منا أهداف قد يسعى الانسان لبلوغها والوصول للقمة لتحقيقها ، السعادة اُسلوب حياة وهي تقترن اقتران كبير بمزاج الفرد ، هذا الكتاب سيجعلك سعيداً عبارة عن مواقف وعبر ألهمت الناس وجعلت منهم أناس يتمتعون بالسعادة والايجابية للوصول لمبتغاهم
تحتاج السعادة المساعدة والسند من المرء لتحقق له متطلبات السعادة الابدية فإن كان الانسان متقناً لهذه الأمور التي ستجعله سعيداً فسينضم لقائمة الأشخاص الذين قرروا ان يعيشوا بسعادة ، تلال من المعرفة والسعادة الابدية قد لا يفارقك ما اذ قمت بقراءة هذا الكتاب .

[Alannah Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for anyone who is feeling low. The format is absolutely brilliant, it really gave a good kick up the bum to try these tips for feeling great in 2015.

[بيّان | Bayan · Rating 4 out of 5]

السلسله لهذه المجموعه جميعها مٌمتعه وتستحق شراءها 5/5

[Leigh Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ABCs of CBT.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy isn't right for everyone, but it does have its benefits. Sadly, the modality -- which is rooted in the idea that changing your thoughts and behaviors can change your mood -- is often warped into the obnoxious "Just be positive!" malarkey that makes you hit the "block so-and-so for 30 days" button on Facebook. Hibberd and Usmar's consumer-friendly, pocket-sized primer on CBT is a good place to start for curious readers open to experimenting with the technique.

The emphasis is on practical action, so this is more a book you DO rather than just read, if you want to get any benefit. One useful exercise is to write down all the things that make you happy each day. Note: HAPPY, not necessarily grateful (that's later in the book). Written out in detail, these lists are an excellent way to see if your life really is a shit-show, or if you're dwelling one one or two rotten things and ignoring all the lovely ones.

Chapter 4, "Making Time for Yourself," is a good primer for folks looking for practical ways to squeeze in more self-care; Chapter 10, "The Real Meaning of Life," is a great way to make a concrete action plan for your future. An overall lovely pick, with a resource list at the back for further reading/research. Recommended for all consumer health collections.

[Aziz Omair · Rating 3 out of 5]

هذا الكتاب جميل وخفيف على القارء . يوجد الكثير من النصائح المهمة في هذا الكتاب ,لكن الكتاب تأتي فائدته في الوقت الذي تقراء الكتاب فيه. أي ان الكتاب له فائدة كبيرة في حالة انك\ي في حالة يرثى لها , أو انك تحس في الإكتئاب . اذا ,هذا الكتاب الذي انصح به.
غير ذالك اذا لم يعجبك الكتاب في بداية الخمسة عشر صفحة من بداية الكتاب لا تكملة .
الفائده الكبرى من الكتاب فقط اذا انت في حالة يأس او عدم وضوح الأمور بالنسبة لك

[Tope D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really helpful

Very good strategies to help combat negative thoughts, think more positively about the self and situations.
Nice to have found some practical help that has made me feel a bit better about life and myself. I know I've got to keep doing the work to make it all stick, and will re-read to remind myself of the strategies and exercises.

Highly recommend.

[Weam Qattan · Rating 5 out of 5]

أعتبرته صديقي الذي يقوم بنصحي دائما وترتيب أفكاري... الذي يفهمني أكثر من نفسي ... الذي يبين لي حقيقة مشاعري ومخاوفي... حقيقي هو في كلماته ... شعرت وكأن روحاً حقيقه تحدثني... تحدثني وترشدني... أسعدني حقا الحديث معه وسوف أعود له قريبا فحديثه يقرأ مراراً وتكرارا...شكراً لروحك المخلصة ...كل دقيقه معك كانت دقيقه سعادة

[Mimouna · Rating 2 out of 5]

كتاب جيد حيث انه كُتب اعتماداً على العلاج السلوكي المعرفي والذي يُعتبر علاجاً ناجحاً للعديد من المشكلات المختلفه ، الهدف من الكتاب تعلّم اساليب عملية لمواجهة الافكار والمشاعر والسلوكيات السلبيه وتغييرها الى ايجابيه بإستخدام استراتيجيات تساعدك على الشعور بمزيد من السعادة.

[Felix Tejada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book but I thought it would be more easy, many things in the book really didn't make sense. It has good strategies to help you get out from you troubles.

[Isfp · Rating 4 out of 5]

النصائح المذكورة في الكتاب مفيدة جداً لمن هو قادر على تطبيقها، لكنني أجد التطبيق صعب بعض الشيء لكثرة الحاجة إلى الكتابة وفي دفتر منفصل.

[Hanny Wulandari Yasin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learning Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for my anxiety clearly from this book.

[Janna Adlawan · Rating 5 out of 5]

so amazing

[Katerina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved that is was light and easy to read. I like that this series of books has a variety to choose. Based on CBT techniques, definitely for anyone who wants to impove themselves. I recommend!

[zonthara · Rating 5 out of 5]

الكتاب جميل جدا
يعطيك طرق لتغلب على الأفكار السلبيه ومعالجة الاكتئاب
الكتاب مختصر ومفيد مافيه كلام كثير ماله داعي
انصح فيه وبقوه

[Adam Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Some very useful tips.

[Lilith Reading Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takes a while to finish, due to the exercises. But is a good read. Its deffo going to help me change my mind set.

[Fenix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book and funny

[Thalia Shizuka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical and straightforward

[Piggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's ok

[Fernando Fajardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Consejos básicos para vivivr una vida más feliz. Esperaba más del libro.

[faten · Rating 3 out of 5]

ربما لو قراته في وقت اخر. لشعرت انه اعظم كتاب ولكن اغلب المعلومات كانت ليست بالجديدة
اعتبره كتاب لطيف ومهم لمن هم مبتدئين بقراءه هذا النوع من الكتب

[nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book is so so so good ,
It gives you ways to control your mind and overcome negative thoughts ,
The book is abridged and useful ,
I recommend it ..🤞🏻

[Els · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who doesn't want to be happy? I read my fair share of "self-help books", partly because of my fascination with self development and productivity and partly because of my background in psychology and an interest in how pop-psych does stuff. This book, with it's sunny cover, lighthearted title, and just 160 pages, seemed a perfect book in between more serious reading. I hoped it would come with easy tips and practices on how to cultivate the happy things in your life.

I was wrong. This book is not about making yourself happy, this book is about depression and one of the common therapies given to people with depression: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). I was caught of guard by this, because depression is not just "not happy". It is a, often debilitating, disorder, which covers way more than just "a low mood". Also, the book states a few times that everyone can beat depression. How nice that may sound, this is simply just not true. It perpetuates a myth that if you just work hard enough, you won't be depressed anymore (which is a kind of victimblaming, and this kind of thinking is quite prevalent in Western society). Often, depression, especially the chronic kind (dysthymia, in the new DSM more clearly called persistent depressive disorder), can be managed by therapy and/or medication, but not "cured". Also, if you had one major depressive episode. Chances are, you'll have one again. The wikipedia article on depression can tell you more

However, of CBT* this book gives quite a good overview. It talks about how thoughts are not the truth, how you can recignize negative thoughts patterns and about how you can change those those thoughts. It mentions mindfulness and living in the moment, which can be a great help with mood disorders. It talks a lot about making time for yourself and actually planning those nice things (and one of their main examples of "something nice" is having a cup of coffee, and that I can get on board on). And about writing in your diary, really analysing when you felt what and what thoughts acompanied the feeling. This stuff can be helpful for everyone, also people who are not depressed.

I still think this book would've been nicer if it wasn't depression-focused, but it does give actual good advice in a nice, short, easy to read, format. And it gives you a good starting point for getting more into DIY CBT.



*The perv in me always reads this as "Cock and Ball Torture"; a common acronym in kink-minded communities.

This post first appeared on Reading the Thing.

[Alia Alhammadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a long break from reading English books, I decided to read this book. I loved this book so much, many emotions were felt when reading it. This book taught me a lot about how to control negative emotions and to be more positive, and be able to face my own problems. I really recommend this book for people who are suffering from depression, anxiety, and loneliness, it will help them a lot and teach them how to face their problems instead of running from it.

[Chris Torretta · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much in this that I highlighted that I could quote the entire book! A lot of this was information that I already have heard or knew but it is put in a different way. The entire cognitive behavioral therapy and negative automatic thoughts were my favorite.

Firstly, six years ago I suddenly realized that I didn’t have a positive thought in my skull! It was wearing me down. As I’m sure you can imagine. This goes into explain that negative thoughts, or what they call NAT’s are normal and everyone has them. The problem though is that some people have them ALL the time. See my sentence above. It took me a long time to learn how to deal with these thoughts. If I could have gone back in time I would just give myself this book!

Not only does it explain the NAT’s quite well but how to get rid of them! You know that annoying thought you keep going back to in times where you feel like you’re not really thinking about anything? Then WHAM it sinks into your skull and then you’re in a bad mood because you start spiraling! There’s an entire chapter just for how to, not only recognize those thoughts but how to make them go away!

Now, I’ve been working on that particular thing for about six years but the thoughts still pip in every once in a while. I do have a problem with spiraling once those thoughts hit though. This talks about how to negate that spiral and how to change your normal negative thinking into positive thinking.

There are also golden rules. Mostly things that I’ve heard before like how to never use the words “always and never” and how you can set yourself up for failure by not changing your thinking.

I do read a lot of self-help books for some reason. I think they are fun. I love to grow. Some I walk away knowing I didn’t take anything away but I didn’t lose anything but time. In this one, however, I am keeping it on my Kindle and may wind up getting it in paperback just so I have it handy. It’s good to have positive reinforcement to help ourselves with and to remind us that we are not as horrible as our inner thoughts say we are!

In short: Mired by your thoughts? Need a pick me up? This book is totally for you!

Received from publisher for an honest review.

4.5/5

[Chris Torretta · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much in this that I highlighted that I could quote the entire book! A lot of this was information that I already have heard or knew but it is put in a different way. The entire cognitive behavioral therapy and negative automatic thoughts were my favorite.

Firstly, six years ago I suddenly realized that I didn’t have a positive thought in my skull! It was wearing me down. As I’m sure you can imagine. This goes into explain that negative thoughts, or what they call NAT’s are normal and everyone has them. The problem though is that some people have them ALL the time. See my sentence above. It took me a long time to learn how to deal with these thoughts. If I could have gone back in time I would just give myself this book!

Not only does it explain the NAT’s quite well but how to get rid of them! You know that annoying thought you keep going back to in times where you feel like you’re not really thinking about anything? Then WHAM it sinks into your skull and then you’re in a bad mood because you start spiraling! There’s an entire chapter just for how to, not only recognize those thoughts but how to make them go away!

Now, I’ve been working on that particular thing for about six years but the thoughts still pip in every once in a while. I do have a problem with spiraling once those thoughts hit though. This talks about how to negate that spiral and how to change your normal negative thinking into positive thinking.

There are also golden rules. Mostly things that I’ve heard before like how to never use the words “always and never” and how you can set yourself up for failure by not changing your thinking.

I do read a lot of self-help books for some reason. I think they are fun. I love to grow. Some I walk away knowing I didn’t take anything away but I didn’t lose anything but time. In this one, however, I am keeping it on my Kindle and may wind up getting it in paperback just so I have it handy. It’s good to have positive reinforcement to help ourselves with and to remind us that we are not as horrible as our inner thoughts say we are!

In short: Mired by your thoughts? Need a pick me up? This book is totally for you!

Received from publisher for an honest review.
4.5/5

[Jennifer Melzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life's little cruelties sometimes makes me bitter and sarcastic, so when I saw the title of this book I, of course, laughed. My inner-cynic thought it was a huge joke. How can a book make anyone happy? Well, inner-cynic, lots of books have made us happy in the past, though most of them were fiction. Still, because I do have a soft spot for self-improvement, I wanted to give it a fair shake. If it was too hokey after the first twenty-five pages (about 1/6th of the book,) I could always decide not to finish reading it.

The thing is, it wasn't hokey. It had some moments that made me snort, but for the most part the authors strategies were sound. You're not going to get happy just from reading this book. The authors tell you right up front you're going to have to work at it. There is no magic wand, or some spell you can utter while waving your hands to make all the unhappiness go away. You have to do the work. You have to want to make the changes. And I do.

This is a book I will go back to more than once. There are exercises in each chapter, some of which include mind-mapping and journaling as you assess your emotional responses and general mood. I expected them to be silly, but they weren't. Taking time out to look at your life, your daily activities, the pleasure (or displeasure,) they bring you. Learning to incorporate things into your day that bring you pleasure. They talked about strategies for changing the way we react to situations by changing the way we think. Some of the examples they provided really hit home, reminding me of responses I'd had to similar situations. Because the thing is, once you've started a pattern of negative thought, it's really hard to break, but it can be broken.

It's worth it to me to work on improving the quality of my life, so if you're feeling unhappy I definitely recommend giving this book a try.

[Heather Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway in late 2014 along with three or four others and for some reason I just never got around to actually picking them up. In an effort to read more of my older books, I put it on my TBR for December 2017 and with it being a short book, I flew through it. What’s interesting is that I wouldn’t say that I needed this book right now, but when it first arrived I probably could’ve found it useful. I was in the midst of a daily battle with severe social anxiety and this book has some useful tips and tricks that could make a person very mindful and help them to see the things that trigger them, thus helping them to avoid those things more easily.

While being a short book, it’s packed with different chapters that walk you through a process to find what brings you joy. I didn’t actually try any of the techniques as I was reading through it because I’m actually in a really good place in my life right now and didn’t feel like I needed to do them. The action that stood out the most to me was keeping a diary of what you do each day and rating each action on a scale of 1-10. I think this is a super cool technique that would allow people to see exactly what makes them happy and what triggers them into a depressive episode.

If you’re curious about ways to improve your overall happiness, I’d say pick this book up. It doesn’t take long to read if you don’t try the exercises out and can be used in times of emergencies when you need to do something to help bring you back to a place where you’re more content.

[Eleanna Manesi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Όλοι έχουμε βρεθεί σε μια συναισθηματική κατάσταση όπου νιώθαμε δυστυχισμένοι και δεν αισθανόμασταν καθόλου χαρούμενοι. Το μικρό βιβλίο της χαράς μας βοηθάει να αμφισβητήσουμε τις αρνητικές μας σκέψεις, να διαχειριστούμε τα συναισθήματά μας, να υπερνικήσουμε το άγχος, να θέσουμε στόχους που δίνουν νόημα στη ζωή μας, να ξεπεράσουμε την αναβλητικότητα, να μάθουμε να χαλαρώνουμε.

“Τίποτα δεν είναι από μόνο του καλό ή κακό, αλλά η σκέψη μας το κάνει τέτοιο” (Σαίξπηρ, Άμλετ, Πράξη 2, Σκηνή 2)

Οι προτάσεις του βιβλίου στηρίζονται στον χάρτη εγκεφάλου. Σύμφωνα με τον χάρτη του εγκεφάλου κάθε γεγονός ή κατάσταση εξαρτάται από τέσσερα σημεία: συμπεριφορά, συναίσθημα, σωματική αντίδραση, σκέψεις. Η βασική αρχή είναι ότι όλα τα σημεία συνδέονται μεταξύ τους και και ότι το ένα εξαρτάται από το άλλο.

Επομένως άμα αλλάξετε έστω και ένα από τα τέσσερα σημεία στον χάρτη του εγκεφάλου σας μπορείτε να γίνετε πιο χαρούμενοι και να βρείτε λύσεις στα προβλήματά σας. Δοκιμάστε το.

[Melek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, this book was kinda cute.

On another note, I realized the main reason I keep reading these books (except the fact that I requested them on NetGalley, so I kind of have to anyway) is the writing style. I've never thought I would say this for a nonfiction book, but the writing just flows and I end up finishing the book. Which is funny, because that's not how a self-help book is supposed to work, but it does. Wow.

About the content, I'm not too sure what I'm thinking about it. At first, I thought it had nothing that I haven't read about online or on another book. Sure, that might be because I'm a little obsessed with the subject and I've spent a hell of a time reading on it, so it might actually be useful for someone who hasn't done the same, but it didn't work for me. It is nice, but it could be way better.

Overall, it was a 3.5/5 read.