Be Happy

This book is pretty cool. It's basically what it says on the tin: 35 ways to try and become happier in your life. I took a whole host of notes whilst reading this, and will try and implement those in my daily life because they seem really helpful and really forward-looking.

The format of the book is simple - you have an idea such as "patience", and then there are around three ideas underneath on how you can develop your relationship with patience in your daily life. For example, one of the ideas for "gratitude" is to keep a gratitude journal.

I was a little disappointed that this book didn't touch on any mental illness, although the author does say that it's not meant to be a 'fix'. As someone who has had depression (although obviously I can't speak for everyone!), I would say that this perhaps might not be the best gift for a friend like that, but it's a really good gift for yourself!

Overall, I really enjoyed going through this book and picking out the bits that I would find the most helpful. Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really found this book useful, I read it in a day and a bit because I just couldn't put it down.I asked to review it because I've been suffering with my depression and I thought it could be helpful and I was right. It's a good book to work your way through and I found it really useful.

Be Happy! by Rebecca Ray is like having a counsellor in your kindle. It is like walking with a friend putting the world to rights.There are four sections to the book: Choosing; Cultivating; Practicing; and Make Space For. Each of these sections have about nine different subjects - joy, values, setting boundaries and crises are just one example from each section.

Be Happy! really is a book for dipping in and out of, so as an example I will dip into each of the four sections.
The first is Choosing and today I choose courage. Ray gives insight on needing courage when things get hard, when we know the risks but we do it anyway and then - here’s the good bit - she gives homework. There are usually three or four activities or things to think through, for example she asks the reader to Get Clarity on Why: Know your why and courage has a reason to join you.

In the next section, Cultivating I really liked the topic Green Time - this is time in the week that recharges our batteries, red time is activity spent doing things or being with people that drains us. Her call to action is to make a list of red and green time activities and then consider the changes you’d make “if you were treating your mind, body and spirit according to your best sense of well being” can any red time activities be delegated or given up? Can you introduce more green time activities?

In the third section Practicing I copied out two sentences on breath that I will use in a guided meditation: Your breath is your constant: always with you and always available as an anchor when you come untethered. Come back to your breath to help you focus, slow down and gather yourself.
I love the light hearted way she later says that taking some time to breathe is a secret 60 second vacation from your day.

The final section is for the challenging stuff it is Make Space For. In Forgiveness Ray acknowledges that we want to hold onto resentment and hurt and there may never be adequate justice for the deep scars people have left. She explains that forgiveness is a way through the pain, it doesn’t fix it but relieves you of having to carry the burden of resentment, revenge and anger on top of the pain. An exercise is to practice letting go of the hurt caused and the person who caused it even if it is for just 30 seconds a day. Forgiveness is not forgetting it is letting go so that you can focus on your own healing, which is something you do have control over.

What a lovely book. It is not an alternative to therapy it is just a bit of insight from a wise person that you might want to talk through an issue with.

Be Happy! is an easy read, but full of ideas for the reader to think about, and ways to practice each of them. Very practical. I found myself writing several points down in my journal to revisit later.

Rebecca Ray talks about the components of happiness and the fact that 50% of our happiness is predetermined by our genetic make-up and our personality, 10% by things we THINK will add to our happiness (i.e. having a nice home, getting the job we wanted, etc.) and the remaining 40% of our happiness depends on our own choices and actions. That's a huge percentage to have under our control!

I love the way the book is set up. The graphics are very visually appealing, and the sections flow easily from one to another. It is easy to read this book in one sitting. Book sections include:
"Choosing - emotional states and values that help us to live full lives based on what's important to us deep down."
"Cultivating - habits and routines that provide for an architecture for a life of flourishing."
"Practicing - (over and over again) methods that create a well-being mindset.
"Making Space For - life when it gets hard, so you can face the many ways life trips you up without getting stuck"
At the end of each chapter ways are given to put these lessons to work and make them habits.

I want to thank NetGalley and Quarto Publishing for giving me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Inspiring and well thought out. Wasn’t typical self help, but more realistic in tone.

This was a cute little, cheerful book. It would make a great addition to my self help section.

This was very helpful and informative book. It gives great tips for being truly happy with things like practicing forgiveness. I found each and every page of this book extremely helpful and I would recommend this to anyone looking for help with true happiness or, like me, someone with anxiety.

This book is a guide in helping show you ways in which you can improve your mood, boost your positivity and be happier in your life.



The book shows us ways in engaging with others, accomplishing our goals and making time to practise our habit can have a long term healthy effect on us all. Keys focus points in this book are, joy, kindness, gratitude, courage and ways we can show them and make it a habit for ourselves to fall into and follow. From giving and receiving, reflecting and connecting with others to creating goals and overcoming procrastination to believe in ourselves despite our imperfections and lack of trust and hope at times.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

*thank you to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Rock Point for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.

This was a easy to follow little book about being happy. It has '35 Powerful Methods for Personal Growth & Well-Being'. So many people think that happiness is not having any thing going wrong and everything is just perfect. When in reality its not like that at all. This is quite a well designed book that is simple enough for pretty much anybody to read. It's also very pretty. The techniques on how to help yourself be happy are really good and make sense. This is a very helpful books and would make a great gift for somebody you care about or maybe for someone who has had it rough for a bit. This book is like a little bit of sunshine.

This book is dedicated to the nourishment of happiness. In particular, four key areas where happiness can blossom:

"CHOOSING emotional states and values that help us to live full lives based on what's important to us deep down

CULTIVATING habits and routines that provide the architecture for a life of flourishing

PRACTISING (over and over again) methods that create a well-being mindset.

MAKING SPACE FOR life when it gets hard, so you can face the many ways life trips you up without getting stuck"

I am one of those individuals who loves to meticulously organise their day and already has a miracle morning, night-time routine and multiple extensive to do lists that aims to maximise my productivity and fertilise a tranquil mindset. For that reason I was most looking forward to reading confirmations of my (albeit, small) progress in this areas. What I was dreading, whilst knowing it was the area I most needed help in, was the last section. I am great at making a plan and sticking to it but I come undone when the smallest of life's little hurdles intrudes. I don't deal well with change and even the thought of reading about dealing with potential changes had me sweating!

But this book delivered its advice in small, easy-to-action steps. The 35 methods proposed consisted of no more than three to four paragraphs each with an additional three to four step breakdown of how to carry this out. These methods varied from the concrete to the mental and I found something to take away from each.

Whilst this was not a mind-blowingly unique guide, it was a positive, instructional tool and delivered its advice in a personable and friendly manner. The steps felt achievable and the areas it covered were varied enough for all readers to learn something new. And also, any book that preaches the importance of self-care is a must-read, in my opinion.

Excellently organized and entertaining. A real winner for the publisher and the reader.

A nicely written book with lots of excellent advice. Indeed, I use several of these techniques myself already and I can confirm they really do work. A great read whether you're struggling and in a dark place, or just want to learn more about taking control of your own happiness.

In BE HAPPY! clinical psychologist Rebecca Ray uses a self-help type format to describe "35 Powerful Methods for Personal Growth & Well-Being." She advocates devoting a relatively small amount of time (perhaps 15 minutes per day) to nurture new habits, saying "these small actions will build up over time, and before you know it, a positive habit will have taken root."

Ray emphasizes developing positive emotions, using activities to become engaged, and promoting healthy relationships as well as a sense of meaning/purpose and accomplishment. She loosely groups her suggestions under the categories: Choosing, Cultivating, Practicing and Making Space (for ...). The introduction to each section is cheerful and colorful and they could easily provide inspirational posters (a few images on amazon). The "Choosing" section, for example, notes joy, gratitude, kindness, patience, laughter, the bright side, courage, self-love and flow. There is a brief quote from a well- known person about each method, a page or so of explanation and, again, suggested activities. This book's relatively short format would coincide with the school year (basically one method per week) and our homeroom advisors or resource teachers might find value in discussing and reinforcing a new habit (cultivating rest and sleep, making space for imperfection, etc.) on a weekly basis.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Be-Happy-Powerful-Personal-Well-Being/dp/1631064894/

Being happy is exponentially more than I thought and my thorough reading of this book has blown my mind and left me smiling. A book to make you think, change and be happy.

This book shows us how to do something small everyday to increase our happiness. It is an enjoyable light read.

This is a small book that covers so many aspects of happiness in a way that makes it easy to read and refer back to the areas that you wish to return to.It is set up in three parts: choosing, cultivating, practicing and making space for.
I’ve looked at a few books similar to this, and I believe this is one of the best. The author condensed all this information in such a way that you don’t have to read twenty pages to end up with one fact. Not only that, but she has included suggestions on things you can do right now. Sometimes, I wish more self help books were like this. Have you ever read a book that makes one good point on page 10 and the next one is on page 80 with too much unneeded page filler between the two? It is a bit annoying that it isn’t easy to refer back to the pertinent information.

A very good book full of interesting advice and resourceful.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and Netgalley

Be Happy! by Rebecca Ray is a workbook of cultivating time and hacks to do things that will help increase happiness. Each page has quotes, a brief paragraph lesson or instructions, and activities and questions to answer. I suggest buying this book instead of borrowing because you'll want to write and journal in it.

A new book on how to be happy! Yes, please!

BE HAPPY is the new book by Dr. Rebecca Ray, a clinical psychologist, on how to create more happiness and well-being in your life with specific habits, based on:

a) the science behind happiness and

b) the author's clinical experience.

In the words of Dr. Ray:

              "Thriving is a psychological state that doesn't just rely on positive feelings like happiness but on the daily choices we make."

Doesn't that make you feel empowered? To know that there are some things that you control (at least 40%) in order not only to survive but to thrive?How is the book structured?

The book is divided into four sections:

CHOOSING (emotional states and values that help us to live full lives based on what’s important to us deep down)

CULTIVATING (habits and routines that provide the architecture for a life of flourishing)

PRACTICING (methods that create a well-being mindset)

MAKING SPACE FOR (life when it gets hard, so you can face the many ways life trips you up without getting stuck)

At the end of each chapter, there is a section titled Make A Habit of… where the author gives us specific habits that we may adopt that will make an actual difference in our everyday lives. This is where we put these lessons to work and look at ways we can cement positivity into our everyday lives.

There are many books on happiness but what I found different in this book is the fact that it is chock full of advice in a concise and clear manner (like bullet points). There is  some theory but, most of all, is full of practical ideas and suggestions to live a life of thriving. To be honest, I've made a lot of notes in my notebook and for the first week or so, I would read them again and again! What I absolutely loved that it left me empowered that, by developing habits and changing my mindset, I was in charge of my own happiness in spite of various circumstances. It is a book worthy of your investment in time and money as I am sure that you are going to read it again and again!

Being happy is a complicated thing. It's not easy to achieve and not continous. The best we can do is try to strive for it every day and this book does a good job with it. It includes several examples to do that and explains why/how they work. Definitely a book to read if you're looking for ways to be happy.

This is a cute easy to read self help book. There is not a lot of new information but it is presented in a clear easy to follow format. The author does offer many suggestions on how to try and achieve happiness. Enjoy

In Be Happy!, Dr Rebecca Ray introduces us to 35 different strategies for cultivating happiness. Over the course of the book, she is careful to stress that 'happiness’ is a transient emotion, and what we are really seeking is improved quality of well-being. The techniques are broken into 4 sections- choosing, cultivating, practising, and making space for.

Choosing gives tips on turning your focus to important virtues. Topics include: laughter, gratitude, courage and self-love, Cultivating turns that focus to different areas of our lives. Topics include: rest and sleep, a calm environment, and your values. Practising is mostly about learning to be mindful and open in our lives. Topics include: creativity, forward momentum, and setting boundaries. The final area- Making Space For gives tips and tricks to improve quality of life. Topics include: imperfection, holding onto pain, and forgiveness.

Many of these strategies I was already aware of, but not all. Even so, the way Dr Ray has arranged everything, so neatly laid out, it was a pleasure to read. These tips and tricks are easy and accessible. Reading it prompted my to restart gratitude journal, and turn it into a meme/ tag for my blog. Highly recommended for any looking to better themselves, and improve their coping skills.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Quarto Publications for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A realistic yet optimistic book. Be Happy seeks to help readers boost their mood through positivity.

This book was awesome and I felt like it was written especially for me! I feel like that makes the whole reading experience way more enjoyable. I loved the tips and tricks the author put throughout the book. Rebecca Ray is definitely going to be an auto-buy author from this day forward.

This was a great book to start my 2019 reading with. A great way to reflect on last year and set myself up for a successful new year. An easy read that was enjoyable - when some "self help" books are brutal to get through. Each step in this book was thought out and straight forward. No repetition.

A great book to dip in and out of which gives great tips and encourages new habits to increase happiness.