Happy Not Perfect

This book takes an empathetic approach and gives bite size approaches and allows you to have kindness and patience with yourself when dealing with life. This is so necessary for everyone to read in life. Highly recommend. Especially loved the reflection to true life to humanize my feelings and relate. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Happy Not Perfect gave many good insights and tips on how to approach life feeling imperfect, would recommend everyone to give this a read.

I’m not typically a person that will pick a self help book above other things, but this was a nice change of pace!
Happy Not Perfect is a book that challenges people to be flexible with their thinking. We often find ourselves fixated on things that do not serve us, or we hide the qualities that make us unique, all while putting up a false front to appear happier for people that are probably just as miserable. This is a book that suggests maybe it’s better to take a step back to analyze our negative thoughts instead of drowning in them.

I found this book to be highly relatable and fun to read! It isn’t preachy or obnoxious, which is what usually keeps me from reaching for most self help type things. This book probably won’t tell you a lot you don’t already know (especially if you’re interested in bettering yourself and have already begun the research/therapy to do so), but it is a wonderful guide to reinforce positive thinking patterns. I give Happy Not Perfect 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for this eARC for an honest review!

Poppy Jamie's Happy Not Perfect helps us better understand our feelings and how to manage them. Poppy starts by talking to us about her core beliefs that have been toxic, including where these came from and how they have affected her life and struggle to try to achieve perfection. She talks to us in a casual, real way that is easy to relate to. There are also some great inspirational quotes sprinkled throughout the book that tie in to the topics Poppy presents.
She continues the book by discussing some reality checks she discovered she needed in order to break out of the struggles she was having. Her stories help us connect our own internal battles with the ones we have had, and we pick up some ways to change the way we can handle these to improve our futures! Poppy touches on the topic of our brains and they way they are wired, which can definitely cause us a lot of problems if we don't understand it. The power of thought is so interconnected to the quality of our lives, and she talks about the thoughts we have about the stories we tell our selves and those others tell for us. All of these have a cumulative effect on our mindset, and therefore the way we live and what we tell ourselves as we live each day.
Powerful mantras, flexible thinking, tips for investigating thoughts (including ANTs/automatic negative thoughts), and learning to show ourselves love are other topics Poppy covers. I found the 'flexercises,' ways to flex your brain power to your own benefit, to be really positive and helpful! I enjoyed this book a lot & found it to be very authentic and inspirational. It gives a lot of helpful tools to get past barriers we have set up for ourselves that are keeping us from finding a greater happiness.