In an age where happiness is increasingly put on the back burner in wake of earning that pay raise or finding the right time for a break, it was such a relief to stumble across this gem by Rebecca Ray. Her methods of increasing happiness are more than enough evidence for the fact that doing something small every day can make life a brighter animal to exist within. I know this is definitely one I will be returning to over the next few months with university stress being what it is. What a fabulous book!

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.

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/

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.

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

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.

I'm still trying to figure out self help type of books. They are very hit and miss with me. Again I liked how this was an easy to follow format with breaking things down into different sections but I don't think the way things were written were for me.

*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 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!

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

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

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.

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.

This is a more serious book on the business of being happy, and is focussed around key topics. I think I would have liked it to be more colourful with more short quotes and artwork to give that extra feel good vibe. I think it would be most useful for people who are not actually happy to start with, and could help to lift them a bit. It isn't the type of book I would keep on my desk for a quick dip in here and there. It is quite instructional and is full of well known and used exercises and ideas for giving yourself a lift. Overall a good book that will be useful to many people. Thank you

The idea of having an interactive self-help/happiness book is great-it will engage the reader to improve their life. However, I felt like a lot of the ideas have been overused in the past year or so, which is a pity as those ideas mixed with the play-as-you-go chapters may have worked for a lot of people.

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.

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!