Customer Reviews

The Happiness Solution: Finding Joy And Meaning In An Upside Down World

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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By Sofia Steryo-Bartmus, Author, "Paws of Wisdom"- Valuable Lessons We
Can Learn From Our Pets

Stories are the best way to make a point and Dr. Gettis does that so well. Everyone will find a story which they can relate to. Therefore, through a collection of easy and simple advice you can use, this book will take you to the next level of happiness regardless of where you are now. Each story will add value to your life through perspectives you may not have thought about before. It is a book you can read over and over. Read a chapter or two at a time as a daily devotion and then apply what you learned.

We all have challenges in life, but it is how we perceive them that will make us happy or unhappy. There are too many illustrations to mention here, but I liked the question asked in one of the chapters: How can I be happier? And the answer? Consider the Chinese Parable: If you want
happiness for a year, inherit a fortune, if you want happiness for a lifetime, help others...What a great advice!

Not only did I enjoy the book very much, I also learned a lot about myself. I recommend it to everyone, young and old, happy or unhappy. There is no one who would not benefit from at least one new idea for more happiness in this Upside down World!

The Happiness Solution by Dr. Alan Gettis isn't the type of book you buy, read a few pages and wind up saying, "Oh well." This is a profound and powerful book that you will want to read from cover to cover. You will put it on your shelf and reread it in a month, or reluctantly, you may loan it to a friend with the stipulation that you must have it back!

I'm a confessed devotee of Dr. Gettis's unique healing philosophy and wit. His first book, Seven Times Down, Eight Time Up, has served me and my patients for years. I'm a psychologist who works with anxiety and depression; people who long for solace and happiness in their lives. At some point, every one of my patient gets introduced to Dr. Gettis's writing. I do this because Dr. Gettis looks at life differently. His gift is to be able to distill the essence of why we struggle and then, using parables, anecdotes, and humor (that I guarantee will have you laughing out loud), offers the reader an honest-to-goodness solution. There's only one word to describe this book, "intoxicating!" It is truly a reading `high,' that will change you, buoy you up, and get you to believe that happiness isn't something that happens to someone else-it's something that you generate!

Dr. Joe Luciani

"The Happiness Solution: Finding Joy and Meaning in an Upside Down World" is a self-help guide by clinical psychologist Dr. Alan Gettis is a self-help guide that blends cognitive behavioral therapy and Zen wisdom. Structured in the format of very short vignettes, each with a lesson, "The Happiness Solution" encourages the reader to take control of his or her emotions for an improved quality of life. From giving oneself permission to be happy now, rather than wait for self- imposed conditions to trigger happiness ("I'll be happy when I'm married," or "I'll be happy when I get promoted"), to the importance of learning to lighten up and enjoy the gift of humor, "The Happiness Solution" offers valuable insight in the amusing form of parables. One insightful story tells of two shoe salesmen sent to a Pacific island; one writes his boss saying "Coming home tomorrow. No one here has shoes." and the other writes "I'll be here for a long time. No one here has shoes!" Helpful, amusing, and steeped in insight, "The Happiness Solution" is highly enjoyable simply to browse through even for readers who are already content with their lives.

Reading this book is like going to visit my favorite uncle when I was a kid. The family would sit around the kitchen table and listen to my uncle's stories, jokes and pearls of wisdom. No matter how bad I might have felt when we left to go to his house i always felt uplifted on the way home.

Dr. Gettis has a way of taking some of the most profound philosophical and religious ideas and making them practical and usable in our daily lives. No pie in the sky here.

The Happiness Solution is a compilation of two or three paged anecdotal stories and life lessons. It's a wonderful book to sit down and read straight through, but is also a great source of quick inspiration when you just flip open the book to any given page. The book covers subjects from giving and gratitude to courage, faith, and optimism.

Well-timed for our slumping economy and the financial pressures facing many people today, The Happiness Solution serves as a reminder that we are responsible for creating our own sense of well-being and joy, despite what might be happening around us. Five Stars.

...so I could give this book (4) four thumbs up!

"At last, happiness' rubber meets the road! The Happiness Solution is a wonderful blend of the teachings of The Law of Attraction, Far East philosophy and Positive Psychology. I highly recommend this book to all and will be rereading it soon." - Donald A. Wilhelm, Author of This Time's a Charm; Lessons of a Four-Time Cancer Survivor

The Happiness Solution is subtitled Finding Joy and Meaning in
an Upside Down World. The author's premise is that happiness is
not an elusive 'something' you'll have if you're lucky--but
it's a quality of life everyone can find and learn to
experience.

There's an Indian proverb: "Tell me a fact and I'll learn. Tell
me the truth and I'll believe. But tell me a story and it will
live in my heart forever." This book isn't some psychologist's
textbook about the science of happiness. It's more like a
friend's journal, in which he shares anecdotes and stories
about happiness.

It's not a book that's stuffy and hard-to-read. It contains
over 80 short chapters, each one focussing on an anecdote or a
quotation. I love these: they make me think about my own life.
Here are a couple of quotes that made me ponder:

"Everyone dies, but not everyone lives." (Zoe Kaplowitz)

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you
do are in harmony." (Mahatma Gandhi)

In one chapter, I came across two little anecdotes that made me
think:

"If one places gnats inside a test tube and closes the top, at
first the gnats try to jump out and each time they hit the
closed top. After about an hour, they give up and one can open
the top and the gnats will remain put and eventually die of
hunger." Have I given up because of some past negative
experiences?

"In India, elephant keepers train baby elephants to stay put by
tying a rope, with a stake on the one side, round one leg and
placing the stake in the ground. The baby elephant pulls and
pulls on the rope to no avail. This teaches the elephant that
no matter what he does, he cannot get away when attached to the
rope. Later, when the elephant is grown up and the keeper wants
the elephant to stay put, all he does is tie a small piece of
rope on that leg and the giant elephant is held in place by his
own mind." And I think: to what extent am I being held in
place--limited and bound--by my own mind? Have I "learned" to
not be happy unless I have this possession or that relationship
or these experiences happening just right?

I like the book. It's Zen and psychology and practical. It
challenged me to not settle for less than what is possible.

Dr. Gettis has written another profound (and easy) read. Anyone who has ever felt lost, alone, discouraged or sad, will find valuable insights into life's quandries. Through stories and histories, Dr. Gettis shows the reader how they can take responsibility for their thoughts, feelings and behavior. This is a good book for the professional and the lay, and Oprah should put this book on her list!

Dr. Alan Gettis is a masterful story teller. In this remarkable book he succeeds in weaving together a series of stories designed to gently lead his readers to happiness. many of the stories are funny. all the stories are designed to uplift the consciousness of his readers. He has an excellent way of suggesting a shift in values from competition and strain to peace and kindness. Yest, the reader doesn't feel bullied into being happy. Rather, he or she leaves with ideas about how to just be happier. I cannot think of a better book on this topic.

WOW! Simple. Easy to read. Makes you smile..laugh...learn. After reading this book...you will have read " A manual for living live". If you have to read only 1 book this year....Make it this one.