Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: happiness habits, practicing happiness, solutions focus, Law of Attraction, The Garden-Cultivate Nourishing Relationships, Life Inspired (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to the World Health Organization, the year 2020 will see depression become second only to heart disease in terms of the global burden of illness, a sad state of affairs that motivational speaker Shimoff (co-author, Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul) believes can be changed by learning to cultivate "a happiness that’s beyond reasons and that’s here to stay." Inner happiness, she says, is within reach for anyone who can turn down the volume on their hectic lives and learn the 21 Happiness Habits that Shimoff has cultivated from 100 interviews with "deeply happy" people (including actress Goldie Hawn and author Elizabeth Gilbert). Emphasizing a holistic approach, Shimoff takes into account mind, heart, body and soul in seven chapters that cover three Happiness Habits each, as well as corresponding anecdotes that "define what it means to be Happy for No Reason." The personal stories of happy interviewees prove enlightening, and the princples they support are sound and commonsensical ("Focus on the solution," "Make peace with yourself," "Question your thoughts," "Practice forgiveness"), if not exactly groundbreaking. Exercises and quizzes give readers practical steps toward their goal, such as breathing exercises (Spring Forest Qigong) and writing assignments ("Write a letter to your Higher Power").
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Review

"This book is a wonderful collection of techniques and examples, shared by people who have had one of the most important realizations I think we can have -- that we already have within us the ability to live in a state of Happy for No Reason." -- Lindsay Wagner, Emmy Award-winning actress, The Bionic Woman --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1 edition (January 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141654772X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416547723
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (223 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,438 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Happy for No Reason, June 15, 2009

By	doglover22 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out (Paperback)

Written by the author of the best-selling "Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul", this is one of the most popular happiness books around. While the author isn't a bona fide positive psychology researcher, that's not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to happiness books. Some people think that the best happiness books are written by the positive psychology researchers themselves- because they know the info the best. On the other hand though, there are excellent happiness books around written by non-happiness researchers, such as "Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World" -penned by a physical therapist who began studying happiness after wondering how some of his patients in the hospital could be so happy- despite being so sick or faced with a grave prognosis. I guess its nice sometimes to get a non-happiness researcher's point of view to avoid the inherent biases they have when they discuss and write about their own research. Anyway, you be the judge- on to the book.

The idea presented is to get the reader to become "Happy for No Reason"- which the book defines as true happiness that isn't dependent on external circumstances. You can then take a questionnaire to see how close you are to being "Happy for No Reason."

So if you're not quite there yet, how does the book intend to get you there? By several ways:

-you'll learn three guiding principles that will help you get past the common blocks to happiness

-you'll learn how to apply the "Law of Attraction" to being happier (the author was featured in the mega-bestseller "The Secret" which focuses on this law)

-you'll learn about a seven-step program to become "Happy for No Reason". Each step has three "Happiness Habits" with corresponding exercises.

-the author interviewed 100 happy people and shares 21 of their stories that define what it means to be "Happy for No Reason"- stories reminiscent of the "Chicken Soup" series.

In conclusion, there's plenty of value in this book. Happiness books written for the popular read seem to fall into one of two general categories. They're either mainly based on scientific evidence and give you research-tested techniques OR they primarily give you advice and things to think about to help you "reframe" your thinking. "Happy for No Reason" seems to fit in the latter category- and for that I have no trouble recommending it.

260 of 350 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Many reasons to read this book, December 29, 2007

By	Joe Tye "Head Coach, Values Coach America" (Iowa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I first saw the title, "Happy for No Reason," I'll have to admit that my initial reaction was that this would be just one more new age, touch-feely, full-of-fluff feel-good book. So I was very pleasantly surprised to see how thoroughly-researched, well-written, and down-to-earth practical this book is. "Happy for No Reason" is a groundbreaking philosophy that belongs in the same category as the work of David Burns (cognitive mood therapy), Martin Seligman (learned optimism), Daniel Goleman (emotional intelligence) and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (flow). It is a brilliant blend of scientific research summarized in language that anyone can understand plus stories from people Marci calls the Happy 100, people who are role models of happiness for the sake of happiness, not because of love or money or other exogenous factors.

I was so impressed with this book that I gave copies to each of my children as Christmas gifts this year. I'm hoping they will read it with a pen or highlighter in hand, which is what I found myself doing - and would recommend to you as well. It's easy to be unhappy, which might be why so many people are. Watch TV for an hour and you'll have a hundred reasons to not be happy; it's nice to know that you can choose to be happy for no reason at all.

29 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, Yes...But Not the Best in Getting and Staying Happier, March 7, 2009

By	Word Lover (On Location) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out (Paperback)

I have read more of the happiness literature than most people because of a work assignment. Granted, by the time I got to this one, much of the information was not new anymore. But when evaluating a book or manuscript, it's helpful to look at it as if it were the first of its type you have picked up.
Happy for No Reason is good, but there are better "happy" books out there. Good promotion is taking this one far. Better by a long shot are STUMBLING ON HAPPINESS (Daniel Gilbert), HAPPY AT LAST: THE THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO FINDING JOY (Richard O'Connor), and AUTHENTIC HAPPINESS (Martin Seligman).