Review: The Five Thieves of Happieness

Title The Five Thieves of Happiness
By John Izzo
Genre Self Help/Nonfiction
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
What's keeping you from being happy? Does happiness come from outside sources or is it something found within. This book talks about five things that are stealing your happiness and what you can do to stop them and live a happy life.

First Sentence
A Thief is someone who steals what's rightfully ours.






(No Friday Flicks today. I saw Death Wish and, well, I figured you didn't care to hear about that one. It's a Bruce Willis movie. 'nuff said.)

In spite of my reading slump, I am making it through a few books. It didn't hurt that this one was so short. My friend recommended it and I'm glad she did.

Who doesn't want more happiness in their life? This book is great! It's short, not overly preachy, and actually has actions you can take. I've talked about how I hate when self help books just talk about your problem rather than offering solutions.

I loved how this book promoted open mindedness. It was my favorite thing about it. But I also thought it had a lot of truth in it. The thieves he talks about really do rob us of happiness. How do I know that? Because they've been robbing me of happiness my whole life!

Excellent little book. I'd highly recommend it to get you thinking.

Review: The Way of the Superior Man

Title The Way of the Superior Man
By David Deida
Genre Adult self help non fiction
Format Audio
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
See second part of title. A Spiritual guide to mastering the challenge of women, work, and sexual desire.

First Sentence
It's Never going to be over, so stop waiting for the good stuff.







I know most of you could care less what I have to say about his book. I know it's not the typical type of book us book bloggers tend to read. But I liked it enough to decide I wanted to review it and also to let you know it's not what it looks like.

I bet this book doesn't consider itself a "self help" book. It calls itself a spiritual guide. Which probably turns a lot of people off. My husband would call it, hippy-dippy mumbo jumbo, if he looked at the title. And while it is a bit "hippy-dippy" I found it much more "self help" then it probably wants to be considered.

As you can see from the title, this book is written for men. I heard it was a very good insight into men so I decided to read it.

My conclusions are this: This is a self help book. It offered insights into women that made me cry because they were so spot on (for me). It also does have this beautiful spiritual guide side. It talks about the feminine and masculine in all of us. Yes. Men aren't just masculine and women aren't just feminine. We are both. I could see so clearly the feminine in myself for the first time in my life and to have it explained in the way he explained it made me cry. I guess the masculine in me isn't very in tune with the feminine because, damn, I'm hard on myself.

Anywho! This was a beautiful book and it opened my eyes and mind to new ideas and for that I loved it.

As a side note, I listened to this one and the one I listened to said it was The Teaching Lessons so there's a good chance I didn't hear the complete book??? I'm not sure. I'm tempted to buy the print book so I can see if it's the same as the audio I listened to.

Should you read it
 If you want an inside look at the feminine and masculine in both yourself and your significant other, I'd highly recommend it. It's very easy to read and understand.

Review: You Are A Badass

Title You are a Badass: How To Stop Doubting Your Greatness And Start Living An Awesome Life
By Jen Sincero
Genre Nonfiction Self Help
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Um, See the big long title of the book and that about sums it up.


First Sentence
Many years ago I was in a terrible bowling accident.







I actually bought this book at a thrift store to send to my friend as a "sort of" joke. But mostly because I believe she is a badass who sadly doesn't quite see herself that way.  Of course I decided to read it before sending it to her to make sure it wasn't completely stupid. And I was pleasantly surprised.

It's another "law of attraction" book like The Secret. But where The Secret fails to talk about taking action in controlling the universe, this one has all the awesomeness of The Secret with a more realistic, take action approach.

I loved the set up of each chapter as well. She talks about a subject and then has several tips/directions for action which I loved. As much as I like common issues we all face being pointed out and giving me something to think about, I also want answers; a "how to" of getting over said issues. You know? So this one was perfect for me.

Some of these types of books aren't understandable. Which is pretty sad. If a self help book can't even be understood how can it offer help? This book was easy to read. Had a great set up and the author had a good voice.

I know self help books aren't for everyone but I don't go into self help books because I'm unhappy with my life and desperately seeking help. I read them because I like looking at things in a different way.

I seriously loathe that people are brought up a certain way by their parents or community or religion and taught to think a certain way and they go their whole lives thinking one thing one way. How sad is that?!  If they never get out of their ingrained belief system how limited their experience. How much they miss!

Sorry, rant over. It just comes from my soul. I believed a certain way for so long and am just waking up and realizing there's this whole world of different opinions and guess what? They're not wrong. They're just different. I love kicking my old stubborn beliefs in the butt and telling them to shut up while I look at things in a new light.

And that's why I loved this book. It was another opinion. Another view on things. If I'm lucky, I glean the useful and move on to other experiences and ways of thinking and learn from those too.

I loved this book so much, that I told my friend if she doesn't like it to send it back to me. It's one I want on my shelf.

Should you read it
Yes!

Review: The Secret

Title The Secret
By Rhonda Byrne
Genre Non Fiction/Self Help
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of The Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it.(From Goodreads)

Ya'll remember when this book came out right? It seemed like everyone was talking about it and then they made a movie (which I haven't seen) and it surged in popularity again. Well, if you haven't heard of it it's basically about The Law of Attraction. You know, what you think about you make reality. 

In the end I gave this book five stars because I think there's definitely something to this theory. I've seen it happen in my own life in certain areas. It's pretty cool and also pretty sad when you see how much negativity and sadness you can draw to yourself. 

While I was reading this I was slapped in the face with what a horrifically negative thinker I am and if nothing else, came away from it determined to think more positively and draw more beautiful happy things into my life. 

The book was written in a really hokey way. You can almost hear the narrator saying the cliched, "I did it and you can too!". For a book trying to share a secret that has helped out tons of people I wished it hadn't been presented in such a self help/motivational tone. 

So do I believe I can make myself a millionaire just by thinking about it and sitting back and watching the money come in? No. I have my own opinions about how The Secret works but I thought there was some truth in these pages and I liked how it encouraged me to be more positive, grateful and loving. Can't really fault a book that does that, can you? 

Should you read it

At just under 200 pages, I think it's worth a read for sure.  

Review: The Happiness Project

Title The Happiness Project
By Gretchen Rubin
Genre Self help
Pages 292

Synopsis
Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. “The days are long, but the years are short,” she realized. “Time is passing, and I’m not focusing enough on the things that really matter.” In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.
In this lively and compelling account—now updated with new material by the author—Rubin chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Among other things, she found that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that money can help buy happiness, when spent wisely; that outer order contributes to inner calm; and that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference. (From Goodreads)

First Sentence
I'd always vaguely expected to outgrow my limitations.

What it has going for it
I've been hearing about this book for years it seems like. I was intrigued. I'm not the most happy, optimistic person in the world so I thought it might have at least a line or two of advice. Mostly the book reads as a autobiography of Gretchin Rubin for a year. She organized each month to have a certain goal and then had smaller goals each month to reach her ultimate goal. Mostly, I thought her goals were great and each were things I think most people would benefit by reaching for. I've heard some nasty reviews on this book and poor Gretchin herself. Things like: "She's a privileged rich girl who doesn't understand the real trials of life". Ouch! I, however, think those people missed the mark. The goals that the author sets for herself are totally doable for anyone, in any situation of life. Things like de-cluttering, exercising, being kinder to you spouse and kids, and focusing a little more on things that make you happy all sound doable to me. I particularly liked how she talked about how happiness comes from growth. I couldn't agree more. When I'm not learning something knew or growing and maturing, I feel stagnant and grouchy. That idea I can get behind!

What's lacking
Like most of these books, I didn't find any mind blowing revelations. There was nothing new and groundbreaking. Which isn't surprising, considering the author researched happiness from books that have already been written. Still, it offered her opinion and everyone has an opinion and sometimes that opinion coming from a certain person is just what you need. My biggest issue with the book was that I didn't feel like the author really changed much in the whole year and I don't think she's going to stick to any of her goals so...what was the point?

Yea or Nay?
If you enjoy these sorts of books and are looking for some ways to be more happy, I'd recommend this one. If you need something more drastic, maybe skip it and go straight for a trip to Bali to meditate your way to happiness....I think I might need to do that.