Roses & Thorns

Roses & Thorns

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

100 Ways to Happiness: A Guide for Busy People by Dr. Timothy J. Sharp

Blurb:

A Hundred Ways to Happiness makes positive psychology, the newest branch of psychology, available to the general public through bite-sized chunks of inspiration and instruction. 100 chapters guide the everyman through strategies incorporating their body, mind, relationships, habits and outlook to maximize well-being and happiness. Dr Tim Sharp, a leading clinical psychologist and media personality, takes away the scientific stigma of self-help texts and makes happiness available to everyone, particularly those short on time who can simply dip into the book when they need a lift.

Review:

100 Ways to Happiness is a so-so self-help book, and I would not recommend it. Dr. Sharp, whom the author info in the book itself states has a masters degree, apparently uses the title of ‘doctor’ and possibly with every right, but unbeknownst to me. I always check out the author first, and this particular detail was my first indication this book was not what I expected it to be, whether this was a result of misinformation or not.

Sharp is somewhat repetitive in his attempt to encourage various paths to happiness. Although there was little new in it for me, it did re-enforce my established thoughts on how important it is to act positively, de-clutter one’s life, sort problems, deny denial, etc. The one appealing idea in it for me was to create a “happy hour” everyday for myself. This I like in theory. However, as much as I like this idea, I don’t believe one can create happiness on demand for an hour. If one is able to do this, then there is no reason one cannot transition it into a happy day, happy life. Happiness is a way of being that requires more a mind-set of selection than creation. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” This is the way I believe happiness works for the most part on a daily basis, although certainly at times tragic events skew all attempts for happiness. This is not necessarily a negative component of life as one might question if it is even possible to appreciate happiness to the fullest extent if emotions counter to happiness are never experienced.

Thanks for visiting, Rose, Julie, Donna, & Rochelle

Length:  168 Pages

Prices:
Print:  $9.57
Digital:  $9.11

Buy Link: