| ||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Happiness Plan: Simple Steps to a Happier Life for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
“Carmelwill convince you to put happiness back on the agenda – right back in the centre of your life. As always, the timing of her message is spot on and her down-to-earth practical plan will get you making changes instantly.”
Fiona Harrold , author of Be Your Own Life Coach and The 7 Rules of Success
Just as the "culture" of an organisation determines whether it is a happy place to work, so the cast of mind of an individual can determine if they are happy or glum. Carmel McConnell is great at altering mind-sets."
Prue Leith OBE
“The perfect manual for those who have already set of in search of the holy grail of happiness and wondered why they got no further than the frozen foods section at Sainsbury's.”
Allison Ogden-Newton, Chief Executive, Social EnterpriseLondon
“Filled with Camel McConnell's motivating energy and her affirming and realistic approach to life, this book can and will change lives."
Kim Price, Head of Extended Services , MillfieldsCommunitySchooland Children's Centre, Hackney
"Carmel McConnell is one of these people who has the amazing knack of helping you see that you are in charge of your life and therefore you have the possibility to make it better. 'The Happiness Plan' offers practical, compelling advice spoken from the heart.
Anna MacLean, Marketing Manager, Tennent's Lager (Inbev UK Ltd)
Product Description
The pursuit of happiness is the biggest goal of all, but finding happiness isn't easy and life often gets in the way. Happiness doesn’t just happen, people need a clearer vision of attainable happiness, defined in simple terms - people need a plan.
The Happiness Plan is therefore well timed. It offers an accessible set of simple observations about how any individual can be happier, here and now, by choice, self-awareness and practice. By asking provocative questions, McConnell involves the reader in a process of defining happiness according to his or her own values.
This book strongly advocates an approach to greater happiness here and now, without leaving the day job, switching the family to the coast or becoming impoverished. The Happiness Plan is written for hard working, time poor people, helping them to make some real changes with the right ideas
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've just read The Happiness plan, a very postive and optimistic read. My life isn't exactly hard going but Im more than ready to improve things, and the book is good on the simple things you can do to feel happier in yourself, through practice. I especialy agree with the idea that happiness is always a very personal thing. It has helped me get a handle on the possibility of a happier life without any external changes. Reccommended.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you are like me then you have a busy life, work hard in the week and then pack your weekends with all the things on your to do list. But when was the last time you prioritised being happy!
It is something we quite often don't really think about - how happy am I overall? But this book got me really thinking about the positive ways I can be happier and focused me on my happy times and how to make more of them. It also made me appreciate the things I already have that I take for granted.
I would greatly recommend this book if you would like to invest just a little time in yourself resulting in a happier you! As a bonus it is also very easy to read, with practical exercises that engage you and some interesting quotes.
It is something we quite often don't really think about - how happy am I overall? But this book got me really thinking about the positive ways I can be happier and focused me on my happy times and how to make more of them. It also made me appreciate the things I already have that I take for granted.
I would greatly recommend this book if you would like to invest just a little time in yourself resulting in a happier you! As a bonus it is also very easy to read, with practical exercises that engage you and some interesting quotes.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
44 reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Overwhelming
21 July 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
As a counselor I read a lot of books about positive psychology, not to mention a lot about depression. And, in general, the goal of most of these books is to have the reader develop and embrace a new life plan that will make them feel better, i.e. be happier. So when I read a book like this I read it for potential clients to use and I usually focus on how it makes me feel as I read it.
And I have to say that it simply made me feel overwhelmed.
The book is attractively laid out; there are nice illustrations, clever cartoons, and interesting breaks in the text for you to fill in your ideas and answers to various prompts.
I liked the opening fill-in-the-blank on page ix where the reader is instructed to answer, "I'm happiest when..." It helped me get some quick insight which I appreciated. And the author lays out the essential paradox of the book: to be happy, one should focus on living our lives in a way that makes us happy rather than on happiness itself. That's a great thought. Too bad she didn't put it into action, because from that point on the word "happy" or "happiness" becomes incessant. Every page. Virtually every paragraph. Draw up a happiness plan. The happiness plan playlist. Unlearn unhappiness. Understand happiness. Ten things to do if you want to be happier. Making room for happiness.
After awhile I felt like I had been hit by the happiness sledgehammer. Are you happy now? How 'bout now? No? Well then, do this. And this. And this.
I'm giving the book three stars because I think the writer has the best of intentions and truly wants to coach her readers to happiness. And her ideas are good-- just too intense for me. If you're looking to improve your mood or feel happy, I think better books to get would be Dr. Martin Seligman's Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life or Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment, Dr. David Burns' Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated or Jon Kabat Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness which offer a more meaningful approach to happiness without the relentless pressure.
And I have to say that it simply made me feel overwhelmed.
The book is attractively laid out; there are nice illustrations, clever cartoons, and interesting breaks in the text for you to fill in your ideas and answers to various prompts.
I liked the opening fill-in-the-blank on page ix where the reader is instructed to answer, "I'm happiest when..." It helped me get some quick insight which I appreciated. And the author lays out the essential paradox of the book: to be happy, one should focus on living our lives in a way that makes us happy rather than on happiness itself. That's a great thought. Too bad she didn't put it into action, because from that point on the word "happy" or "happiness" becomes incessant. Every page. Virtually every paragraph. Draw up a happiness plan. The happiness plan playlist. Unlearn unhappiness. Understand happiness. Ten things to do if you want to be happier. Making room for happiness.
After awhile I felt like I had been hit by the happiness sledgehammer. Are you happy now? How 'bout now? No? Well then, do this. And this. And this.
I'm giving the book three stars because I think the writer has the best of intentions and truly wants to coach her readers to happiness. And her ideas are good-- just too intense for me. If you're looking to improve your mood or feel happy, I think better books to get would be Dr. Martin Seligman's Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life or Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment, Dr. David Burns' Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated or Jon Kabat Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness which offer a more meaningful approach to happiness without the relentless pressure.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Not what I expected
25 Mar 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I honestly couldn't get past the first few pages. I tried and tried. I think happiness comes from not just within but your surroundings. This might be good for someone feeling a little lost in life but I personally didn't find this book interesting or helpful.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Scattershot and exhausting
11 Dec 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Everyone is made happy by different things. This book states up front that it is designed to help the reader figure out what those things are and to recognize that being happier is not a formulaic panacea but an imperfect process, a fleeting byproduct of being "the real you", making good choices, taking action, and feeling love. It breaks down the pursuit of happiness into seven steps:
1) Deciding to be happier
2) Understanding what happiness is and isn't
3) Creating a happiness plan
4) Unlearning unhappiness
5) Making others happy
6) Studying examples of happiness plans
7) Putting your happiness plan into action
I don't doubt the author's good intentions. Unfortunately, the book is simply not well-organized. It is filled with lists and diagrams and examples and questionnaires that purport to assist you in deciding what to do about the challenges and situations that may be making you unhappy and could be handled in such a way as to make you happier. There are random quotes and quizzes and questions, and a handful of cartoons and case studies and statistics, and a whole lot of filling in the blanks with your own feelings, but it just doesn't cohere.
Now some of the checklists and stories and drawings and surveys and exercises and seemingly endless suggestions may help you, but they seem to me like a grab-bag of techniques without an overarching theme. Try this, and this, and this -- or you can try this, or this, or this. Feel happier yet? Not me. I'm busy enough already without all the business this book encourages me to undertake. If you're depressed, see a doctor. If you want to be happier, there are much better books. Not recommended.
1) Deciding to be happier
2) Understanding what happiness is and isn't
3) Creating a happiness plan
4) Unlearning unhappiness
5) Making others happy
6) Studying examples of happiness plans
7) Putting your happiness plan into action
I don't doubt the author's good intentions. Unfortunately, the book is simply not well-organized. It is filled with lists and diagrams and examples and questionnaires that purport to assist you in deciding what to do about the challenges and situations that may be making you unhappy and could be handled in such a way as to make you happier. There are random quotes and quizzes and questions, and a handful of cartoons and case studies and statistics, and a whole lot of filling in the blanks with your own feelings, but it just doesn't cohere.
Now some of the checklists and stories and drawings and surveys and exercises and seemingly endless suggestions may help you, but they seem to me like a grab-bag of techniques without an overarching theme. Try this, and this, and this -- or you can try this, or this, or this. Feel happier yet? Not me. I'm busy enough already without all the business this book encourages me to undertake. If you're depressed, see a doctor. If you want to be happier, there are much better books. Not recommended.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
