Live Happy - Bridget Grenville-Cleave and Ilona Boniwell

Part self-help book, part psychology primer, Live Happy features 100 pieces of advice on leading a life of contentment. 

A distillation of the latest research into happiness, this is a guide to the tools and strategies most likely to make you happy. Informative, factual, accessible, and scientifically rigorous, Live Happy gives the best available advice across a range of situations and activities that are relevant to our happiness. 

Advice featured ranges from simple lifestyle changes, such as taking up a new hobby and spending time in the garden, to more abstract long-term goals, such as improving your luck and putting value in experiences. Presenting recent psychological and scientific studies as practical steps for the reader to take, Live Happy offers the perfect mix of practical and aspirational.

What did I think?

A lot of work has gone into the presentation of Live Happy and it certainly pays off; you can't help but smile and feel relaxed just from the beautiful sky blue sunny cover.  Each page is either coloured or illustrated with clipart style drawings of what the section is about and I really think the presentation helps to inspire and get the message across.  Although I read this book from cover to cover, it is definitely one that you will benefit from dipping in and out of when you want some inspiration.

Live Happy sets out 100 ways to fill your life with joy.  Well, I don't know about you but I'd be quite happy with just a handful of joyous activities, so with 100 to choose from I really think there will be something for everyone in this book.  A lot of the ideas to find happiness are common sense but some of them are reminders of the simple things we may have forgotten.  We are all so busy with lives running at 100 mph these days that we rarely stop to smell the roses.  Funnily enough, that is one of the tips in the book: 'connect with nature' - spend more time in the countryside or your garden as natural environments help to reduce blood pressure and stress.

For me, the sections that resonated with me and became tips that I will take away with me are: improve your luck, think highly of yourself, relieve stress, forgive yourself, worry less,  learn to like yourself, learn how to say no and my personal favourite: enjoy a glass of wine.  What I love about books like this is that somebody else will read it and pick out a different set of tips to help and inspire them.

Live Happy has something for everyone, whether you need a quick pick-me-up or a reminder to appreciate what you have in your life.  I think that everyone who reads Live Happy will end up smiling at some point whilst reading it, so the book does indeed do what it says on the cover. 😊

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: Artful Eating - Karina Melvin

This book can change your life forever!

Rediscover the magic of eating for pleasure and enjoy a life of balance with the freedom to eat the foods you want without dieting.

Artful Eating will take you on a journey filled with stories, life lessons, practical tools and strategies all rooted in the most up to date scientific and psychological research. Learn how to reprogram your mind to lose weight and achieve the body you desire, by changing your thoughts, behaviours and approach to pleasure.

Successful weight loss is not about what you eat, it's about why and how you eat. We are missing the most vital ingredient in the weight loss battle: the mind. It is our mind that fuels every decision we make about food and by focusing solely on the symptom, the excess weight, we have lost sight of the cause.

There is no strenuous exercise regime, no food elimination, no strict meal plan, just powerful psychological tools and strategies which will create lasting change. You will be amazed at how easy it is to achieve the body you desire and truly deserve.

What did I think?

As a life long dieter, I am always looking for the next amazing diet book to be published.  I do always follow the plan and get varying results but one thing is constant: I always morph back into Miss Blobby as cutting out all my favourite food and drink just makes me want them more, resulting in the inevitable binge when I fall off the diet wagon.

So I opened Artful Eating feeling motivated and ready to try anything.  It wasn't long before I was nodding my head as everything Karina Melvin has written makes perfect sense.  Just making a simple conscious effort to eat half of everything is sure to make the pounds drop off.  As Karina says, the flavour and enjoyment is in the first few bites so if your body is crying out for a doughnut, simply have half of one and share the other half with a friend.  Your body will be satisfied and you'll feel good sharing too.

Any dieter will know that you have good days and bad days.  It's almost its own worst enemy; you have a good day so you reward yourself with a treat, meaning that you have a bad day.  This can sometimes result in falling off the wagon completely as you feel so bad that your diet has failed.  Karina doesn't encourage us to be good all the time, just good enough.  This completely removes the guilt out of eating so you can keep following the Artful Eating plan even when you have what traditional diets call a bad day.

I read Artful Eating with the purpose of reviewing it, so I didn't manage to complete all of the exercises which I think are pivotal to embedding this way of eating in your life.  I am definitely going to go back through the book to complete the exercises as Karina Melvin has completely inspired me to become an artful eater.  I have already begun trying to listen to my body and eat when I'm hungry - it's actually a lot harder than you think!

The hardest thing for me will be leaving food on my plate.  I think back to when we are young: as a baby being a 'good girl' or 'good boy' for eating everything and as a young child being rewarded with a pudding for clearing our plate.  We are taught from an early age to eat all of our food in order to get a treat, so no wonder so many people hoover up their meals as if it's a race.  This is going to be the hardest habit for me to break but I am absolutely determined to do it.

I love the way the book is set out in sections representing parts of a meal: starter, main course, dessert and digestif.  It really helped to instil the mindset that food is there to be enjoyed and therefore eating something you enjoy isn't bad.  Although she doesn't profess to be the greatest cook, Karina Melvin has included some amazing recipes in her book that I can't wait to try.  Some that caught my eye: four-bean chilli (I love beans and anything spicy), courgette cake (to satisfy my sweet tooth), kitchen sink brown bread (there's nothing better than fresh homemade bread) and mini scones (the perfect treat and super-quick to make).

For me the key things in Artful Eating are:

• Listen to your body and eat when you're hungry
• Respond to your body's cravings by eating what type of food you want
• Taste and savour all of the flavours in your food
• Halve anything you eat
• Always leave food on your plate
• Be 'good enough' and remove guilt from eating
• Think of quality over quantity when buying food

Artful Eating is not like any diet book I have ever read before; you really can have your cake and eat it.  It isn't so much a diet plan as a way of life that will change the way you eat forever.  Artful Eating is so inspirational and I have every confidence that this amazing book will change my life.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon



About the author:

Karina Melvin is a Psychologist, with an MSc in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy from the UCD School of Medicine, an MA in Addiction Studies and over ten years of formal training within the field of mental health, she has dedicated her work to helping people feel more at ease in themselves. She lectures in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in University College Dublin and practices from her clinic in Sandymount. Her first book, Artful Eating: The Psychology of Lasting Weight Loss, became a bestseller in Ireland.

Karina currently runs an online program ‘Artful Eating: At The Table’ (www.artful-eating.com), and hosts the Artful Eating podcast which is available to download from itunes.

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Pavlov's Dog: And 49 Other Experiments That Revolutionised Psychology - Adam Hart-Davis

Experimental psychology burst onto the intellectual scene in the middle part of the nineteenth century, radically transforming the way we understand human thought and behavior.

Featuring clear explanations and first-rate scholarship, Pavlov’s Dog introduces the reader to iconic experiments, including Pavlov’s salivating dogs, Bandura’s Bobo doll experiments, Milgram’s obedience studies and Zimbardo’s classic Stanford prison experiment. In each case, context, procedure, results and implications are carefully considered, allowing the reader to gain a strong sense of psychology as a living, breathing endeavour.

What did I think?

I just have to say first that I love the graph paper cover; it made me want to get out my pencil and ruler and plot some charts!  I also love the funky images that you can see at the top of the cover, they are replicated throughout the book and reminded me of Monty Python's Flying Circus.  The cover actually says a lot about the style of the book: it's science made fun by Adam Hart-Davis.

I've always had a keen interest in psychology and I think there's nothing more interesting than finding out how the human mind works.  I hadn't heard of Pavlov's Dog before reading the book but that is only one of the many amazing experiments that Adam Hart-Davis describes in bite-sized pieces.  The book is written in chronological order with experiments grouped into six parts so you can see how psychology has evolved throughout the ages.   

I not only found myself intrigued by the experiments, but I saw myself in so many of them.  Anyone who knows me will have heard me mentioning space invaders at one time or another.  No, not the video game but those people who stand TOO CLOSE!  Felipe and Sommer studied invasions into personal space in their 1966 experiment so I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in 'moving along the bench' when my space is invaded.

Another experiment that intrigued me was the peer pressure test conducted by Asch in 1956.  I remember going on a management course not long after I had read a psychology book (for fun, as you do).  The trainer conducted an experiment whereby he stated three facts about himself and asked the group which one was a lie.  The group's answers were split between two of the facts, whereas I was the only person who chose the fact that was actually the lie.  The psychology book I read had told me how to identify a lie but the point is that mine was the only answer that differed to the whole group.  Perhaps some of my colleagues agreed with my choice, but succumbed to peer pressure and went with the majority as Asch's study concluded.

So if you've ever wondered why you can't tickle yourself or wanted to know how you can hear with your eyes, this is the book for you.  It's a fascinating introduction to psychology for those new to the science, but also a fantastic reference guide to the main experiments that have shaped psychology into the science we know today.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Boundaries - Jennie Miller and Victoria Lambert

A four-step programme to help develop self-esteem, create time to do the things that nourish and fulfil you, discover a deep sense of calm, and achieve healthy control over your life, home and work, co-written by psychotherapist and relationship expert Jennie Miller and award-winning journalist Victoria Lambert.

The need to understand where to draw the line has never been more acute, with new online trends seeping quickly into our consciousness often before we’ve had time to consider what personal boundaries they might require. Covering email etiquette, office politics, healthy parenting, dating among the over 50s, oversharing, relationships and more, there is no other book that deals effectively and practically with the embryonic and ever-evolving relationship codes of today.

Discover how to set personal boundaries in the most important aspects of your life: from sleep to fitness, diet to social media and computer usage, and build the self-confidence that results from learning to care for yourself. Then you can progress to applying that knowledge to all aspects of your life including work, home and relationships.

With anonymised cases from Jennie’s clinical practice, Boundaries contains exercises, motivational quotes, statistics, and clearly signposts when exactly you need to bring in the boundaries.

What did I think?

As someone who can NEVER say no, I was immediately intrigued by Boundaries.  Could this be the self-help book I had been looking for?  Split into four sections: Me, Myself, I, The Workplace, Love and Intimacy and Your Family and Other Animals, I found the first half of the book was more useful to me than the latter half.  The second half has a strong emphasis on family and relationship boundaries and although very useful to some, were not relevant to me.  For completeness, I read the whole book but I will be returning in future solely to the sections where I feel I will get some benefit.

My first eye-opening moment was the drama triangle and moving on to the winner's triangle.  This is SO TRUE!  I immediately found that I was mentally placing myself, friends and colleagues on my triangles.  So the book was doing its job already!  This is the main thing that I took away from reading Boundaries, how often I found myself on the drama triangle without even realising it.  I think once you recognise something, you can change it so this is absolutely invaluable for me.

Another priceless tool in Boundaries is the debating table: a chance for the real me to have a voice where nobody will shoot it down.  You're only arguing/debating with other personas within yourself, after all.  I honestly think that we are all multi-faceted: we put on different faces for our family, friends and colleagues.  What would happen if these faces got in a room together.  Who would win?  Which one is the real you?

Although there are blank pages for this very purpose, I couldn't bring myself to write in the book.  Looking back, I wish I'd made some notes in a separate notebook as I think this is really beneficial to the whole mindset of setting boundaries.

Boundaries has set a good foundation from which I can work on.  For me, the first step was recognising myself.  Now that I have done this and when I have REALLY looked at myself, I will return to the book and see how I can implement change.  

Although I didn't have a huge 'eureka' moment, Boundaries gave me something to work on.  It won't make changes happen overnight but it will definitely make you think through each situation before jumping in with both feet.  After all, what's the worst that could happen if you say 'NO'?  Try it and find out!  

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

Author Interview: Q&A with Anthony Alvarado

I was so lucky to receive a copy of Anthony Alvarado's D.I.Y Magic from Amy at Souvenir Press and I can't begin to express how grateful I am.  This is a book that can really change your life, and I wasn't even in the market for a self-help book.  You can read my review of this amazing book here but first I have a fascinating Q&A with Anthony Alvarado.

What’s the idea behind DIY Magic?

DIY Magic is a collection of activities that readers can try for themselves. It is a cookbook of experiments to be experienced. So, even though it is a salmagundi of philosophy, esoterica, modern psychology and ancient wisdom, it is unified by the idea that these are all things the reader can try out for themselves and then make up their own mind about. If creativity is a fire, DIY Magic is a box of matches. The fuel is up to the reader.

What’s your favourite mind hack?

Going for a walk. It is one of the best ways to stimulate the creativity in the world. People may be disappointed in this “mind hack” because it is so simple, so easy, so everyday. But that is what I love about it! (Charles Dickens, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Charles Dickens, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Einstein, Erik Satie, Beckett, Darwin, Tchaikovsky, Steve Jobs, Thoreau, Aristotle, and Goethe were all prodigious walkers.) It is free, requires no equipment, it is enjoyable, good for you, puts you in a pleasant mood, and it’s eco-friendly. There is something about walking that relaxes the mind into a receptive state that is open to inspiration and new ideas. I think because you are moving, and the scenery is changing around you, it is impossible to really brood, or for the mind to get stuck in old ruts. And yet it is a gentle contemplative activity that allows one to really have an inner discourse and develop your thoughts. Always bring a notebook with you when you go for a walk, so you can bag the big idea!

You name quite a few authors in DIY Magic, has their writing had a strong influence?

Yes! All the writers I name-check contributed their ingredients to the stew! Writing is an ongoing conversation that incorporates the ideas of the past and hopefully passes the baton on to the future in a new form. Especially these weirdo magical ideas— there is a golden thread of esoteric thought you can trace through the ages (I think Aldous Huxley referred to it as the Perennial Philosophy.)

I like to think of it as being a bit like the album cover for the Beatles Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart’s Club Band, in that you can squeeze in the ideas of Burroughs, Carl Jung, Steve Jobs, Shakespeare, Carlos Castaneda, Kerouac and Lao-Tzu all in one kaleidoscoping chapter.

What prompted you to write DIY Magic?

I think the initial impetus grew out of the experience I had while working as a counselor with mentally ill clients. I worked with people who had schizophrenia and for various reasons experienced a quite different reality from the one we usually all agree upon as being real. This work got me fascinated with the philosophical question ”what is reality?”

There are quite a few mind hacks, how long did it take to practice them all? And write them all down?

It was an ongoing project that developed over a couple of years. I didn’t just sit down and write DIY Magic in one go. It was the culmination of years of reading, musing, daydreaming, journaling, and lots of weird late-night conversations with friends over a beer about philosophy and ideas. Really the process was like this: I would get some strange idea and try it out and play around with it, and then if it worked, I simply described how it worked so that others could try it.

Ebooks or paper?

Paper! I haven’t actually read an ebook yet. I love the feeling of curling up with a good book—the physicality of it. And also collecting the books you have read feels good. A bookshelf is a sort of trophy case for nerds. Studies are finding that our brains retain information better when we read on paper rather than on screens. (When you read something on the internet, you are always one link away from some distraction; when you pick up a book you are in it for the long haul, you get the full course meal, rather than some overwhelming buffet of options.) Books are a more immersive technology. New doesn’t always mean better! Plus, a well-made book is nice in and of itself, it is a real thing, it has weight, and a smell, and sometimes a nice cover. I love being able to hold a physical object that has its own existence and is filled with ideas.  

Anthony Alvarado has been a forest fire fighter, a high school science teacher, a library delivery truck driver, a telephone psychic and a mental health counsellor.

About the Author

Anthony Alvarado lives in Portland, Oregon, and spends his time writing when he is not busy daydreaming.

http://anthonyalvarado.net/

Read my review here!

D.I.Y Magic - Anthony Alvarado

D.I.Y Magic offers a set of mind hacks that will help any creative artist to find new sources of inspiration encompassing self-help, psychology and philosophy. D.I.Y Magic will change the way you think about yourself, about creativity, and about the world. This is not a book merely to be read; it is a book to be lived! Hack into deeper levels of creativity, access the subconscious, and discover techniques that have been used by artists from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Beethoven and Richard Wagner, David Lynch and Leonardo da Vinci for centuries. From vision quests and lucid dreaming to creating a memory palace and Salvador Dali s spoon trick the deceptively simple exercises collected by Anthony Alvarado are designed to help those born into the modern age of reason to escape the rational web of what we already know and to see. Explore creativity through the lens of actual magic and follow in the steps of the Romantics, the Dadaists, the surrealists, the beatniks, anyone chasing the muse, in learning how to pull the strings of everyday reality and unlock the magic of the creative mind. Illustrated by a host of visionary artists, including alternative comic artists such as Farel Dalrymple and Ron Rege Jr, D.I.Y Magic is a radically original arsenal of ways to think, perceive and experience the world.

What did I think?

Firstly, it took me a little while to open this book as I couldn't take my eyes off the cover.  The way the door is illustrated gives it an almost 3D effect and there's something so very soothing and heavenly about the blue sky on the other side.

I love quirky books and this was no exception and I found myself trying out the mind hacks as I went along.  They really work!  I was always the person walking along the road with her head down hoping to go unnoticed.  Little did I know that I was going about my quest for invisibility completely the wrong way.  Along came Anthony Alvarado and his mind hack number 8: the Cloak of Invisibility, so off I went to Newcastle with my head held high and looking disinterestedly at approaching strangers.  It actually worked - I looked at them first so they didn't look at me - it was amazing!

There are some really interesting ideas in the book that actually made me think about life (and death) and simpler times - I definitely want to walk more than drive and I will try the switching off from the internet for 1 day per week, although it does sound a bit daunting I am from the pre-internet era so how hard can it be?

With inspirational quotes at the start of each chapter and mind-boggling illustrations throughout, it's full of food for thought and life-enhancing tricks.  I know I will refer to this book time and time again and my life will only improve because of it.

I am indebted to Amy from Souvenir Press for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon - you won't regret it!