What I love the most about Happier Thinking, is the way in which Lana Grace Riva never pretends to be anything other than what she is and it makes for a really relatable read. The book isn't loaded with dense and intimidating psychological theory or terms. Instead, Riva confesses to her own struggles in truly making sense of what happiness is and how we can hope to attain it. Her book is therefore a highly confessional read on Riva's own suggestions for happier thinking, based upon her own experiences and the extensive research she has carried out to try and make better sense of it all.
The book is simplistic in layout which makes it easy to follow the twelve suggestions she writes about, but most importantly, it makes it easier to remember them and to really try and put them into practice. The book is short but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it from cover to cover and reflecting upon the ways in which we can all change the way we view happiness as an everyday practice, not a destination.
My favourite suggestion in Happier Thinking is to not compare your life to the imagined lives of others, as it speaks to a topic which I wrote about in my undergraduate dissertation on the performance of the university student identity on Instagram. Here, what Riva so eloquently draws upon is how we are all guilty of comparing our own happiness to the perceived happiness of others. This comparison is increasingly based around materialism, in our hyper-consumerist world. Yet, the reality of other people's lives are often so far-removed from the performances of their lives which they share on social media or the assumptions that we create based around what they look like or how much money they may have.
Whereas other books I have read about happiness and managing difficult emotions can feel condescending at times, Happier Thinking is anything but. Instead, it's a really well put together look at the ways in which we ourselves could be the very obstacle stepping in the way of a happier mindset. These could be in simple ways, such as turning a negative scenario into a far more positive one, or in ways which will take practice over time, such as dwelling on the good in situations and curve-balls that life can so readily throw at us.
For more information on Happier Thinking, check out the author's website here.
Antonia x
No comments
Post a Comment