Book Review – Are You Happy? By Lea Colleens
In “Are You Happy? A Guidebook to Earning Happiness,” author Lea Colleens takes the reader on a journey of discovery in a quick and easy-to-read self-help manual that will open their eyes to a unique concept on how to find happiness: winning it. The book is divided into three sections: Happiness explained, Instruction guide Y The end turned out, each section provides clear, easy-to-understand ideas, explanations, and suggestions along the way.
The journey begins with a simple question: Are you happy? Sounds like an easy enough question, right? But it leads to several other questions. How do you know if you are really happy? How can you be sure? How does anyone know what will it make them happy? How can nobody knows? To help answer these questions, Colleens begins by explaining what happiness is and what it is not. He states that contrary to popular beliefs that have been spooning us over the years, it is not joy, the absence of ego, pleasure, self-esteem, positive thinking, etc. Pretty things won’t make you happy either. Rather it is cited that happiness is certainty of future pleasures (that beautiful things often bring), but that beautiful things in themselves will not make you happy and they will not make you happy. The basic formula for happiness as defined by the author is Happiness = Affection + Emotion.
Colleens goes on to explain the functions of the three brains in his head that compete for control: the master brain, the dog brain, and the reptile brain, and explains how each brain makes us act the way we do. According to Colleens, if we can learn to let our Master Brains run the show, we will be happy, because our Master Brains want us to be happy.
Colleens has a clear and distinctive voice that is crisp and to the point. You can almost feel its energy emanating from the pages. Although the pages are full of enthusiasm and enthusiasm, some of the language used in the delivery distracts from the message. Profanity will be off-putting to those with an aversion to that sort of thing, as will sarcasm. Of course, there are times when that tone is effective and beneficial, but in a self-help book on happiness? I leave that to the individual reader.
That said, there were many things in Lea Colleens’ “Are You Happy? A Guide to Earning Happiness” that I thoroughly enjoyed. The illustrations are excellent and clearly add definition and an extra layer of understanding to the text. I also found the graphics at Looking for excitement: dos and don’ts Y Looking for affection: dos and don’ts to contain valuable advice. In the end, I totally agree with the author when she says: “There are no shortcuts … to help you earn happiness” (59). It takes constant hard work and dedication to the cause, but in the end, happiness pays off!