Book Review & Giveaway: Bright Side Up - 100 Ways to be Happier Right Now

I have been under a significant amount of stress lately. Much more than my typical stress. I have been attempting to “take one day at a time”, but at the end of the day, I am still overwhelmed. Work has been outrageous and I have been working my tail off trying to prepare our house to be put on the market. It has been very easy for me to find myself in a spiral of negative thinking.

It seems as though it was divine intervention when I was given the opportunity to review a book entitled “Bright Side Up: 100 Ways to be Happier Right Now”, written by Amy Spencer. I have to admit – part of me was intrigued and hopeful that this book could provide me with some solid tools for changing my thinking. The other part of me was hesitant to get my hopes up. I have read so many self-help books that did not live up to the hype. I am so pleased to share with you that this book was well worth the read.

Bright Side Up is a book that teaches you how to think about life differently. Amy Spencer explains to readers how you can change your life simply by the manner in which you think. There are certainly some events that occur in our lives that we have no control over; however, we can control our thoughts. Spencer discusses how readers can alter their thinking from negative to positive in regards to the following:

• Yourself
• Life’s Little Annoyances
• Careers
• Relationships
• Social Life
• Family & Friends
• Technology
• Travel  

Spencer uses fantastic examples from her own life to explain to readers how they can take a particular situation/thought and reframe it to an entirely different way of thinking. It often involves finding the good in the situation or, in other words, the “silver lining to the grey cloud”. I learned so much from this book, including how research has shown that the brain can display “neuroplasticity”. This essentially means that by actively thinking about thinking positively, you can actually change the neural pathways in your brain. This is amazing to me.

I received great advice from this book. Spencer touched upon numerous situations in which I personally use negative thinking. One of Spencer’s suggestions is to say, “At least I’m not…” when something bad happens. When I’m experiencing stress at work, I have been trying to actively use this strategy and I have to say it does help take the edge off my stress. Another strategy that I am going to really try to commit to involves asking myself, “WWMRMD?” This stands for What Would My Role Model Do? Spencer encourages readers to think about what their role model would do in a particular situation when faced with adversity. My grandfather, although deceased, has been an essential role model in my life. In the past, when I have thought about certain problems, I have said to myself, “Gramps would say to…” I can easily think about what his advice would be, I just need to follow that advice!

Bright Side Up is a book that you can read cover to cover or pick up and read those sections that refer to certain issues for you. Regardless of the issue, I think this is a wonderful resource to help people change the manner in which they think. I will be keeping this book close to me for a long time.

About the Author:

Amy Spencer is a Los Angeles-based relationship expert and journalist, and the author of Meeting Your Half-Orange: An Utterly Upbeat Guide to Using Dating Optimism to Find Your Perfect Match.

Bright Side Up is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

For more information about Amy and her book, visit www.amyspencer.com and www.brightsideup.com.

I am thrilled to be able to offer my readers the opportunity to enter a giveaway where one Tidbits From A Mom reader will win a copy of Bright Side Up!  Please fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter.



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*Disclaimer: I did not receive monetary compensation for this post. I received a free copy of the book for the purpose of this review. The opinions expressed here are my own.