Be Happy! A 40 Day Journey to Contentment
by Peter Graystone
Paperback
Price: £9.99
Publisher:Canterbury Press imprint of Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd
Published:27 August 2009
ISBN:978-1-853-11972-9
GoodBookStall Review:
Are Christians supposed to be happy? Peter Graystone obviously thinks so, to judge by this very personal and down to earth book. “I want you to be happy. I want the company of Jesus to make you glad to be alive.”
The 40 chapters cover a wide range of topics, among them: letting go of grievances, managing stress, letting God take control, aiming high and setting goals, being generous and pursuing peace. Each one ends with a boxed item headed ‘Be happy!’ summarising what’s in the chapter and suggesting one possible course of action. You may feel there’s nothing startlingly new in Graystone’s suggestions, but I found them invariably helpful and practical, and have kept coming back to them.
The happiness that Graystone commends is not at all a selfish, ‘I’m all right, Jack’ brand. His suggestions include: encouraging others, being generous to a stranger, writing to your M.P. on a justice issue and being a loyal friend.
But can you really learn happiness out of a book? (My wife asks if I am any happier for reading this one!) If so, the world should be a happier place, considering how many books have been published on the subject. If only!
Reviewer: Barry Vendy (06/11/09)
Are Christians supposed to be happy? Peter Graystone obviously thinks so, to judge by this very personal and down to earth book. “I want you to be happy. I want the company of Jesus to make you glad to be alive.”
The 40 chapters cover a wide range of topics, among them: letting go of grievances, managing stress, letting God take control, aiming high and setting goals, being generous and pursuing peace. Each one ends with a boxed item headed ‘Be happy!’ summarising what’s in the chapter and suggesting one possible course of action. You may feel there’s nothing startlingly new in Graystone’s suggestions, but I found them invariably helpful and practical, and have kept coming back to them.
The happiness that Graystone commends is not at all a selfish, ‘I’m all right, Jack’ brand. His suggestions include: encouraging others, being generous to a stranger, writing to your M.P. on a justice issue and being a loyal friend.
But can you really learn happiness out of a book? (My wife asks if I am any happier for reading this one!) If so, the world should be a happier place, considering how many books have been published on the subject. If only!
Reviewer: Barry Vendy (06/11/09)
