Stop Thinking, Start Living: Discover Lifelong Happiness

I made a huge change to my life last year that I now realize was a wrong decision that I have to live with. Because of that I've been fighting with negativity and feeling "unhappy" for a while now. I needed some kind of "different to me" views and this book provided! I have been focusing on the wrong things. I'm the one that always thinks the grass is greener on the other side. I always want what I don't have. This book has provided many good tools that I will have to practice to put into motion, but they are easy to follow and when I'm feeling down, I can look at almost any section of the book to re-balance myself. It has been a godsend this past month after having a hysterectomy 5 weeks ago and dealing with my elderly parents living with me - then moving them to a retirement home (independent living) a few days ago. If you're trying to work on yourself and needing some new ideas, this is an easy read that is relevant. There are many good examples and it is easy to follow. Now if I could only get my husband to read it!

I was sad as all hell after my mother passed away, I found out my wife was having an affair with a midget, and then my twin sister passed away, all at practically the same time. I was totally messed right up and in my head I kept falling into the same bottomless pit of misery over and over again, all day long. It was exhausting and very scary. I lost a ton of weight (not necessarily a bad thing), I couldn't sleep, I looked like crap and, of course, I felt like crap. In desperation, I headed to the self help section of Borders Bookstore, Brisbane, which is closed down now, and looked at every single book they had about overcoming sadness, betrayal, and grief and settled on this book. Partly because its foreword was by an English transvestite called Julian Clary, and mostly because its description resonated with me. I felt that the book truly got how I was feeling. To cut a long story short, I read this book over two weeks, making sure to follow its instruction, and at the end I was out of my hell hole and on the road to recovery. This is a glorious book that I can't recommend enough. My life and mental state has been happy ever since and its teachings have wrapped a perpetual protective shield around my brain. I'm now happily married to a wonderful woman, I have a great job, ambition, creativity, direction and I'm not bothered by little people anymore. TL;DR: If you're sad and depressed as all hell, READ THIS BOOK!!!!!

From the first few pages of this book, you get advice that helps. The opposite of the usual going over and over your problems, just plenty of good common-sense advice. If I had a criticism, it would be that after the first few brilliant chapters, he just seems to keep repeating himself over and over. But would still definitely recommend this book for anyone struggling with depression or everyday problems.

One, if not the most helpful self help books I've read. Quite a few years ago I was suffering from depression, a friend gave me this book and implored me to read it. I'm glad I did! It helped me understand why I was feeling so deeply depressed, not just because of the things that were happening to me at the time, divorce, redundancy and nowhere to live. I was in my forties and "thought" life had ended for me, I even contemplated suicide. This book turned my life around, it is written in such a way as to make it easy for anyone to understand, there are no long drawn out exercises to perform. Even if you occasionally feel a little down, picking this book up and reading a few pages will bring you out of the blues. I still return to this book from time to time, it never fails to enable me to raise my spirits. If you think you don't need a book like this but you have a friend who may need a little help, buy this book for them; they will thank you for it.

I am loving this book! It has already changed me. I’ve ordered another one to give or lend others bc this one I have I’ve highlighted things I want to always remind me and review. This is what all therapists should be teaching!

I read this book while I was going through a hard time and it completely changed my way of thinking and cleared my anxiety almost completely. Some of the things he mentions here I've never read any other self-help book that I've read and well over 100. In summary, your happiness is directly related to your ability to dismiss negative thoughts. He teaches you how.

Best most helpful book I ever read in my life! The kind you read again using highlighter. And again later. And put into practice. And most inexpensive.

This book, if its principles are followed, is hands-down the best advice for living a healthy, happy life. Bogged down, as so many of us are, in our own mental processes, and thinking that are thoughts are the sum of our lives, this author teaches just the opposite. We are free from mental drudgery as we "drop" the ruminations that disturb our peace and clog our ability to make wise decisions. Whether you've had a hard life, or relatively happy one, all of us would benefit from allowing a fresh wind of mental health to blow through our brains, change our mental processes and help us to "give up the story" that hinders us from moving forward. I can't recommend it highly enough, and I don't normally write reviews, but this is worth having on your shelf.

Brilliant book. Not too much to read and a really simple way to handle anxiety. Have recommended it to several of my clients over the years. This is my second copy!

Excellent, helpful, easy to read. Thank you!

clever , very clever, I advice it , much better than a psychologist and much cheaper. it's so logical !

Dr Carlson has written many self-help books aimed at helping us to find the stable state of happiness that naturally exists within us all. He has now written this book specifically for those of us who suffer from depression. The book contains practical truths that are so obvious that most of us miss them or at least bypass them in the rush of our everyday lives. If you are suffering from depression this book will help immensely. Richard Carlson will show you how your state of depression is as much perpetuated by your own thinking as it is by any chemical imbalance that may or may not exist. I have read this book at the same time as receiving treatment with an SSRI anti-depressant (Cipralex). While I am unsure if the SSRI has benefited me at all after 6 weeks, I am certain that this book has changed my outlook completely after two weeks and that it continues to do so more and more with each re-reading. If I allow myself to slip back into my old ways of thinking, the severity of my depression rapidly returns. The good news is that it just as rapidly alleviates when I get back on track with my thinking. Another reviewer has said that the book is repetitious and simple to read and yet that Dr Carlson's approach is hard work to put into practice. I both agree and disagree with this view. The book is simple to read and may seem repetitious. However, if you are one of Dr Carlson's target audience of sufferers from depression you should read this book and keep on re-reading it. You will find that on each re-reading something will leap out at you with greater meaning than it did before. I have highlighted many sentences so that I can rapidly re-read them, and have noted down the keywords on the title page. This way I can pull myself back on track quickly. I also agree that the approach takes some work to put into practice but I think the previous reviewer misses the point that there is nothing as hard work as being in a depressed state. The hard work, by the way, is only in terms of changing your habitual modes of thinking, it does not involve making lists and analysing things as do many cognitive (i.e. thinking) approaches such as that found in Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David Burns. I have found Dr Burns's book to be of some use also, but only in so far as it enabled me to identify particular types of cognitive distortion that help perpetuate depressive illness. This enables me to more accurately recognise when I should dismiss my thoughts, as Dr Carlson recommends in his approach. If you are depressed, low, angry, resentful, dissatisfied, unfulfilled, stressed, hurried, fearful or just not happy most of the time then read this book and keep re-reading it. I only wish this book had been available when I was aged twenty rather than forty.

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