Spontaneous Happiness by Andrew Weil, MD

Spontaneous Happiness by Andrew Weil, MD is a new look at the emotion of being “happy.” It also helps to give suggestions and a program to becoming happy and achieving an overall better emotional state for your health.

Book Description

“SPONTANEOUS HAPPINESS is Dr. Weil's paradigm-shifting guide to peak emotional wellness. In the book, he redefines the notion of happiness and demonstrates the limitations of the biochemical model of mental health. He presents a vast, scientifically proven array of integrative treatment strategies for low mood and depression, drawing on techniques from Ayurveda, Buddhism, acupuncture, psychotherapy, mindfulness training, and much more. Dr. Weil offers advice on lifestyle, behavior, and dietary changes, and helps readers assess their own emotional wellness and build personalized step-by-step plans to manage their moods. Whether suffering from mild to moderate depression, or simply seeking greater contentment, Dr. Weil's science-based integrative approach will help readers achieve their goals. With fascinating case studies and a comprehensive program, this guide breaks new ground in the field of happiness.” – Spontaneous Happiness

My Thoughts

Spontaneous Happiness isn’t going to make you spontaneously happy all of the time just from reading it. The title is a bit misleading in that way, but who really thinks that achieving happiness can be done by just pushing an easy button anyways?

The first part of the book is the theory of emotional health and well-being. It is a bit of a boring read if you aren’t used to reading medical books. However, it does a very good job in explaining it in a way that everyone can understand. Don’t just skip over this part because it is important.

The second part of the book is putting the theories into practice. This section is where you’ll learn how to optimize your emotional well-being by caring for your body and mind. It also looks into the spirituality aspects of our lives that also contribute to our emotional well-being. Each of these sections is extremely important for our health and should not be just skimmed over. To really put the theories into practice, these need to be fully read and utilized whenever possible.

The last section puts it all together by outlining an 8 week program for optimizing your emotional well-being. I found this program to be very helpful and when used, it is quite effective.

This book won’t give you a quick band-aide fix to make you become happy overnight. However, it will help you to expand your current thoughts and feelings towards your emotional well-being. If you use this book as a tool to help you change your life, you might be surprised by what it can do for you. I highly recommend it.

* Thank you to the publisher of Spontaneous Happiness, Little, Brown and Company, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.