You Can Feel Good Again: Common-Sense Strategies for Releasing Unhappiness and Changing Your Life

by Richard Carlson

The words “don't sweat the small stuff” became an important part of American culture thanks to Richard Carlson’s runaway bestseller, which made publishing history as the #1 book in the United States for two consecutive years.Now, You Can Feel Good Again has one simple changing your thinking changes your life. Carlson offers a commonsense method that allows anyone to release unhappiness and negativity related to present circumstances or past events, and return to a natural state of well-being in the present. You Can Feel Good Again is full of humor, wisdom, and thoughtful guidance—a genuine tool to foster the realization that happiness and contentment are truly one thought away.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Psychology, Personal Development

190 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

Richard Carlson was an American author, psychotherapist, and motivational speaker. His book, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff... and it's all Small Stuff (1997), was USA Today's bestselling book for two consecutive years and spent over 101 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. It was published in 135 countries and translated into Latvian, Polish, Icelandic, Serbian and 26 other languages. Carlson went on to write 20 books.

Reviews

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

My brother sent this to the whole family a long time ago and I set it aside. I only decided to read it so I wouldn't waste a book. It actually was a great book. I consider myself a fairly happy person so I didn't think the book would be that beneficial but in reality I learned a lot and found we can become even more positive or happy when stresses or trials come our way.

[Ronia Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book, especially people diagnosed with depression. I really enjoyed reading it and learned that I can control my thoughts!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for everyone. We all need to know how to have healthy thought processes. If you are not enjoying your life, but are struggling through the day to day emotionally the truth in this book can help you get back on track of how awesome your life really is and help you be grateful and happy with it every day! That is what it did for me. I will keep it on the currently reading shelf because I will read it over and over!

[Tammy Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this common sense, feel good book! You can't have an emotion without having thoughts. This book provides very simple, basic advice about how to be an observer of your thoughts rather than a victim to unwanted thoughts that lead to negative emotions. I'm generally a happy, positive person anyway but this book pushed me to another level in terms of managing everyday stress.

[Ophelia Dimopoulou · Rating 4 out of 5]

It made me think the..."Meaning of life", no matter what! Especially through real hard times :-)

[Ypatios Varelas · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of those books that make me think "how the hell this guy is a therapist and claims to have helped so many people"! A few quotes for a start:
"In a broader sense, the way you feel is always determined by the thoughts you are thinking."
"Your thoughts always create your emotions."
“Even though positive thinking is obviously preferred to negative thinking,…”
"Self-doubt, self-criticism, negativity, and pessimism are the result of negative thoughts that you have learned to take seriously. Your self-image and personality are a compilation of thoughts that you have about yourself."
Got it? Or do you need more of the same claims?
The idea is that negative thinking is a habit that we can change and that we can be happy even when having bad thoughts since we can observe them and not pay attention to them. A typical cognitive-mindfulness approach that sometimes works, but many times not.
The author even tries to explain why we often DON’T experience a positive emotion following a positive thought that we have “chosen”, although he claimed right from the beginning that “Your thoughts always create your emotions.” Uh? Something is wrong here and I can tell you what it is. Feelings are one of the outcome of emotions and emotions are internal reactions to specific triggers and physical (yes, physical) and mental processes. So you can feel bad or anxious or depressed even with no underlying thought! How about that?
I won’t go into other details of this book, which presents some good stuff and a lot of bad stuff. Ideas coming from cognitive therapy, mindfulness and positive psychology are the foundation of this book, but you can find much, much better books on those. I would only suggest that the author goes back to school to study some Affective Neuroscience and stop promoting false claims which can only provide temporary results in therapy, if any. Plus, there is a LOT of repetition in this book.
Highly NOT recommended!

[Gary Fretwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Live your life in the present moment and be grateful that you have that moment.

This is a compelling book that provides real world examples of how our thinking, not external events impact how we see our lives. Your thinking is not your life. Instead of living from the outside events of life being your reality, realize that your inner life, often becomes the life you live. This book is an excellent primer for understanding the psychology of the mind. Wonderful read.

[Christopher Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished the most comprehensive book concerning good mental health that I have yet to read. I have read two books by this author; they were grand slams. The first is Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and it's all Small Stuff. The second is You Can Feel Good Again by Richard Carlson. He puts the keys to living a good life in the only person's hands capable of pulling it off - yours.

[TH · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and enjoyable to read but got repetitive and is probably a little dated! It sort of repackages Buddhist / eastern philosophy for a modern western audience. You could probably just go straight to the source material - this book feels limited in comparison.

[Ana Luisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um livro com uma perspectiva interessante sobre o conceito de felicidade e bem estar.
Algumas das ideias expostas vão contra a "normalidade" mas fazem todo o sentido.
Tudo é resultado de pensamentos e os pensamentos são resultado da minha mente, logo se eu alterar a forma como penso e o que penso, se dar apenas a atenção (ou não) a determinados pensamentos eles não passarão disso mesmo: imagens fruto da minha mente.
O passado é uma camisola que não nos serve mais e o futuro ainda não chegou. Não vale a pena desperdiçar a vida por 2 tempos verbais impossiveies e desperdiçar o único que realmente interessa - o presente

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

This message and thought system this book presents are absolutely life-changing and great. I really like the ideas the author presented and I think once I am able to put them into practice, they can have a tremendously positive effect on my life. I have noticed little glimpses of it here and there while reading the book. For the ideas,it definitely deserves the five stars.
The reason I am only giving it three is the way it is written. It just doesn't flow and is quite a lot of work to get through it. The wording just made it hard for me to get through it.

[Pamela M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. A real life changer for me. After a lifetime of learning extreme negativity from an influential (for better of worse) parent, I was able to find and cultivate my true nature as an inner optimist. Watching the movie Life Is Beautiful around the same time also helped tremendously. Really put things into perspective. I highly recommend.

[Michele · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the book had some good ideas but I really didn't like the way it was presented. It felt super repetitive, the tone of voice was annoying, and some of the anecdotes and metaphors were poorly constructed and presented. The last chapter was by far the best. I'll take some useful ideas away from it, but really someone could write a much better book about them.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, it has really helped me to live in the here and now and enjoy life more.

[Natalie Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended by Sharon Burt- good read for everyone!!

[Lily Sun · Rating 2 out of 5]

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