The Little Book of Big Happiness

by Bernadette Fisers

One of the great purposes of life is to be happy. If you're one of the millions of people searching for happiness, stop chasing your tail - it's already here. Right here, right now. You just need the tools to access it.

In this empowering little book, Bernadette Fisers shares her practical steps to a joyful life that you can start straight away. From living in the moment and moving your body, to getting out into nature and embracing failure, these are real tips for real people that anyone can embrace.

In an hour, you'll be on your way to a happier you.

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, Self Help

Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

My name is Bernadette Fisers, I am an Australian mom and a hair and makeup artist. I grew in a country town called Dandenong which was a fairly tough neighbourhood. It wasn't unusual for kids to take knives and nun-chuckers to school for use in fights on the school oval. Plus of course, the absolute requirement of smoking in the toilets. I'm one of 7 children, second youngest of 4 girls and 3 boys. I've always been determined, that determination leading me to start work at a very early age.

My first job at 12 was setting my elderly next door neighbours purple hair, it never looked better and I was beside myself with the $5 I earned. I got a 'real' job at the age of 14 working part time for a Hair Salon sweeping up, skating there and back on my home made skateboard, which was built from roller skate wheels topped off with a piece of shaped, scrap wood.

By that time I was earning $15 a week and thought I was rich. I quickly bought all of the junk food that we could never afford at home and began stuffing myself, mostly not sharing with my siblings. I was tired of sharing everything, including my undie drawer. It's no wonder I've had a lifelong obsession with nice underwear and food.

My weight and related health problems really came to a head after I had my daughter. It just got completely out of control at close to 283lbs with pre-diabetes, hypertension and a fatty liver. I had to do something. I was feeling really crap about myself. I finally found an end to all of my agonising and self loathing that I had been putting myself through. I lost 66lbs in 30 weeks.

Once I had dropped the weight quickly all the Mums at the school pick up would ask me what I had done. I would write on sticky notes, homework and any other paper available the guideline to my rules. Eventually I decided to write a book, something that anyone could afford, the cutest damn little book that would have helped me when I was out of control and didn't know where to turn.

This is the last 'diet book' I will ever need and hopefully it will be the same for many other people all around the world as my little book has been translated into many languages.
I am a terrible dieter. All of my friends would tell you that. This however is something that just clicks, its reasonable, logical and above all works quickly. I wish you the best with your health and weight loss. Bern

Reviews

[Sharah McConville · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the line...I'm cultivating an attitude of gratitude.

[Fern Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of books out there at the moment along these types of lines. I tend to find them all very similar and often quite cringey. However this one is actually really good. Short, to the point, lots of advice and applicable to everyone. One of the best happiness themed books out there!

[Nea Britto · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is divided into different steps you can take to be happy. And they have their own categories like body, work, etc. I did enjoy reading this, but I know a lot of these steps from other books I have read, and I don’t feel like I have learned anything new from here. Hence, dropped the two stars. If someone is new to self help, I feel like this book would be a lovely start. And I did find the illustrations in here quite cute.

[Johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely little read with helpful tips and reminders on how to determine your own happiness (and others).

[LtLEGOReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book as the title piqued my interest. As an ex public health communications person, I'm almost always attracted to happiness-themed books and positive mental wellbeing.

Glad I took a chance on this one. It's a quick read, there's enough fast to read perk-me-ups tips to get you through your day

Divided into five different sections, the book allows one to zoom in on their preferred section. I find this helpful, even though I read it in sequence, from start to finish.

While the tips are nothing new really (think of it as one long magazine article), it does helps to have everything compiled in one book for you.

Grab this book if you have the time, or if you want a quick reminder on how to reset, and boost your mental wellbeing.

[Grace Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read. Little reminders via dot point type chapters of how to reframe and become more positive. Nice reminders, not each point will work for everyone, but enough variety for everyone to take something away. The chapters are short with not much new information, however it is nice to have around 50 ways to reflect on happiness in small but size chunks in one spot.

[Nikki Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one of the sweetest little self help books, it doesn’t recommend anything extraordinary which means it easily adaptable to each person but it does it give affective and easy advice. I wouldn’t say this book is life changing but it is adorable and most definitely helped my readers block 🖤

[Pat Morris-jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was nothing wrong with this book except lots of others are the same. Nothing new added to the knowledge. She seemed to state the obvious and be a naturally happy person. I hope she enjoyed writing this.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice tips here… nothing new though and a bit pithy. That said I’m a pretty happy person so I’m not the target audience. Loved the layout… made it easy to get highlight’s and read in more depth the bits that sounded interesting

[Cathie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn't overly impressed with this, passed some time though with a few ideas but nothing I hadn't already worked out for myself.

[Hằng Trần · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sách ngắn gọn, súc tích, hình minh họa vui mắt, phù hợp đọc trong lúc đợi tàu, xe.

[Teresa Heffernan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Common sense. Quick read.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Enjoyable

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Succinct and practical but may not speak to those without enough self awareness to know themselves and accept their flaws

[Khan Munna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Denmark 😉

[Rhiannon Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy audiobook to listen to. Made lots of sense, definitely going to try to put these tips into practice

[Ita · Rating 3 out of 5]

I downloaded the audiobook as I had a two hour commute today, which was the perfect time to finish this little book. It lists over 50 steps to "Big happiness" and I found that most are common sense and having read lots of these books, I already did most of them. But it is nice to be reminded of certain things and I am going to try again to be non-judgemental, I find that I judge people if I don't actively try to be open-minded and I'm not proud of that. So this week I'll focus on not judging people and also on only speaking good of people whether they are present or not. Thank you Bernadette for making my commute go fast today and for reminding me of the little things that are so important.

[Ghostly Writer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found a lot of the tips in this book to be common sense... However, there were some points made that made me think about why I may not be feeling as happy as I could be. It really puts things into perspective.

Although I have read a lot of these things before, I am going to take the time to write down some of Fiser’s points- very valuable ones at that!

[Sian D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basic advice and repetitive. I don't recommend this if you're depressed or lower class... Uses 'depressed' as a mood descriptor, talks non stop about travelling, and calls the inability to touch a problem with 'political correctness'. Good if you're very new to self care.