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The Positive Habit: 6 Steps for Transforming Negative Thoughts to Positive Emotions
Love, calmness, confidence, gratitude, hope and these are the six emotions that tip the balance of our mindset in favour of a positive outlook rather than a negative one. Wouldn’t it be great to feel these positive emotions more of the time? Now you can with Fiona Brennan’s ultimate manual for the mind. With a chapter on each emotion, and practical steps on how to cultivate them, this profound, practical plan utilises mindfulness, habit, positive psychology, and neuroscience. It will show you how to train your brain to embrace negative thoughts with courage and love, and transform them into positive ones. Accompanied with an audio-hypnotherapy meditation plan that takes just a few minutes a day, split between your morning and evening, this book will transform your mental health – it even works while you sleep. With repeated use, you will let go of unnecessary negativity and stress, sleep peacefully and wake up happy as you develop The Positive Habit .
288 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2019
About the author
Fiona Brennan
3 books9 followersFiona Brennan is a Clinical Hypnotherapist, Mindfulness, and NLP practitioner, Mental Health expert on Today FM, TEDx speaker Blogger and an Ambassador for Positivity in the media. Building on her success, in 2016 Fiona launched her online, five-star rated, hypnotherapy programme which now helps people all over the world. Her first book is the best-selling 'The Positive Habit' it is published by Ireland's leading non-fiction publishers and is endorsed by Jack Canfield of 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' fame.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 14, 2020
2.4
There were some lovely quotes in this so I’d say worth a quick skim but I did find many of the suggestions overly simplistic. For example, the suggestion that success is only 10% down to circumstance sounds quite tone deaf coming from a white author with the privilege of higher education. I also found the categorisation of “positive people” vs “negative people” to be overly simplistic. There was an irritating over-emphasis on hypnotherapy (interestingly no citations were provided for this despite ample citations for the effectiveness of other techniques mentioned in the book). Other positive psychology methods such as power posing, which have since been debunked, were suggested here and did little to encourage my overall faith in the suggested techniques.
There were some lovely quotes in this so I’d say worth a quick skim but I did find many of the suggestions overly simplistic. For example, the suggestion that success is only 10% down to circumstance sounds quite tone deaf coming from a white author with the privilege of higher education. I also found the categorisation of “positive people” vs “negative people” to be overly simplistic. There was an irritating over-emphasis on hypnotherapy (interestingly no citations were provided for this despite ample citations for the effectiveness of other techniques mentioned in the book). Other positive psychology methods such as power posing, which have since been debunked, were suggested here and did little to encourage my overall faith in the suggested techniques.
January 19, 2021
I had high hopes for this but after hearing that if you think this will happen they do I can only say that I am offended. So basically it's my own fault that I suffer from depression and anxiety as well as a chronic health condition. Wow.
February 11, 2025
Dnf - being negative about a book on positivity haha, the low rating was mostly for the audio that you get links to with the book. They are supposed to be uplifting and bring positive feelings (you listen to a 25 minute recording of the author’s voice before bed and a shorter one in the morning) but I found the style irritating which kind of defeats the objective. She seemed to jump from topic to topic and visualisation to visualisation which was bewildering and didn’t flow. A couple of times I had to visualise my divine light in my belly with no context to what that actually means.
The book itself was not for me either but there were some positives 😉. The 4 second positive pause suggestion was good as was one or two of the mindfulness tips. Taking time to focus on positive emotions/events to get into long term memory is also good advice. As is purposefully finding the positive in the mundane. Some bits were worded strangely which breaks up the flow of reading, like: “How much of your negativity is gratuitous?” I know what she means but it seems an odd way of putting it. The style of writing was almost guru-like in its claims (I.e follow my tips and listen to my recordings and you WILL be better - I prefer a smidge of humility in any advice, that is any advice sometimes doesn’t work). The book then got very repetitive and I gave up.
The book itself was not for me either but there were some positives 😉. The 4 second positive pause suggestion was good as was one or two of the mindfulness tips. Taking time to focus on positive emotions/events to get into long term memory is also good advice. As is purposefully finding the positive in the mundane. Some bits were worded strangely which breaks up the flow of reading, like: “How much of your negativity is gratuitous?” I know what she means but it seems an odd way of putting it. The style of writing was almost guru-like in its claims (I.e follow my tips and listen to my recordings and you WILL be better - I prefer a smidge of humility in any advice, that is any advice sometimes doesn’t work). The book then got very repetitive and I gave up.
January 31, 2023
Contradictory information. Perhaps for people who just need a slight lift in their lives and aren't chronically anxious (comme moi ˘͈ᵕ˘͈) Some of the information is very... half assed.
2 stars since audios came with it and some were nice. Otherwise they relied too much on visualisation.
2 stars since audios came with it and some were nice. Otherwise they relied too much on visualisation.
January 13, 2026
Audiobook
June 7, 2023
The way the book uses it’s chapter to explain emotion and provide an understanding makes it easy to understand and get immersed into. I feel I learnt a lot in a non-heavy way
December 13, 2023
Genuinely life changing stuff
December 12, 2020
Did not finish, reading as a digital book, and there were hyperlinks through the book, but with no way to go back to where you were reading. Some of these links throws you 40-100 pages ahead.
Also too complex, using multiple media to allow us to have a more simple life... Did not complete.
Also too complex, using multiple media to allow us to have a more simple life... Did not complete.
January 15, 2020
This book may be helpful if you are prone to rumination and catastrophizing.
January 15, 2022
2.5. I'm on a retroactive reviewing streak again so have had to read reviews to remember this book. I started listening to self-development books in 2020 and this was one of many. Subjectively, I got a nice warm feeling when I looked at the cover and I have a sense impression of fizzy apple juice on a hot day.
Reviews say the book is simplistic and uses debunked junk science. That is a big thumbs down but my subjective senses say be kind, be kind:warm feeling, fizzy apple, quizzes. I'm queen of the reframe so this book probably gelled with that anyway. 2.5 possible three, if I could remember it any better. Pleasant positivity aural wallpaper. I think.
Reviews say the book is simplistic and uses debunked junk science. That is a big thumbs down but my subjective senses say be kind, be kind:warm feeling, fizzy apple, quizzes. I'm queen of the reframe so this book probably gelled with that anyway. 2.5 possible three, if I could remember it any better. Pleasant positivity aural wallpaper. I think.
May 20, 2019
Simply brilliant! Easy to follow and highly practical.
April 28, 2021
Fiona provides a miss match of information quoted from all the modern day self help books so you don't have to bother to read them
April 4, 2024
I listened to this audiobook and got so much from it. It was clear, and gave a methodical approach for adopting a positive habit. Read by the author herself, her voice was trustworthy and warm and you could tell she was passionate about sharing her ideas.
A psychologist and hypnotherapist by profession, she has plenty of experience of working with clients from all walks of life who for one reason or another are struggling and have fallen into a negative cycle, stress or negativity often fuelling poor lifestyle patterns.
The six pillars of a positive life as outlined by Fiona are: love, calmness, confidence, gratitude, hope and happiness. She delves into each showing how we can nurture each of these qualities in ourselves so that we can radiate them out to the world. For each attribute, she provides a meditation to help us build on this quality if we find it lacking in our lives. This was useful and practical but even more useful were the morning and sleep time hypnotherapies she includes with this programme and which she strongly advises keeping up to develop the habit of positivity and to engage the subconscious which will really benefit us.
Overall I took a lot from this book. I found it very practical and could see how many aspects could be applied to my life. A warm and positive presence is the best gift we can give people and ourselves. By spending time each day on strengthening our positivity habit, we invite the same positivity and abundance into our lives.
She refers often to a non-negotiable 8 hours sleep. I honestly can’t remember the last time I slept 8 hours, so I think I will check out her new book too, “Sleep Well”, out next week, as any tips will be most welcome!
A psychologist and hypnotherapist by profession, she has plenty of experience of working with clients from all walks of life who for one reason or another are struggling and have fallen into a negative cycle, stress or negativity often fuelling poor lifestyle patterns.
The six pillars of a positive life as outlined by Fiona are: love, calmness, confidence, gratitude, hope and happiness. She delves into each showing how we can nurture each of these qualities in ourselves so that we can radiate them out to the world. For each attribute, she provides a meditation to help us build on this quality if we find it lacking in our lives. This was useful and practical but even more useful were the morning and sleep time hypnotherapies she includes with this programme and which she strongly advises keeping up to develop the habit of positivity and to engage the subconscious which will really benefit us.
Overall I took a lot from this book. I found it very practical and could see how many aspects could be applied to my life. A warm and positive presence is the best gift we can give people and ourselves. By spending time each day on strengthening our positivity habit, we invite the same positivity and abundance into our lives.
She refers often to a non-negotiable 8 hours sleep. I honestly can’t remember the last time I slept 8 hours, so I think I will check out her new book too, “Sleep Well”, out next week, as any tips will be most welcome!
January 6, 2021
I had the the book version and the audiobook version on my phone. I was listening to it whilst reading the book. I do this sometimes when it’s a non fiction. Had the book playing in the background whilst I was getting work done too. Listening to it in bed trying to sleep.
It had interesting psychological pointers which I enjoyed and references to films. Experiences which I was able to relate to. I screenshot the parts of the book I liked. It’s definitely a good read. I liked how it had quizzes through the book and as you read the book, sane quizzes pop up. You can compare your thoughts.
Only disadvantage about the book - the audiobook kept repeating the same parts which I had already read. It was confusing at some points. Definitely recommending to family and friends.
It had interesting psychological pointers which I enjoyed and references to films. Experiences which I was able to relate to. I screenshot the parts of the book I liked. It’s definitely a good read. I liked how it had quizzes through the book and as you read the book, sane quizzes pop up. You can compare your thoughts.
Only disadvantage about the book - the audiobook kept repeating the same parts which I had already read. It was confusing at some points. Definitely recommending to family and friends.
February 6, 2021
3.5
This year I want to read more self development books in order to be the best version of myself I can, as well as develop my business. However I am not a non-fiction reader, so this might be an interesting challenge. But although am not a fan of audiobooks, books like this I find better listening to rather than physically reading, as it is more like a podcast. I found this book to be helpful, and interesting and liked it.
This year I want to read more self development books in order to be the best version of myself I can, as well as develop my business. However I am not a non-fiction reader, so this might be an interesting challenge. But although am not a fan of audiobooks, books like this I find better listening to rather than physically reading, as it is more like a podcast. I found this book to be helpful, and interesting and liked it.
January 18, 2023
2 stars for the deep belly breaths - the only helpful thing in this book. It might be more useful for someone with less knowledge of mental health, and who likes reading endless quotes from pop culture figures.
The information in this book is contradictory; it contradicts itself, as well as other self help books. I have chosen to believe the other self help books that explain why the methods mentioned in the book are not helpful.
The information in this book is contradictory; it contradicts itself, as well as other self help books. I have chosen to believe the other self help books that explain why the methods mentioned in the book are not helpful.
March 22, 2026
What an amazing book! I have read multiple books on resetting my nervous system and getting me out of a funk and this audio book did it! The hypnotherapy that comes with the audio book for night time to reset and get my brain thinking in a powerful new way has been life transforming. Other books are too scientific and wordy. This book cuts through the unnecssary and goes straight to healing you. Please listen to the audios. They will help you.
April 10, 2020
A helpful book with some insights into negative thinking. I found this book had some very helpful ideas/suggestions for helping to turn a negative mindset or negative thoughts into a more positive way to think about things. Practical steps are offered to help you with negative thinking. #apositivemindset #fionabrennan #goodreads #litsy #tea_sipping_bookworm #amazon #kindle #bookqueen #bookstagram
January 30, 2023
I don't think I gave this book a good enough go.. some interesting info but it felt like a repetition of other things I have read before.
August 10, 2025
Not for me. Very simplistic and reductive. 20 pages in, I felt as though I knew what all of the points were going to be.
Read
March 15, 2023Stopped at 2h43min (audiobook)
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews