Happy Adults by Cathy Glass
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| Happy Adults by Cathy Glass (2011) Cathy Glass was a foster carer for 25 years. She has written bestselling novels based on her experiences of life which generated emails from readers all over the world sharing their experiences and thoughts with her. Cathy's sequel to Happy Kids is culminated through her insightful observations of what makes Adults happy and snippets of fascinating stories from people's lives mixed in with her common sense philosophy on life. |
Cathy's vow to the readers of her book is:
'By following the advice in this book you will greatly reduce the number of times you feel sad or unhappy and will be on the way to lasting happiness and contentment' - encouragement to read on!
Happy Adults gives us tips on these key self development areas in our lives:
- Let go of anger
- Take responsibility for your life
- Think positively - Act positively
- Set goals and have a vision
- Look after your body
- Use intuition
- Reduce stress
- Live in the present
- Express your feelings
- Become self reliant
- Develop your self
Cathy believes it's essential to live in and enjoy the present while you strive for and achieve your goals otherwise you may wake up in middle age wondering where life went.
Following our inuition
Her chapter on following intuition raises some interesting questions - she cites examples of followed intuition by famous and successful people include decisions made by the founder of Mc Donalds and Hilton Hotel as well as some that've saved lives. Intuition is often our sub conscious mind working hard using an internal database of past experiences to help us make decisions.
Reducing Stress in our lives
Cathy argues that a positive environment especially at home and in the workplace, is critical towards our wellbeing and points readers to the evidence that there is a causal link between ongoing stress and strokes and heart attacks.
Pinpointing the reasons for stress as often being the difference in expectation to what we experience, Cathy lists the main culprits in life for delivering stress 'body blows':
- Money worries
- Marriage and relationship problems
- Unrealistic expectations at home or work
- Lack of control
- Lack of support
- Too many tasks / responsibility / not enough time
- Unemployment
Cathy's steps to reducing stress include:
- Identify the cause of stress - focusing on the root cause
- Learn to say No
- Take time for yourself - cultivate 'you' time
- Examine your average day - scale it down
- Be positive and philosopical
- Express your feelings
- Let go of anger
Quick De-Stress technique
The book offers a useful De-stress technique to use when we find ourselves in sticky situations and we need to calm ourselves down quickly
- Take a deep breath (re-oxygenate your body)
- Relax all your muscles - de-tense
- Refocus - concentrate on an object as far into the distance as possible
Being in the moment
Another good point that the book makes is to practice being 'in the moment', concentrating on the present and enjoying it as life goes by so quickly and there's a danger that we will spend so long focussing on our goals that we forget to appreciate our lives now.
Sharing views
Sharing our feelings with others is not always the first thing we do when we experience conflict but let each other know how we feel about issues can help prevent resentment or anger building up, help you to move on and enable you and others to share a point of view - this gives you the opportunity to appreciate where you or others are coming from.
Building Self Reliance and developing as a person
Happy Adults recognises the importance of being self reliant and shares a number of tips with the reader on building up their own self reliance. Allowing ourselves to grow as people can often be overlooked but we're encouraged to produce an individual Development Plan where progress can be mapped and achievements celebrated. This can also act as a motivating force in your journey to develop. You're never too old to learn and this lovely example highlights this point:
'My son bought me a mobile phone last year and my grandson taught me to text. I showed it to the other residents and now most of us here has a mobile. We all text our family, friends and each other! The staff don't know'
Real life examples shared by readers of Cathy Glass's previous best selling books have helped to bring this straightforward, no-nonsense manual to life and the wisdom gained from years of working with vulnerable children, helping them to grow, develop and thrive in spite of their difficult start in life, has helped the author see clearly what it is we need to concentrate on if we're to live long, happy and contented lives.
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