Book Review: Contagious Optimism
"My mind can be my friend or foe and that I either command it or it entraps me."
I was turned onto Contagious Optimism because of the involvement of one of my professors in my graduate program, Dr. Colleen Georges. She taught the counseling course in our student affairs master's program, and I also had the pleasure of taking a positive psychology course with her as well. I can see a lot of her amazing insights from the class in this book.
The book is organized around very broad topics such as work, love, and family among others. Then it gives a multitude of short stories from various authors within that topic. This provides a quick, engaging, relevant reading experience that drives the main points of the book home with the different vignettes. I found myself highlighting powerful quotes all over this book. It's a great inspiring read for anyone. I found the marriage and family portions to be less relevant to me but I know they would be useful for others.
This is also a very accessible entry point to positive psychology for anyone who is interested. It doesn't get too deep with any of the ideas or concepts, and if you're intrigued to learn more, you can opt to look for others works by the authors included in this book or do some research of your own.
I love positivity for the simple fact that is an empowering mindset to buy into. It encourages you to take charge of your own happiness and wellness, rather than wait for it to happen to you. This book shows you the how and the why behind optimism and positivity, so I highly recommend it.
Go check out Contagious Optimism and let me know what you think. You can get it from any of your favorite book retailers in whichever format you wish!