‘Amazing things happen when you start your own love affair with happiness,’ says Jacqueline Pirtle in the opening line of 365 Days of Happiness.

It’s a great concept and one explored in other ‘self help’ books I’ve read which encourage people to really focus and embrace happiness.

Swiss-born Pirtle aka Freaky Healer is an energy healer and mindfulness coach who lives in the United States.

Her book takes the reader through an entire year, offering gems of information about what happiness is.

The struggle I had with the book was the boundless joy put forward by the author seemed to clash with my English sense of reserve and cynicism.

There is little recognition, if any, of the drudgeries and realities of life, and for me it is important to acknowledge those in order to get beyond them.

Some of the suggestions are really good and I can definitely see how they would work to improve happiness. 

For example the books suggests ideas such as, think of a time when you were happiest, imagine you are watching the most beautiful sunset ever or pick a person who really inspires you.

However phrases like, imagine you are on a safari expedition, imagine your heart as a boundless, powerful, love rocket producing engine just seemed, well, a bit unrealistic.

Overall the book is perfectly delightful and a lovely addition to have on your book shelf to pick up and perk you up.

For me though it really didn’t hit the mark in changing my perceptions and fostering real life changes. Although perhaps I just need to be a bit less cynical.