Be Happy, Always, Xandria Ooi, USA, 2019

This is a delightful book about living life in ways that will engender, not destroy, happiness. Some of it is obvious, but much of it presents things we thought we knew but from other perspectives.

It is a book that can be read cover-to-cover or that can be delved into in small bits. I read it cover-to-cover and although I enjoyed it I did find it a tad too long. I felt that by the time I reached the final section of the book much of what had already been said was simply being re-presented in a slightly different form.

This aside (and other readers may not feel the same as I did), the book contains much worthwhile advice. By letting go of all those things that are clogging up our lives and relationships and focusing on what is really important, we can experience both peace and happiness all the time. As Xandria points out, this is possible even when things seem very grim and negative.

Both Xandria’s mother and her husband, Yuri, are very much part of the book, appearing in many small anecdotes and giving lots of valuable advice. Whether this was a conscious ploy or not is difficult to say, but it removes the feeling of Xandria being some all-knowing guru and places her advice on a more ‘normal’ level.

I feel that the book has something for everyone, even if it is only to reactivate that knowledge about self and relationships that we may have chosen, for whatever reason, to lock away in some dark corner of ourselves.

Well worth reading.