As a trained and qualified holistic therapist, I am often asked about ways people can change their lives, and treatments they can take in order to overcome the challenges of modern day life becoming too much, being overwhelmed by deadlines and commitments, as well as to help reduce the effects of suffering from stress and depression. Unhappiness is something we all experience at one time or another, and knowing how to combat it and find happiness can be the first step towards a healthier, happier and more at peace you. It is with these thoughts in mind that Iyabo Ojikutu MD came to write Permanent Happiness: The Only Way to Find Peace, Joy, and Your Life-Given Purpose, and within its pages she attempts to answer some of the questions we are often asked, or faced with ourselves.

I've read many such books in my time, from embracing mindfulness and mediation, to external changes to alter the internal perspective on life. The literature on the topic seems endless, and everyone has their own idea how this desired state can be achieved. Permanent Happiness outlines three steps towards happiness, and each step is discussed and made up from smaller segments. These lessons are discussed while learning about the author's own life, experiences, and applications. Iyabo Ojikutu MD's ideas follow a principle of balance between a physical and spiritual life. She discusses the notion that we walk between two parallel lines, one physical and one spiritual, and we remain in their centre. These lines curve and bend with the challenges of life, but never cross or intersect.

Permanent Happiness emphasizes the need to attend to and cater to the needs of both separate aspects and balance them. The key lesson to take away from this is that it encourages you to be a better person, and concentrate on not only internal balance, but also external balance as well. There's also a message of giving help to others and using your own gifts, abilities and talents to help both others and yourself. It was interesting learning about the author's life, and the friendly and personal manner in which the book is written made it a very easy book to read and digest.

Permanent Happiness: The Only Way to Find Peace, Joy, and Your Life-Given Purpose by Iyabo Ojikutu MD is a non-fiction book on how to find and attain permanent happiness. As the title suggests, Permanent Happiness differentiates between “happiness” - which is momentary - and “permanent happiness” which means peace. The book starts off with a short preface and is divided into a few basic chapters such as our relationships, our physical lives, our spiritual lives, faith, etc. However, there is a lot of substance in the chapters that are filled with not only tips and techniques to find joy and peace in daily life, but also plenty of real life experiences and the autobiographical account of Iyabo herself—her life growing up in Nigeria, her family and her faith, her children, and more.

Permanent Happiness is a good book and almost reads like a memoir at times. Through it, we learn about Iyabo’s life story and her optimism, along with a discourse on how to achieve and maintain a semblance of balance and peace in life. There is also a fair amount of emphasis on religious faith in this book. Essentially, this book does not deal with any spiritual transcendence or enlightenment or philosophy of any kind. Instead, it is more of a practical guide on how to find contentment and peace in day-to-day life while living in this world with all of its relationships and ups and downs. As a practical guide, I think this may come in handy for many people.

ByDesert Rose Reviewson November 21, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
"Peace is permanent happiness.
Happiness is good, but is not enough. Peace is good, and is enough."

The first couple sentences are, alone, profound. They not only give you several things to think about, but a clear idea of what the rest of the pages contain. Peace and happiness are things everyone basically hopes to achieve someday in their lives, right?

In this book, Dr. Ojikutu writes clearly, as she explains her ideas on how to achieve both. While the ideas seem somewhat echoed from other self-help authors and "gurus" of personal health, her way of writing about each area is simple, and said in ways I'd certainly never heard before. At several points, I found myself simply staring into space, pondering the things she'd written, feeling more at peace simply for having processed the suggested outlook and mentality.

Instead of a book filled with personal anecdotes and stories that rarely apply to many other people, as most of the books in this genre seem to feature, this book focuses more on the goal of achieving those first two lines. It stays on point, focuses on the reader, and connects each area of an individual's life, in a way that makes it clear how to become balanced, and peaceful, therefore achieving happiness. Even for those who believe they are happy, there are probably things you could gain from this, that would flip your mentality a bit, and improve your current state of being.

I'm honestly not one for self-help literature. They've never been my area of interest, and aside from "Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul" when I was in high school, I've never looked into reading one out of personal desire. When approached to review this one, I was skeptical, but thought it may be beneficial to others who enjoy the genre, therefore worthwhile. I am glad I agreed, because it's given me a bit to think about, and a new way of looking at my own personal health, in ways I didn't realize I needed to. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to experience this book, and definitely recommend it to anyone seeking peace, happiness, and general balance to the hectic, chaotic mess we call life.

*I was given a complimentary eCopy of this book, from the author, to read in exchange for an honest review.

~Rose
@Desert Rose Reviews

ByJane Johnson, ReviewerTOP 50 REVIEWERon November 29, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
A must read! If I could give it 10 stars, I would. The author helps us on our life's journey. Most of us are chasing happiness but never find it, or, if we find it, it's not permanent. The book is easy to read, like talking to a friend. Don't think you are Beyond this book (age wise). This traverses gender, age, religious affiliation, etc. I mean this book is for everyone! Permanent happiness is inner peace. In the book Dr. Ojikutu guides us through three easy steps that help us achieve inner peace. She describes our two lifelines.
I am in a place where I blame myself if my friends and family are not happy. I truly needed this book, what teriffic timing! I am anxious, stressed, tired of setting goals for myself that I cannot achieve. Already I feel a positive shift in my thinking. I can't believe the difference this book has made already!
I'm not telling you about the entire book. You'll have to read it yourself. It is absolutely a book you must get!
Highly recommend!!! I was given a copy of this book for my fair and honest review.
review image

In Dr. Iyabo's book, she successfully tackles this issue and through her own life experience, studies, and personal soul searching, has come up with a brilliant, wise, unique way to tackle fleeting happiness and hold onto it more permanently in our life. She lists just three easy steps we can follow in our lives to pursue permanent happiness and achieve peace. She teaches us how to find balance in our lives, so we are better able to navigate the stress and key life situations we encounter that can easily toss our world upside down if we aren't prepared to navigate them effectively. Dr Iyabo also shows us how to keep our lives are in balance, so we can effectively let go of the stress and worry that arise when life throws us curveballs, bringing us to a more peaceful state which in turn encourages a more permanent and lasting happiness.

I sat down this weekend to put the book to the test and to see if it really had something more to offer and if it was something truly different than what you find in all of the other happiness books out there (many of which I've read).

I cozied up on the couch Saturday afternoon figuring I had a few hours, I would give the book a good start. About 4 hours, and tons of personal notes written later, I put the book down. I had finished. This amazing book had touched and inspired me.

I’m so excited to share with you how this inspirational and knowledgeable book elicited such a wonderful and truly powerful inspirational response in me. You see, I had quite the experience reading this book. About halfway through, I had a powerful "ah ha" moment to a question I had been asking myself only a few nights before and SEVERAL times over my life! It felt like a message written just for me, and finally, an answer had come to me that I had been seeking for many years.

Like I said above, In this book, Dr. Iyabo gives you the three effective steps to finding peace and pursuing permanent happiness and then also shows you how to work this into every area of your life! You don't just get the useful information, but you also get the guide on how to put this information into practice! You actually learn HOW to navigate the likely problems, situations, and challenges you will most likely encounter at some point through out your life. Everything from career to relationships, raising children, dealing with loss, the death of loved ones, divorce, and more. It's not just book that teaches you to be more positive. It teaches you the success steps in finding peace and permanent happiness, and THEN teaches you how to use it in every situation, so you're well prepared to navigate through those challenging life experiences when they arise.

For me, my "ah ha" moment came when Dr. Iyabo talked about how to put these steps into play when it comes to achieving balance and permanent happiness through relationships (our romantic relationships, specifically). Ever since I could remember, the only thing I cared about, even starting out as a child, was finding "the one" and getting my happily ever after. As I grew into a boy-crazed teenager, my focus was still on finding my future husband. I was in such a hurry, that I married at a very young age (25) to a man that "seemed nice and treated me well enough." But later on discovered he had serious drug problems, which he later passed away from on Thanksgiving of 2014.

I moved right onto my second marriage after my divorce, figuring this guy would be better because he didn't seem to have drug issues, only to discover he had serious alcohol problems, a scary temper, and he liked to spit out some pretty nasty verbal and emotional things at me after he'd thrown back a few.

At this point in my life, which was not that long ago (2015), I decided I needed to make serious changes. I moved out, divorced my then-husband, and spent some serious time working on myself. I had always had a bit of a spiritual side and enjoyed self-improvement and self-help books, but I soon began to dive in hard to anything I could find that would help me find lasting happiness, specifically with a man.

I got into meditation, I began finding a more peaceful side. I worked hard on myself. I began finding balance. I found in the next year spent alone that I could absolutely be happy all by myself. That I didn't need a man to do that for me but hoped I would be able to finally find

The title got my attention "Permanent Happiness" ? Was this possible ..or a joke that was unattainable.. As I read through the pages of this simply written ..yet constructively delivered pages. I began to think that maybe the author did know what she meant. She relates how through the changes of life (for better or worse) her life has been transformed with easy to follow principles.
Then it struck me! It is a choice that we all have to make, to strive for that inner peace, be positive and help others so that as we go through our life's journey whether at the early stages, the middle ages or in the latter part we can choose to be happy despite the vicissitudes of our life.
Not only that we can be a great influencer for good to those around us as we do so.
Thank You Dr. Ojikutu for putting together a great book with a holistic and physical approach to teaching us how to not only recognize and be ourselves but to be our best self!
I love the diagrammatic approach to explaining and reinforcing salient points that just keeps a picture in my mind of how this state of permanent happiness is achievable.
Definitely a must read and highly recommended as a gift to others who may need some enlightenment along the way I got it as a gift from my sister and I am getting copies for my daughters.

Permanent Happiness? I wondered.... !
This should be a reference book from time to time to set you back on track A well written, easy to read and relate with.
While reading this book, I felt as if my personal shrink (lol)was talking to me and reassuring me that my feelings were and are validated i.e in chapter 3, she talked about being the change our children need. I kept on shouting Yes! Yes! Yes! I kept having "aha" moments. (Moments of realization and insights)
Truly we can all achieve "Permanent Happiness" it's not difficult, it's attainable. Just read this book.
I can't wait to read more books by Dr Iyabo Ojikutu.

This book was an easy read with simple practical steps. Dr. Iyabo Ojikutu goes into detail on how you can achieve permanent happiness. I especially loved the section about nourishing your spirit lines. An area that I have been working on lately. Married, Single, Male, Female, Young Adult, Mid-Lifer all can all learn how to achieve permanent happiness by reading and applying the tips outlined by Dr.Ojikutu. A book that I plan to have by my bedside from now. Go ahead and purchase and be ready for your mind, body and spirit to be transformed.

I gave this book 5 stars because it was easy to comprehend, it flowed. I felt like I was sitting in a chair talking to a counselor or sharing encouraging soul searching questions and answers with my best friend.
There is much we already know but forget to imbibe into our everyday lives. Wake up call for me and anyone else who is true to themselves. This book is for everyone regardless of age, gender, religious affiliation or status.
Great job, will definitely be reading this author's books as released. I'm on the journey to finding PEACE!

I'm always curious about what makes strong women who they are and their experiences that shape them. I really enjoyed reading Dr Iyabo's insights and lessons learned shared with sincere intention to help others find happiness.

This book really made me aware of how to attain and maintain happiness and peace in different areas of my life. Iyabo's style of writing, transparency and sincere desire for everyone to be permanently happy makes it such a captivating read that you will not want to put it down. This is definitely a must read for everyone.

Beautiful, heartfelt, authentic. Completely worth the read.

I’m not usually a fan of self-help books. Too often the authors of such books use the majority of their writing to work up to one or two useful bits and I don’t prefer to wade through 300 pages of testimonials and anecdotes to get to the 1 page “pearl of wisdom”.

Dr Ojikutu’s book is almost the opposite: an almost overwhelming trove of useful ideas, limiting her story telling to “just enough” to provide adequate context for her thoughts and philosophy.

Nice effort for a first book!

This is a book that I will continue to go back and read over time to keep me on track. Filled with great reminders to fill your life with health, happiness and peace.

Excellent read! I took this book on vacation, and finished it the first day. The author is truly inspiring!