This book was absolutely adorable! Charming illustrations alongside interesting cultural histories and practical suggestions of techniques to try to calm down. I will be trying them all!

A beautiful book calming inspiring.Thirty words thirty ways to focus be mindful of all we do our lives and interactions.The sketches were lovely a book Inwill go back to and will gift to friends,##netgalley #quartobooks,

A beautiful journey across the world via 30 words.
The book is an exploration of wellness and mindful habits and customs from different countries across the world.

From meditation to siesta breaks, from yoga to Sunday strolls, the book introduces the readers to positive ways to reconnect with the inner-self.
A great way to learn and explore cultures, accompanied by beautiful illustrations and easy examples suggesting to try something new.

I adored this title and will be using many of these words as mantras during my meditation practice. Although an English speaker by birth, we do miss some of the most beautiful nuances in translation. I was eager to learn more about serene and mindful things and the words given were simply beautiful.

I had read the Happiness Passport and enjoyed learned the words from around the world and enjoyed the quaint art. The Serenity Passport ups the game. Words are still the main feature but the author also included activities to help with serenity each themed with the current word.
I enjoyed this book and it would make a great gift for anyone trying to take a deep breath.

"The Serenity Passport" is just that! It discusses different techniques/beliefs from various cultures on how to achieve peacefulness, mindfulness, calmness. I loved reading the different cultural beliefs and the artwork in the book. The pictures inspire calmness also.

I love the premise of this book, but not the execution. The basic idea is that the author found 30 words and phrases from around the world that had good lessons in them, and then wrote about them. Examples of the words and phrases are flaneur (French for wandering to observe), nuchi gusui (Japanese for use food as medicine in living), dominguear (Spanish for doing things associated with Sundays), fredagsmys (Swedish for Friday coziness) and so on. I had heard of a few of these but others were new.

Each word or phrase was translated in a few words at the top of its entry, and then the author went on for pages about her interpretation of how to use it for mindfulness. I really would have preferred just a small bit of text and more about the actual traditions of the people who practice it, rather than lots of talk about what we do wrong in our culture and what we should try doing to go along with that concept. Most entries were pages long and didn't really provide any new thoughts or brilliant ideas. It was just like the author was trying to expand the 30 words into a full book and perhaps she also really likes to talk.

The art was a bit of a miss for me too. I like the illustrations as they're colorful and whimsical, but they seemed better suited to a children's book than a book of wisdom from around the world. And it felt wrong that they were so cutesy pastel European looking instead of matching the feeling and place of the culture they reflected. The illustrator tried to make each entry look like the region (for instance, for a Navajo word she did two pages of a pastel desert looking scene) but it didn't reflect the actual colors and style of each region so it just felt off to me.

I did like some of the words and phrases and would like to learn more about them, but I didn't really care for all the padding and rambling. It didn't feel as if I got a good idea of how the people themselves would explain each concept. It's also really hard to do a book like this and not have it feel like cultural appropriation to an extreme. The author tried to be respectful, but it did feel like playing philosophical tourist in 30 cultures, led by two white ladies as tour guides in the text and illustrations.

All that said, it is a cute book that many readers are likely to enjoy. There's a big trend right now of trying to get wisdom from phrases in other cultures. Look at all the hygge books and a recent one of flaneuring. This makes a nice addition if you like those types of books, and folks who like mindfulness books are likely to enjoy this one. Lastly, fans of Amelia Flowers' art will be happy, as the book is packed with her illustrations throughout.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

This is a delightful little book filled with ideas from around the world to practice mindfulness. I loved the idea of taking this singular focus and looking at ways that different cultures apply it. It is a perfect introduction to a lot of practices with descriptions and how-tos. A reader can then research any of these ideas further if they want more details and background. The illustrations make this a fun book to flip through and engage with. The Serenity Passport would be a great gift, especially for those who want quick hits of information about being mindful.

It turns out that the whole world is looking for ways to unplug, live in the moment and appreciate the small things. From hygge to lagom, there are names for this practice in every culture. Hayes includes practical exercises from each culture (meditating, forest bathing) to try to help readers find their inner sunshine in an often dark and depressing world

A charming little book with information nuggets that were intriguing, but I did sometimes wonder if the work was moving into cultural appropriation. I think this was not the intention -- indeed I got the impression the author was actively seeking to avoid this -- but there were, nonetheless, a few unsettling moments.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its focus on serenity, calm & well-being tips from around the world and its lovely illustrations. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy of this book book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the idea of a virtual trip around the world in specific words. The illustrations were wonderful and the mindfulness tips quite lovely.

I loved the pretty cover to this book and the thought of gathering intel on the mindfulness habits of other cultures around the world. I thought the book had cute illustrations and the overall concept of a passport around the world was cute. I love that it is set up in little sections based on what the mindful habit is perataining to. It was a nice book and would make a great addition to a coffee table.

This is a beautifully illustrated interesting book. It was intriguing to learn more about mindfulness. As a sufferer of chronic pain I am open to learning about new ways of coping with it. This book has definitely given me some ideas. I will be recommending it to some friends as well.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.