Relationships are important to happiness, so nurturing your social skills would seem a pretty wise happiness strategy. Now, is that something you can get from a book? Well, yes and no – it depends on the book. It may surprise you that research shows people panache is more polished in readers of Pride and Prejudice… Continue reading Happiness Life Strategy: Enjoy your stories, make friends & influence people
Category: Books
Happiness Life Strategy: How to find your passion #3
When I finally got up the nerve to leave corporate life it was like finding the off-switch on a perpetually-talkback-tuned radio. Realizing I could have silenced the maddening demagogue and his band of yokels all along was a shock – I’d become so blinded by the daily scramble of desperate deadlines, so trapped into thinking… Continue reading Happiness Life Strategy: How to find your passion #3
Happiness Life Strategy: How to find your passion
Looking back, there have been clues that I didn’t choose my ideal career. The fact that I was roused from a deep sleep (not study-induced) by an invigilator during a microeconomics exam should have been the first indicator that commerce may not have been my true love. Determined to make my way in the world,… Continue reading Happiness Life Strategy: How to find your passion
Happier: Learn the secrets to daily joy and lasting fulfillment [Book review]
Happier is based on Tal Ben-Shahar’s positive psychology primer – the most popular class at Harvard and attended by about 20% of all Harvard graduates. Ben-Shahar wisely suggests that a better question than Am I happy? is How can I be happier?, since this recognizes happiness to be an ongoing and lifelong process. He positions… Continue reading Happier: Learn the secrets to daily joy and lasting fulfillment [Book review]
Happiness: A guide to developing life’s most important skill [Book review]
Matthieu Ricard’s subtitle reveals his premise – that ‘achieving durable happiness as a way of being is a skill’ (page 7). Although some people are happier than others, he notes, such happiness is not durable and complete. How then is the skill of durable happiness achieved? Ricard – a Buddhist monk and both monk and… Continue reading Happiness: A guide to developing life’s most important skill [Book review]
Plugging the voters’ happiness gap
David Brooks’ column in today’s New York Times talks about the gap facing American voters. It’s not between right and left, not between rich and poor, but between voters’ ‘private optimism and their public gloom’. It seems American voters are upbeat about their own lives, with the majority satisfied about their jobs, income, and future… Continue reading Plugging the voters’ happiness gap
Happiness is…a dog-eared book
In home-decorating lingo, I’m what they call anal. My wardrobe is color-ordered. My library is Dewey-decimalized. My linen is fold-perfect – corner to corner, edge to edge, smooth lines facing out. Neatness and order bring me calm, as well as something I can best describe as happiness. Until recently, my books were pristine. I’d buy… Continue reading Happiness is…a dog-eared book