Happiness Books - Your Happiness Education
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Start Your Happiness Education With These 101 Books on Happiness
"I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness." - The Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama explains that education focused specifically on understanding and implementing the factors that lead to lasting happiness is crucial in our quest to lead happier lives. The more sophisticated your knowledge is about what truly leads to happiness and what doesn't, the more effective you will be in achieving happiness.
We go to school and college--sometimes even beyond--and read countless textbooks on math, biology, accounting, marketing, and so on. Isn't it time we gave our time and attention to the study of how to be happy? This lens contains 101 books on happiness (or it will, once it's finished; right now it has 64 books) to help you get started on your happiness education.
photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography
The Art of Happiness - A Handbook for Life
The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people.
The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
Amazon Price: $2.92 (as of 05/31/2012)
The book "The Art of Happiness - A Handbook for Life" was written by psychiatrist Howard C. Cutler based on a series of interviews held with the Dalai Lama during the Dalai Lama's visit to Arizona and in his home in India, augmented by some of the Dalai Lama's public talks.
The Dalai Lama believes that the very purpose of our existence is to seek happiness, and the book contains many of the methods recommended by the Dalai Lama to cultivate happiness.
For more information on "The Art of Happiness", read my blog post: "Happiness Tips From the Dalai Lama"
Stumbling on Happiness
Human beings can't accurately predict what will make them happy.
Stumbling on Happiness
Amazon Price: $10.73 (as of 06/01/2012)
From the book:
When I was ten years old, the most magical object in my house was a book on optical illusions. Its pages introduced me to the Muller-Lyer lines whose arrow-tipped ends made them appear as though they were different lengths even though a ruler showed them to be identical, the Necker cube that appeared to have an open side one moment and then an open top the next, the drawing of a chalice that suddenly became a pair of silhouetted faces before flickering back into a chalice again.
[T]his is a book that describes what science has to tell us about how and how well the human brain can imagine its own future, and about how and how well it can predict which of those futures it will most enjoy.
Here's a Lens on "Stumbling on Happiness"
Zen and the Art of Happiness
"There is only one way to achieve lasting happiness. That way is simply: Be happy".
Zen And the Art of Happiness
Amazon Price: $4.98 (as of 05/31/2012)
The book asks you to imagine that God appeared before you and said: "I promise you that everything that happens to you from this moment forward will be of the greatest benefit to you and will bring you the utmost fortune. Even though what happens will sometimes appear unfortunate or hurtful, in the end your life will be wonderfully blessed and hugely benefited by whatever happens."
Wouldn't that be the best piece of news you could hear? The author adds that if you are willing to give this concept a chance, you will be rewarded with a lifetime of happiness.
Happiness and the Flow State
"It was just one of those programs that clicked. I mean, everything went right, everything felt good . . . It's just such a rush, like you feel it could go on and on and on, like you don't want it to stop because it's going so well. It's almost as though you don't have to think, it's like everything goes automatically without thinking . . . You hear the music but you're not aware that you're hearing it, because it's a part of it all."
Flow: The Classic Work on How to Achieve Happiness
Flow
Amazon Price: $12.16 (as of 06/01/2012)
In the course of his doctoral research, Csikszentmihalyi noticed that the artists he was studying would spend hour after hour each day painting or sculpting with great concentration. They were obviously enjoying their work immensely.
And yet it was typical for them to lose interest in the painting or sculpture once it was done. Few of them expected their art to make them rich or famous. So why did they work as hard on their craft as an executive hoping for a promotion? It was obvious that the activity of painting produced it's own autonomous rewards; that is, the rewards of painting came from painting itself.
The flow model is the leading activity-based theory of happiness.
Excerpt from the book "Flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- Book Excerpt
- Here's an interesting excerpt from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book "Flow":
- "What I "discovered" was that happiness is not something that happens. It is not the result of good fortune or random chance. It is not something that money can buy or power command. It does not depend on outside events, but, rather, on how we interpret them. Happiness, in fact, is a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated, and defended privately by each person. People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy."
“Gratefulness is a knowing awareness that we are the recipients of goodness.”
Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier
Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier
Amazon Price: $4.15 (as of 05/31/2012)
Robert Emmons discovered scientific proof that when people regularly engage in the systematic cultivation of gratitude, they experience a variety of measurable benefits: pshychological, physical, and interpersonal. In fact, people who regularly practice grateful thinking can increase their set point of happiness by as much as 25%.
Happiness Tidbit #1
Keeping a gratitude journal for as little as 3 weeks can result in better sleep and more energy. (From "Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier").
Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude
"You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled."
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Gratitude Journals
If the only prayer you ever say in your life is "thank you", that would be enough.
The Gratitude-Happiness Connection
Gratitude Quotes
“What are the enabling conditions that make human beings flourish?”
Books by Dr. Martin Seligman
Dr. Martin Seligman is the world-renowned founder of positive psychology.
While psychology has traditionally concerned itself with what ails the human mind--such as anxiety, depression, neurosis, obsessions, paranoia, and delusions--, Dr. Seligman proposed a new goal for psychology. He asked the question: "What are the enabling conditions that make human beings flourish?" That is, his goal was to create a branch of psychology that would study what actively made people feel fulfilled, engaged and meaningfully happy.
Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth
Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth
Amazon Price: $16.24 (as of 05/31/2012)
The authors--father and son--have devoted their professional lives as phsychologists to the study of happiness. They have reexamined long-held conclusions about well-being and ask new questions about the subject. They've collected data from tens of thousands of people in dozens of nations, from the very wealthy to the destitute.
After decades of research they re-confirm some widely held beliefs about happiness and turn others on their head.
Essential Components of True Wealth
- Life satisfaction and happiness
- Spirituality and meaning of life
- Positive attitudes and emotions
- Loving social relationships
- Engaging activities and work
- Values and life goals to achieve them
- Physical and mental health
- Material sufficiency to meet our needs
The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want
The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want
Amazon Price: $8.37 (as of 05/31/2012)
Notice the pie on the front cover of the book. It is meant to illustrate the following: 50 percent of individual differences in happiness are governed by genes, 10 percent by life circumstances, and the remaining 40 percent by what we do and how we think-that is, our intentional activities and strategies.
Identical Twins: It's Not All in the Genes
What about life circumstances, which include things such as how much money you make, where you live, and how you look? Both twins participated in the show "Extreme Make-Over", in which they underwent extensive plastic surgery to completely alter their looks.
They indicate that the increased happiness that they felt over the way that they looked after the surgery lasted for about a year. After that, they went back to their previous happiness levels. This is evidence that life circumstances don't have that much of an impact on happiness.
The How of Happiness
(1) Counting your blessings: Expressing gratitude for what you have and appreciating what others do for you.
(2) Cultivating optimism: Keep a journal in which you imagine the best possible future for yourself.
(3) Avoiding over thinking and social comparison: Minimize worrying about things that are not within your control and comparing yourself to others.
(4) Practicing acts of kindness: Doing good things for others, whether it's strangers or those you know.
(5) Nurturing Relationships: Investing time and energy in cultivating and enjoying your relationships.
(6) Doing more activities that truly engage you: Increasing the number of experiences at home and work in which you "lose" yourself, which are challenging and absorbing.
(7) Replaying and savoring life's joys: Paying close attention to and remembering often life's momentary pleasures.
(8) Committing to your goals: Picking goals that are meaningful to you and devoting time and effort to pursuing them.
(9) Developing strategies for coping: Having strategies in place for dealing with stress, set-backs, and hardship.
(10) Learning to forgive: Letting go of anger and resentment toward those whom you feel have wronged you.
(11) Practicing religion and spirituality: Becoming more involved in your religious institution of choice or reading and pondering spiritually-themed books.
(12) Taking care of your body: Engaging in physical activity, meditating, sleeping well, and eating well.
“We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.”
Books by Tal Ben-Shahar
He consults and lectures around the world to executives in multinational corporations, the general public, and at-risk populations on topics of happiness, self-esteem, resilience, goal setting, mindfulness, and leadership.
(The quote in the talk bubble above is from Anne Frank.)
Here's a Lens Devoted to Tal Ben Shahar's Books
Here Are My Last Five Blog Posts
Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out
Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out
Amazon Price: $3.63 (as of 05/31/2012)
Here is an overview of the steps (one per chapter):
The Foundation
Take Ownership of Your Happiness
The Pillar of the Mind
Don't Believe Everything You Think
The Pillar of the Heart
Let Love Lead
The Pillar of the Body
Make Your Cells Happy
The Pillar of the Soul
Plug Yourself In to Spirit
The Roof
Live a Life Inspired by Purpose
The Garden
Cultivate Nourishing Relationship
More Happiness Lenses
A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted
A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted
Amazon Price: $125.00 (as of 05/31/2012)
A couple of years back Will Bowen was inspired to give a purple rubber bracelet to each person in his 280-member congregation. The bracelet, which says SPIRIT, was to remind people to stop complaining. "Negative talk produces negative thoughts; negative thoughts produce negative results", says Bowen. To live a happy and prosperous life, you have to stop complaining. He challenged his flock to stop complaining for 21 days.
Follow Bowen's advice and increase your happiness by dropping your habit of complaining. The process is simple: put on the bracelet, and each time you hear yourself complain, switch the bracelet to the other wrist and start the clock over. Do this until you've managed to live complaint-free for 21 consecutive days.
How We Choose to Be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People--Their Secrets, Their Stories
How We Choose to Be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People--Their Secrets, Their Stories
Amazon Price: $2.98 (as of 05/31/2012)
1. Intention: Happy people have a desire and make a commitment to be happy.
2. Accountability: Happy people take responsibility for themselves. They don't play the victim and they don't waste energy blaming others. When something goes wrong, people who are happy look for ways in which they can improve the situation, instead of arguing over who's to blame.
3. Identification: Those who are happy look within to determine what truly makes them happy (as opposed to what society says should make them happy). This reliance on their internal compass might lead them to decide that the promotion at work isn't really something they're interested in.
4. Centrality: Happy people make central to their life that which makes them happy. Foster and Hicks recommend making your dream list the driving force in your life. Become devoted to doing what makes you happy.
5. Recasting: When something doesn't turn out as planned, happy people allow themselves to feel the negative emotions that usually arise in light of a setback. However, they quickly start looking for the lessons and the meaning in the challenging situation. In other words, they look for ways in which to recast the negative in positive ways.
6. Options: Many people feel trapped by situations such as a job they don't enjoy, a lack of money, toxic relationships, and so on. Happy people are open to possibilities and have a flexible approach: they look for ways out of situations which are holding them back.
7. Appreciation: Those who are happy appreciate the people in their life and stay in the present.
8. Giving: Happy people give to the world at large without an expectation of getting in return.
9. Truthfulness: Happy people are authentic; they're truthful with others about what they want and what they need.
Robert Holden
Books by Robert Holden
The Happiness Project
Dr. Holden is the Director of the Happiness Project in the United Kingdom, an eight week scientifically tested program that promises to rewire your brain for happiness. It's been running in the UK for 15 years now.
The Happiness Project
- The Happiness Project
- Robert Holden's happiness course.
- Be Happy! On ABC news
- Watch a video with Robert Holden and read an excerpt from his book "Be happy!".
"The quality of mercy
is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle
rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath:
it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives
and him that takes."
-- William Shakespeare
Give to Others: A Key Component of Happiness
Achieving Happiness Through Meditation and Mindfulness
Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill
Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill
Amazon Price: $8.40 (as of 05/31/2012)
From the Ted.com talk:
Instead of trying to define "happiness", let's call it well-being. Well-being is not just a mere pleasurable sensation; it's a deep sense of serenity and fulfillment. It's a state that pervades and underlies all other emotional states, that is, all the joys and sorrows that can come one's way. Well-being is a state of being; it's not just a fleeting emotion.
Very often in our quest for happiness we look outside. We think that if we could gather this and that-if we could have everything that we need to be happy-then we would be happy. However, our control on the outer world is limited, temporary, and often illusory. So what if one of the things we think we need in order to be happy is missing? Then it all collapses.
If we look inside instead of looking outside of ourselves we realize that it's the mind that translates the outer conditions into happiness or suffering. There are people who even under very difficult outer circumstances manage to keep their inner serenity, inner strength and inner freedom. So it all comes down to training the mind, and the best way to train the mind is through meditation.
Happiness According to Bhante Gunaratana
A Buddhist Monk From Sri Lanka
Thich Nhat Hanh on Mindfulness
"Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment
I know this is a wonderful moment."
-Thich Nhat Hanh
Buddhism and Happiness
“Focusing on problems bogs you down in negativity; it's smarter to focus on possibilities.”
What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better
What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better
Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 05/31/2012)
Dr. Baker defines happiness as "a way of life-an overriding outlook composed of qualities such as optimism, courage, love, and fulfillment."
The six happiness tools recommended by Baker are the following: appreciation, choice, personal power, leading with strengths, language and stories, and multidimensional living.
Three Happiness Posts on My Blog
- 27 Jubilant Happiness Books
- According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the year 2020 will see depression become second only to heart disease in terms of the global burden of illness. Fortunately, there are self-development experts, Buddhist monks, and psychologists who are writing lots of books on how we can be happier. So hopefully we'll find a way to escape the WHO's dire predictions.
- 114 Ways to Celebrate Life: Free Ebook
- I've written several posts related to the theme of "how to celebrate life", and I've decided to take the best items from each of these posts and turn them into an ebook.
- Five Joyous Tips for Being Happy
- Just like the title says, this post will give you five tips to be happier.
The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life
The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life
Amazon Price: $7.26 (as of 05/31/2012)
The author begins by persuading us to acknowledge the link between the thoughts we choose to think and the joy we experience.
Next, he shows us how we can grow our potential for joy by refusing to dwell upon the problems and pressures that are enduring and inevitable.
Finally, he challenges us to pay the price of joy by becoming extraordinarily picky about what we read, watch, and listen to on a consistent basis.
Releasing Negative Emotions
Barry Neil Kaufman
- They make happiness a priority.
- They embrace their authentic-selves.
- They let go of judgments.
- They live in the present instead of constantly resenting the past or worrying about the future.
- They count their blessings.
- They accept that happiness is a choice; it's a choice they can make regardless of what else might be going on around them.
Raise Your Happiness Set-Point
Dr. William Kent Larkin
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decapod Nov 6, 2010 @ 5:47 pm | delete
- I love the quote from Charles Haddon Spurgeon, it is so true!
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TanyaWhaley
Dec 6, 2009 @ 2:26 pm | delete
- Beautiful lens. Thank-you. 5 stars***** and favorited!
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Senora_M
Jun 14, 2009 @ 8:20 pm | delete
- Cool lens! Thanks for sharing. Who doesn't love a happy book?
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Fabulous Creativity Resource
Click on the ebook for more information.
by Marelisa
Hi, I'm Marelisa Fabrega. I blog over at Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online.
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown...
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