"Happier" by Tal Ben-Shahar; Road map to your ultimate and inalienable right to be happy

"Happier" is the latest book by Harvard professor Tal Ben-Shahar, who teaches the most highly attended course at the university--Positive Psychology. The book distills those lessons into a form that you -- with time and effort -- can use.

Positive psychology is the scientific study of human happiness and possesses the innate attraction of life improvement. However, unlike traditional self-help programs which are often based on nothing more than intuition and generalized anecdotes, positive psychology is an actual scientific discipline.

When reading "Happier" the author's teaching roots are quite apparent. The book explains the basic principles of positive psychology so that one can understand the purpose of the work assignments that are interspersed throughout the book. The underlying premise of positive psychology and of Ben-Shahar's book is that you can learn to be happier just as you can learn a foreign language or to be proficient at golf. The best way to master such activities is to have an expert instruct you and then for you to regularly practice what you are taught so that it becomes second nature. Positive psychologists believe the same methodology applies to happiness. Ben-Shahar's book serves as your instructor and then it's up to you to practice what you are taught.

"Happier" presents a strong case about how most of us need to unlearn certain habits and practices that undermine our ability to maximize personal happiness. Ben-Shahar stresses the need to live for both today and tomorrow and how to incorporate both pleasure and meaning into one's life. This advice might sound so obvious as to not require a book but studies have shown that people are remarkably poor at doing exactly this. The reasons for this mis-allocation of time and effort are many but "Happier" shows you how to distill down those things that will make you most happy and then how to ritualize them into your every day life.

Below is a sampling of the many concepts covered in the book:

Happiness is a currency. In fact happiness is the ultimate currency for which all other assets/experiences are traded. You might work hard to make money but you make money so you can buy things or experiences that bring happiness. Mistakenly most people treat money as the ultimated currency which leads to the types of mis-allocated effort described above.

Happiness levels are not rigid, that is predetermined by genetics or life circumstances. To believe this would mean that one could not improve one's own happiness. While some researchers believe that happiness is outside of the control of the individual (saying that "it's as futile as trying to be taller"), Ben-Shahar makes a strong case why this simply isn't true and how pursuing meaningful and pleasurable activities can significantly raise one's levels of well-being.

Ben-Shahar's hamburger analogy explains how certain things, like an unhealthy but tasty hamburger, will bring is immediate short-term pleasure but have the opposite effect on our long-term feelings. Similarly, an unappealing but healthy veggie burger might bring us negative emotions while we consume it but bring us long-term benefits. Too often people bounce back and forth between these two without finding out what things in their lives can bring both immediate and long-term happiness--that is both a tasty and healthy hamburger.

There are four basic archetypes of happiness decision making. The "hedonist" archetype is one that eats the tasty burger today forgoing any concern for its longterm effect. On the opposite spectrum is the "rat race" archetype, those that put aside any attempt at present happiness in order to be happy in the future. Think of the commuter who is never at home (always at the office or going to/from it) but believes that such efforts are necessary to get a promotion which they are sure will lead to happiness. For both obvious and not-so-obvious reasons, neither of these approaches will lead to an optimal life. To do so requires that one live both for today and tomorrow. Ben-Sharar calls that the "happiness" archetype and the book is the road map to do so.

Happiness and pleasure are not the same thing. Pleasure is the experience in the near and now (present benefit), meaning comes from having a sense of purpose from the future benefit of our actions. The key concept is that experiencing positive emotions is necessary but not sufficient for happiness. Living for the day, but only the day, will not bring optimal happiness.

Our capacity to enjoy different activities is limited and unique. Ben-Sharar's "Lasagna Principal" states that even things that we might really enjoy, such as eating lasagna, wouldn't be enjoyable if we tried to consume them all day every day.

The importance of gratitude cannot be understated. Research by Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough show that people who kept a daily gratitude journal employed higher levels of emotional and physical well-being.

Once the basic elements of happiness are addressed and you are given tools to being increasing your own happiness level the book moves to "applied" happiness where these and new concepts are used with learning/education, the workplace, and relationships.

Overall "Happier" is an easy-to-read, well thought-out exploration of happiness containing enough exercises to also be called a workbook.

Amazon link: Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment

NOTE: LifeTwo thinks so highly of this book that we are going to use it as the basis of our own "How to be Happy" week in September.

Order "Happier" from Amazon (linked above) or pick it up at your local bookstore.

Every day we will walk you through a new exercise designed to immediately increase your well-being. Sign up for the LifeTwo newsletter (upper right hand corner of this page) to receive additional information on the activities of that week.

We will also be interviewing Tal Ben-Shahar, the author of "Happier", as well as a few other surprises.