Download or read book Stumbling on Happiness written by Daniel Gilbert and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2009-02-24 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A smart and funny book by a prominent Harvard psychologist, which uses groundbreaking research and (often hilarious) anecdotes to show us why we’re so lousy at predicting what will make us happy – and what we can do about it. Most of us spend our lives steering ourselves toward the best of all possible futures, only to find that tomorrow rarely turns out as we had expected. Why? As Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert explains, when people try to imagine what the future will hold, they make some basic and consistent mistakes. Just as memory plays tricks on us when we try to look backward in time, so does imagination play tricks when we try to look forward. Using cutting-edge research, much of it original, Gilbert shakes, cajoles, persuades, tricks and jokes us into accepting the fact that happiness is not really what or where we thought it was. Among the unexpected questions he poses: Why are conjoined twins no less happy than the general population? When you go out to eat, is it better to order your favourite dish every time, or to try something new? If Ingrid Bergman hadn’t gotten on the plane at the end of Casablanca, would she and Bogey have been better off? Smart, witty, accessible and laugh-out-loud funny, Stumbling on Happiness brilliantly describes all that science has to tell us about the uniquely human ability to envision the future, and how likely we are to enjoy it when we get there.
Download or read book Happy Money written by Elizabeth Dunn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you think money can’t buy happiness, you’re not spending it right. Two rising stars in behavioral science explain how money can buy happiness—if you follow five core principles of smarter spending. If you think money can’t buy happiness, you’re not spending it right. Two rising stars in behavioral science explain how money can buy happiness—if you follow five core principles of smarter spending. Happy Money offers a tour of new research on the science of spending. Most people recognize that they need professional advice on how to earn, save, and invest their money. When it comes to spending that money, most people just follow their intuitions. But scientific research shows that those intuitions are often wrong. Happy Money explains why you can get more happiness for your money by following five principles, from choosing experiences over stuff to spending money on others. And the five principles can be used not only by individuals but by companies seeking to create happier employees and provide “happier products” to their customers. Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton show how companies from Google to Pepsi to Crate & Barrel have put these ideas into action. Along the way, the authors describe new research that reveals that luxury cars often provide no more pleasure than economy models, that commercials can actually enhance the enjoyment of watching television, and that residents of many cities frequently miss out on inexpensive pleasures in their hometowns. By the end of this book, readers will ask themselves one simple question whenever they reach for their wallets: Am I getting the biggest happiness bang for my buck?
Download or read book The Myths of Happiness written by Sonja Lyubomirsky and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-01-28 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling author of The How of Happiness reveals how to find opportunity in life’s thorniest moments Focusing on life’s biggest, messiest moments, Sonja Lyubomirsky provides readers with the clear-eyed vision they need to build the healthiest, most satisfying life. Lyubomirsky argues that we have been given false promises—myths that assure us that lifelong happiness will be attained once we hit the culturally confirmed markers of adult success. This black-and-white vision of happiness works to discourage us from recognizing the upside of any negative and limits our potential for personal growth. A corrective course on happiness and a call to regard life’s twists and turns with a more open mind, The Myths of Happiness shares practical lessons that prove we are more adaptable than we think we are. It empowers readers to look beyond their first response, sharing scientific evidence that often it is our mindset—not our circumstances—that matters most.
Download or read book The How of Happiness written by Sonja Lyubomirsky and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2007-12-27 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn how to achieve the happiness you deserve "A guide to sustaining your newfound contentment." —Psychology Today "Lyubomirsky's central point is clear: a significant portion of what is called happiness . . . is up for grabs. Taking some pages out of the positive psychology playbook, she coaches readers on how to snag it." —The New York Review of Books You see here a different kind of happiness book. The How of Happiness is a comprehensive guide to understanding the elements of happiness based on years of groundbreaking scientific research. It is also a practical, empowering, and easy-to-follow workbook, incorporating happiness strategies, excercises in new ways of thinking, and quizzes for understanding our individuality, all in an effort to help us realize our innate potential for joy and ways to sustain it in our lives. Drawing upon years of pioneering research with thousands of men and women, The How of Happiness is both a powerful contribution to the field of positive psychology and a gift to people who have sought to take their happiness into their own hands.
Download or read book Happiness written by Daniel Nettle and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2005-05-12 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What exactly is happiness? Can we measure it? Why are some people happy and others not? And is there a drug that could eliminate all unhappiness? People all over the world, and throughout the ages, have thought about happiness, argued about its nature, and, most of all, desired it. But why do we have such a strong instinct to pursue happiness? And if happiness is good in itself, why haven't we simply evolved to be happier? Daniel Nettle uses the results of the latest psychological studies to ask what makes people happy and unhappy, what happiness really is, and to examine our urge to achieve it. Along the way we look at brain systems, at mind-altering drugs, and how happiness is now marketed to us as a commodity. Nettle concludes that while it may be unrealistic to expect lasting happiness, our evolved tendency to seek happiness drives us to achieve much that is worthwhile in itself. What is more, it seems to be not your particular circumstances that define whether you are happy so much as your attitude towards life. Happiness gives us the latest scientific insights into the nature of our feelings of well-being, and what these imply for how we might live our lives.
Download or read book Goodbye Things The New Japanese Minimalism written by Fumio Sasaki and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The best-selling phenomenon from Japan that shows us a minimalist life is a happy life. Fumio Sasaki is not an enlightened minimalism expert or organizing guru like Marie Kondo—he’s just a regular guy who was stressed out and constantly comparing himself to others, until one day he decided to change his life by saying goodbye to everything he didn’t absolutely need. The effects were remarkable: Sasaki gained true freedom, new focus, and a real sense of gratitude for everything around him. In Goodbye, Things Sasaki modestly shares his personal minimalist experience, offering specific tips on the minimizing process and revealing how the new minimalist movement can not only transform your space but truly enrich your life. The benefits of a minimalist life can be realized by anyone, and Sasaki’s humble vision of true happiness will open your eyes to minimalism’s potential.
Download or read book Happy at Last written by Richard O'Connor and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author of Undoing Depression – a groundbreaking program to get happy and stay happy! Do you want to live the happiest, most satisfying life possible? Does happiness feel like an elusive goal? According to the most recent developments in psychology and science, the brain can be trained to be more receptive to happiness, because staying happy doesn't come naturally. Nor does our society make it easy. In Happy at Last, psychotherapist Richard O'Connor offers new thinking about how we attain and maintain happiness, and he shows us that it doesn't necessarily have to come at a high cost or in a big package. Rather, we can be in command of our happiness by learning to control how our minds work so that we can identify and savor the hidden positive aspects of everyday life. To do this, O'Connor provides us with a set of skills that will help us re-wire our brains to allow ourselves more joy. Filled with practical advice and exercises, Happy at Last is a step-by-step guide that will help you achieve * The core skills that we need to feel happy and fulfilled in today's world. * Strategies for increasing happiness, reducing unnecessary misery, and experiencing greater satisfaction. * Techniques for keeping sadness at bay and stress from getting in the way of enjoying life. This is not glib pop psychology but rather the best current science has to offer, put into an accessible and absorbing book. Richard O'Connor makes it possible to be, finally, Happy at Last!
Download or read book The Happiness Equation written by Nick Powdthavee and published by Icon Books Ltd. This book was released on 2010-08-05 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is marriage worth £200,000 a year? Why will having children make you unhappy? Why does happiness from winning the lottery take two years to arrive? Why does time heal the pain of divorce or the death of a loved one – but not unemployment? Everybody wants to be happy. But how much happiness – precisely – will each life choice bring? Should I get married? Am I really going to feel happy about the career that I picked? How can we decide not only which choice is better for us, but how much it's better for us? The result of new, unique research, The Happiness Equation brings to a general readership for the first time the new science of happiness economics. It describes how we can measure emotional reactions to different life experiences and present them in ways we can relate to. How, for instance, monetary values can be put on things that can't be bought or sold in the market – such as marriage, friendship, even death – so that we can objectively rank them in order of preference. It also explains why some things matter more to our happiness than others (like why seeing friends is worth more than a Ferrari) while others are worth almost nothing (like sunny weather). Nick Powdthavee – whose work on happiness has been discussed on both the Undercover Economist and Freakanomics blogs – brings cutting-edge research on how we value our happiness to a general audience, with a style that wears its learning lightly and is a joy to read.
Download or read book Spontaneous Happiness written by Andrew Weil and published by Little, Brown Spark. This book was released on 2011-11-08 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone wants to be happy. But what does that really mean? Increasingly, scientific evidence shows us that true satisfaction and well-being come only from within. Dr. Andrew Weil has proven that the best way to maintain optimum physical health is to draw on both conventional and alternative medicine. Now, in Spontaneous Happiness, he gives us the foundation for attaining and sustaining optimum emotional health. Rooted in Dr. Weil's pioneering work in integrative medicine, the book suggests a reinterpretation of the notion of happiness, discusses the limitations of the biomedical model in treating depression, and elaborates on the inseparability of body and mind. Dr. Weil offers an array of scientifically proven strategies from Eastern and Western psychology to counteract low mood and enhance contentment, comfort, resilience, serenity, and emotional balance. Drawn from psychotherapy, mindfulness training, Buddhist psychology, nutritional science, and more, these strategies include body-oriented therapies to support emotional wellness, techniques for managing stress and anxiety and changing mental habits that keep us stuck in negative patterns, and advice on developing a spiritual dimension in our lives. Lastly, Dr. Weil presents an eight-week program that can be customized according to specific needs, with short- and long-term advice on nutrition, exercise, supplements, environment, lifestyle, and much more. Whether you are struggling with depression or simply want to feel happier, Dr. Weil's revolutionary approach will shift the paradigm of emotional health and help you achieve greater contentment in your life.
Download or read book Authentic Happiness written by Martin Seligman and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2011-01-11 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this important, entertaining book, one of the world's most celebrated psychologists, Martin Seligman, asserts that happiness can be learned and cultivated, and that everyone has the power to inject real joy into their lives. In Authentic Happiness, he describes the 24 strengths and virtues unique to the human psyche. Each of us, it seems, has at least five of these attributes, and can build on them to identify and develop to our maximum potential. By incorporating these strengths - which include kindness, originality, humour, optimism, curiosity, enthusiasm and generosity -- into our everyday lives, he tells us, we can reach new levels of optimism, happiness and productivity. Authentic Happiness provides a variety of tests and unique assessment tools to enable readers to discover and deploy those strengths at work, in love and in raising children. By accessing the very best in ourselves, we can improve the world around us and achieve new and lasting levels of authentic contentment and joy.
Download or read book Happiness by Design written by Paul Dolan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-08-28 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is not just another happiness book. In Happiness by Design, happiness and behavior expert Paul Dolan combines the latest insights from economics and psychology to illustrate that in order to be happy we must behave happy Our happiness is experiences of both pleasure and purpose over time and it depends on what we actually pay attention to. Using what Dolan calls deciding, designing, and doing, we can overcome the biases that make us miserable and redesign our environments to make it easier to experience happiness, fulfilment, and even health. With uncanny wit and keen perception, Dolan reveals what we can do to find our unique optimal balance of pleasure and purpose, offering practical advice on how to organize our lives in happiness-promoting ways and fresh insights into how we feel, including why: • Having kids reduces pleasure but gives us a massive dose of purpose • Gaining weight won’t necessarily make us unhappier, but being too ambitious might • A quiet neighborhood is more important than a big house Vividly rendering intriguing research and lively anecdotal evidence, Happiness by Design offers an absorbing, thought-provoking, new paradigm for readers of Stumbling on Happiness and The How of Happiness.
Download or read book The Politics of Happiness written by Derek Bok and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-09-26 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the principal findings of happiness researchers, assesses the strengths and weaknesses of such research, and looks at how governments could use results when formulating policies to improve the lives of citizens.
Download or read book The Joy Plan written by Kaia Roman and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2017-07-11 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a mother, a wife, and a businesswoman, Kaia Roman always had a plan. But when her biggest plan, the business she cofounded, collapsed, Kaia found herself crushed by depression. And what felt even worse was that, with a husband and two kids relying on her to get out of bed, she didn't have a plan to move forward. Determined to turn her life around and put her ingrained habits of stress and anxiety behind her, Kaia decided to put everything else on hold and dedicate thirty days to the singular pursuit of joy. The results were astonishing—and lasted much longer than the initial monthlong project. In this uplifting and eye-opening memoir, Kaia uses her business savvy to create a concrete Joy Plan to get back on her feet fast. Using scientific research on hormones, neurotransmitters, and mindfulness, along with the daily dedication to creating a more joyful existence, Kaia teaches readers how to move past temporary happiness and succeed in creating joy that lasts. Complete with advice, exercises, and key takeaways, The Joy Plan is Kaia's step-by-step guide to how she, and everyone else, can ditch the negative and plan for the joy in their lives.
Download or read book Changeology written by John C. Norcross and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-12-10 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An internationally recognized expert on behavior change presents a revolutionary approach to personal improvement that converts scientifically proven techniques into a ninety-day plan with five simple steps.
Download or read book Happiness at Work written by Jessica Pryce-Jones and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sharing the results of her four-year research journey in simple, jargon-free language, Pryce-Jones exposes the secrets of being happy at work. Focuses on what happiness really means in a work context and why it matters to individuals and organisations in both human and financial terms Equips readers with the information, knowledge and skills to make the most of the nearly 100,000 hours that they'll spend at work over a lifetime Demystifies psychological research through a fascinating array of anecdotes, case studies, and interviews from people in the trenches of the working world, including business world-leaders, politicians, particle physicists, and philosophers, sheep farmers, waitresses, journalists, teachers, and lawyers, to name just a few
Download or read book Psychology written by Daniel Schacter and published by Worth. This book was released on 2016-12-21 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This widely used, enthusiastically received textbook is the work of one of the most accomplished author teams in introductory psychology, each a distinguished educator and researcher. Together, they offer an approachable, engagingly written survey of the field’s main ideas, filled with unusual stories, memorable examples, and lots of humor to captivate all kinds of students. Features include: 'Hot Science' highlighting important and interesting new research 'The Real World' highlighting applications of psychological research to real world contexts 'Other Voices' offering excerpts of great writing about psychology and showing how important psychology is to public discussion 'Changing Minds' questions at the end of the chapter that ask students to confront a scenario using information from the chapter. The new edition has been reshaped for the classroom chapter by chapter. Sections in each chapter now have specific Learning Outcomes in place, to emphasize “big picture” concepts and guide student learning. There is also new boxed feature called 'A World of Difference' highlighting important research on diversity and individual differences.
Download or read book Stumbling Toward Happiness written by Kat Lehmann and published by . This book was released on 2019-08-04 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Happiness meditations. Field notes from an inward journey home. With 111 meditations of interconnected poetry and prose compiled into in 9 chapters, Stumbling Toward Happiness is an all-immersive journey of self-discovery, personal transformation, and triumph. The relatable insights celebrate the process of growth and the personal and enduring center of joy within. Like a diary of inner travel, this third book in its series is rooted in the lived experience that happiness is a journey not a destination. These elegant Japanese-form hybrid poems, called haibun and tanka prose, combine a lyrical paragraph of spiritual reflection with a haiku, tanka, or other 1-5 line "small stone" poem that expands its meaning. Informed by the author's deep contemplation of nature as a scientist and a poet and reminiscent of the reflections of Mark Nepo and Mary Oliver, the book encourages deep soul-searching. Themes include connection and compassion, the gifts of imperfection, radical forgiveness, the search for happiness and healing, a return to simple abundance, and awakening to the wonder of the universe and ourselves. Stumbling Toward Happiness will resonate with every reader as they reflect on their own source of inner wisdom and joy.
