Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment in 100+ Books in 2025

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Jul 03, 2008 Dolly rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, other-usa, money, education-school, jewish-israel, fitness-sports, religion-philosophy, 2011, new-england

I've had this book on my to-read list for a loooonnng time; I couldn't find it at our local library in Hawaii, and I finally put borrowed it here. I hate to admit it, but after such a long wait I think I expected more from it.

It was a fairly simple discussion about happiness in general; what it means, the importance of having it and how to get it. Tal Ben-Shahar provides personal anecdotes, exercises and opportunities for reflection.

If followed carefully and taken to heart, I am sure that his I've had this book on my to-read list for a loooonnng time; I couldn't find it at our local library in Hawaii, and I finally put borrowed it here. I hate to admit it, but after such a long wait I think I expected more from it.

It was a fairly simple discussion about happiness in general; what it means, the importance of having it and how to get it. Tal Ben-Shahar provides personal anecdotes, exercises and opportunities for reflection.

If followed carefully and taken to heart, I am sure that his advice will help people lead more happier lives. I must admit that I only cursorily performed the exercises, but I think I already am pretty happy and I discovered that I've been following several of his principles for many years, if not all my life.

interesting quotes:

"If we are so rich, why aren't we happy?" (p. x)

"I define happiness as 'the overall experience of pleasure and meaning.' A happy person enjoys positive emotions while perceiving her life as purposeful." (p. 33)

"While the happy person experiences highs and lows, his overall state of being is positive. Most of the time he is propelled by positive emotions such as joy and affection rather than negative ones such as anger and guilt. Pleasure is the rule; pain, the exception. To be happy, we have to feel that, on the whole, whatever sorrows, trials, and tribulations we may encounter, we still experience the joy of being alive." (p. 36)

"George Bernard Shaw said, 'This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.'" (p. 39)

"As Thoreau says, however, 'Life is too short to be in a hurry.'" (p. 45)

"As Laurence G. Boldt says in Zen and the Art of Making a Living: A Practical Guide to Creative Career Design, 'Society tells us the only thing that matters is matter - the only things that count are the things that can be counted.'" (p. 58)

"The primary purpose of having a goal - a future purpose - is to enhance enjoyment of the present." (p. 70)

"Time is a zero-sum game, a limited resource. Life is too short to do only what we have to do; it is barely long enough to do what we want to do." (p. 78)

"The psychologist Abraham Maslow once wrote that 'the most beautiful fate, the most wonderful good fortune that can happen to any human being, is to be paid for doing that which he passionately loves to do.'" (p. 101)

"Psychologist Amy Wrzesniewski and her colleagues suggest that people experience their work in one of three ways: as a job, as a career, or as a calling." (p. 101)

"When it comes to generating the ultimate currency, how we perceive the work can matter more than the work itself. Hospital cleaners who recognize a simple truth, which is that their work makes a difference, are happier than doctors who don't experience their work as meaningful." (p. 106)

"Psychologist Tim Kasser shows in his research that time affluence is a consistent predictor of well-being, whereas material affluence is not. Time affluence is the feeling that one has sufficient time to pursue activities that are personally meaningful, to reflect, to engage in leisure." (p. 154)

"Winston Churchill once commented that 'the inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.'" (p. 158)

"A happy - or happier - life is rarely shaped by some extraordinary life-changing event; rather, it is shaped incrementally, experience by experience, moment by moment.
To realize, to make real, life's potential for the ultimate currency, we must first accept that 'this is it' - that all there is to life is the day-to-day, the ordinary, the details of the mosaic. We are living a happy life when we derive pleasure and meaning while spending time with our loved ones, or learning something new, or engaging in a project at work. The more our days are filled with these experiences, the happier we become. This is all there is to it." (p. 168)

As I look at all of the quotes I picked out, I do find it somewhat telling that most of them are quotes by other people. Hmmm... ...more

Like · see review

May 26, 2008 A rated it liked it

Like

Apr 04, 2016 Clark rated it liked it

Shelves: 2016-100-book-goal

Like

From the Bookshelf of 100+ Books in 2025…

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

What Members Thought

100+ Books in 2025