Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier

by Arthur C. Brooks

And this leads to the second, related intrinsic goal, which is service to others—the sense that your job is making the world a better place.

Does this opportunity excite you, frighten you, or deaden you?

You can’t ditch you. Remember: You are your own CEO.

Make some friends who don’t see you as a professional object.

Seek intrinsic rewards from your work. The right goals to get the greatest satisfaction from work are not money and power, but rather, earned success and service to others.

Boom! Everyday. All day. Always. All ways.

Self-objectification will lead to unhappiness.

For so long…it’s the path society, popular culture, social media, etc. leads us down

faith was, he believed, what made him truly free for the first time in his life.

his happiness came only when he was able to finally see the truth.

the path of transcendence is an adventure, a spiritual expedition that can add a kind of excitement to our lives beyond anything else we have ever experienced.

Life is always speaking to us, trying to urge us toward the best version of ourselves.

belief is strongly correlated with searching for—and finding—purpose in life.

spiritual, religious, and other metaphysical experiences are not an imaginary phenomenon. They affect your brain, and give you access to insights and knowledge you can’t get in other ways.

mindfulness is not natural, and it’s actually quite hard.

A-friggin-men!

Avoiding mindfulness can also be an effective way to distract yourself from pain.

we tend to get love most when we give it freely.

What we try to keep for ourselves is just what we are sure to lose.”[35]

Don’t hide your own struggles. Use them to help others understand that they are not alone, and getting happier is possible.

Vulnerability and humanness allow others to relate and approach or collaborate

Grandparents lean on their experience and wisdom and tend not to freak out over little things, which makes everything easier and more fun.

“I don’t know what this day will bring, but I will love others and allow myself to be loved.”

The key to progress isn’t perfection, it’s to begin again, and again, and again.

So very true