In the NZ Herald one morning in early January 2008, a short
article appeared, entitled "Happiness key to wellbeing." It
described how lower levels of stress-indicating proteins and
hormones are found in people who report more positive emotions. The
doctor who carried out the recent study of 3000 healthy Britons had
a straightforward recommendation for more happiness and - by
implication - better health. He recommended that people figure out
what makes them feel good, and truly satisfied, and then spend more
time doing those things.
Simple words. In essence, they sum up what Ben-Shahar has to say
in his book "Happier". However, it's certainly still worth your
while to read this cheerfully yellow-bound book. Its chief appeal
is that it systematically explores the concept of happiness and
living a happy life, demystifying it in an easy-to-read style. In
parallel, the author offers a series of exercises to put the
fundamental concepts into practice in work, education and
relationships. What you get out of these will of course depend on
the effort you invest in them…
Well grounded
Don't be put off by the book's subtitle, by the way, even if
you're a natural-born sceptic! It's "Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy
and Lasting Fulfilment". Before you run from what sounds like pop
psychology mixed with eastern mysticism, take comfort from the fact
that the book is based on the precepts of Positive Psychology and
as such is grounded in robust science. Moreover, this book reflects
the course that Ben-Shahar teaches at Harvard, a course apparently
taken by a fifth of students there.
The book asks the important question "How can I be happier?"
rather than "Am I happy?", thus signalling an ongoing process of
enquiry and progress rather than any quick fix.
Origins
Ben Shahar began contemplating happiness and what could help
bring it into his life after he became the national Israel squash
champion at the age of sixteen. The sense of triumph after his
years of dedication and gruelling preparation was overwhelmingly
sweet - and lasted just a few hours. He realised that relief formed
a large part of his short-lived happiness and that the question of
"what next" (perhaps more huge efforts to become an international
champion) was draining his enjoyment of having met his goal.
Goals
Unsurprisingly, given his disillusionment on winning his
championship, Ben-Shahar explores this issue at some length in the
first section of the book. His first thought was that a goalless
state would be desirable. Research led him to a clearer and more
positive answer.
Goals that we choose freely rather than have imposed on us are
energising both in terms of long term meaning and, in the shorter
term, on the journey towards them. Any goal is likely to demand of
us tasks that we have to do as well as those that we want to do;
the trick is to find a goal where the former is more than
compensated for by the latter.
Shahar points out that goal setting and success are clearly
linked, reflecting the focus that articulating a goal can bring.
Goal setting and happiness, however, are much less clearly linked,
unless people choose goals that inspire them and which can be
broken down into pleasurable shorter term objectives.
Three Good Things
There were three things I particularly enjoyed about the
book:
- The author's simple method for assessing how much happiness an
activity will bring, based on the happiness from reaching the goal
(the longer term meaning of the activity) and from the journey
itself (the shorter term pleasure). He presents this as a 2 x 2
matrix, suggesting he could have had an equally successful career
as a consultant!
- His 'MPS' exercise as a way of working towards the kinds of
employment which are likely to make us happier. The answer is
likely to lie where Meaning, Pleasure and our Strengths
overlap.
- His reiteration of evidence that there is almost no correlation
between material wealth and level of happiness (always worth being
reminded of). He reprises this theme in the last part of the book,
a series of "Meditations" on happiness. The seventh meditation
concerns how the compulsion to amass material wealth undermines the
ability to gather happiness, the "ultimate currency".
New Year Resolutions
This time of the year is rife with good intentions and thoughts
of new beginnings. Ben-Shahar knows how hard change can be even if
we want to make it stick. One of his useful ideas is to think of
creating rituals rather than cultivating self discipline.
Initiating a ritual is admittedly hard but maintaining it is easy.
A ritual is about performing specific at defined times in line with
deeply held values (think teeth-brushing in line with personal
hygiene value).
The author suggests diarising the change that you think will
increase your happiness and looking for it become more habit than
chore within as little as a month. Habits are hard to shed - which
is a good thing with good habits!
Happy Habits
As Aristotle put it,
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is
not an act, but a habit.
And if we can make happiness a habit, we're likely to live
longer and enjoy the journey through it a lot more!
"Happier" is published by McGraw-Hill, 2007.
Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and
Lasting Fulfillment available at Amazon
© Professionelle Ltd 2008