The Happiness Hypothesis: Ten Ways to Find Happiness and Meaning in Life

This treatise was brilliantly constructed and thoughtfully assembled on the back of huge amounts of research both currently and historically. Haidt makes the book amenable and easily digested by anyone willing to read it and personally I wish that everyone of a certain age would wish to do so. Dogma is the “Matrix” norm and encouraged by the traditional media and increasingly by social media. This work is the perfect antidote in encouraging the reader to broaden their outlook and opinions and generally open their minds. We might be able to save the human race and our beautiful planet yet.

I think you should buy this book if you are at all interested investigating the idea of happiness. Haidt brings a massive amount of learning to his topic and the book has many genuinely thought-provoking insights. Here's one that struck me: when Buddha left his palace he saw old, sick and dying people for the first time, and seeing such suffering meditated for years on how to help them. Haidt wonders why he didn't ask them if they were unhappy? someone has done that research and the results are discussed here.I enjoyed the initial chapters the best. Here Haidt discusses a topic discussed by the ancients e.g. love, and then informs this with modern psychological research. This is often enlightening and, in some cases, challenging. Haidt synthesises learning very well to build up a picture of what a human is, and then looks at the implications for how we can best live. Perhaps this is the nub of the book, we need to understand ourselves and then use that understanding to design a good life.One issue I have with this is a problem of psychology. Much of it's evidence is based on percentages and it's conclusions are nomothetic - they tell us about the majority and it's not always clear that what others find important will be so for an individual. If like me you lean towards introversion, pessimism and rationalism this will not always be comfortable reading, but while I might be happier as an extrovert I fear it may be too late for me.Which leads me to the end of the book. In the last third Haidt begins to unwind his ideas on religion. This was an unexpected turn for me and he largely leaves experimental psychology behind in favour of more sociological approaches. This is impressive in its breadth but for me leaves more questions unanswered. Haidt clearly sees the decline of religion as a major issue and extolls its benefits in brings coherence to our lives. He briefly touches on issues of why religious belief has faded but really doesn't deal with these adequately. I wondered if reading this he was very specifically writing for an American audience (some of his comments about liberals and conservatives are only applicable to the US) or if he wanted to make his book stand out with an attention grabbing idea. I found this part of the book the least convincing, which was a shame as the rest of it was a satisfying and interesting read. Definitely recommended.

In Jonathan Haidt's wonderful and amazing book 'the happiness hypothesis', which I've just read for the second time, he explores how ancient wisdom and old ideas from the past can be relevant to how we lead a better life now. He begins by quoting Shakespear's “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” and that how big ideas can be formed from simple but powerful quotations and metaphors. It begins by talking about how human minds work, similar to being like a rider on the back of an elephant, or a monkey mind and that our conscious reasoning part of the mind has only limited control of what the elephant does. As the Buddha said “our life is the creation of our mind.” Secondly he looks at how an account of our social lives can help us in forming relationships with others which in turn can help us lead better lives. As Marcus Aurelius said "It is not what happens to us that really matters, but how we respond to the things that happened to us.”- The conclusion of this story is to think about positive traits such as virtue, divinity, and finding positive meaning so that we can lead a good life.- Our subconscious behaviour is difficult to control, sometimes we might be able to do it and other times we can't - think of people on a diet. He looks at everything from ancient wisdom, the Bible and William Shakespeare. Reading this book a second time has reminded me of how many wonderful things I learned and often quote to others when I consider this book. William Shakespeare said “nothing is neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so” or William Blake in that “the mind creates a heaven or a hell of earth”. So by using ancient quotations, Jonathan Haidt sets out some principles which can help people to lead better lives. He begins by describing life as a kind of journey and if we can perceive it as the journey in which you don't really want to reach the final destination, but enjoy the ride along the way, meet interesting people and have interesting experiences then perhaps that's all we can ask for from a life. The book also looks at how we are often hypocrites, quoting my favourite line from the Bible “it is easy for man to notice the speck in another man's eyes whilst failing to see the log in his own eye.” So what are the lessons that we can learn in this book?- THE DIVIDED SELF: We often think we are rational beings, but are also driven by hormones and an unconscious self which often drives us beyond reason and rational thought.. We often think we have rational decisions, but we're often like a rider on an elephant, or in other books we have a monkey mind that is often overruling our desires or rational thought. Think of someone trying to be on a diet we're trying to give up something, we often fail. In people who had split brain surgery to treat epilepsy, we often confabulate stories that we think are rational, and we'll make up a story to explain something when in fact we often have little control over our behaviour despite the narratives we tell ourselves. Our brains started off with just a few clumps of neurons connected to our spinal column but overtime as our complex bodies and behaviours evolved, our brains kept building the ability to learn and think.- CHANGING YOUR MIND. “What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind” - Buddha. There is no reality, only perception. We create the world in our mind, and if we can have some control over that, we can build better lives. As John Milton said “the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” Ways to change your mind include meditation, thinking about our attachments and trying to be aware of them. Cognitive therapy is another tool we can use. Depressed people are often caught in a feedback loop in which distorted thoughts cause negative feelings, which then distort thinking further. Other approaches that can change our mind include Prozac.- RECIPROCITY: Human beings live in groups of around 150 people and it's important that humans form relationships with other people, this is what gives her life meaning. Chimpanzees, our closest relatives, might groom and occasionally work in a group to attack another animal, but you will never see one helping to build a house for another which is something humans do.- THE FAULTS OF OTHERS: “Why do you see the speck in your neighbour's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?... you hypocrite, first take the logout of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbours eye.” Matthew 7: 3-5. Or as the Buddha says “it is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one's own fault. One shows the faults of others like chaff winnowed in the wind but one concealed ones own faults are the cunning gambler conceals his dice.'' We need to be aware of our own errors in thinking and the faults that we often see in other's, we need to see the faults in ourselves. This will help us to lead better lives. At heart many of us are hypocrites without us even knowing it. We often find blaming others but if we can become aware that we also have similar traits and faults, we will be better for it. We need to stop seeing life through a rose coloured mirror. We need to lose the illusions that we create in ourselves when we seem to see so clearly faults in others. We're all biassed but by being aware of these biases such as cognitive bias, we can develop a better awareness of ourselves.- THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS: Whether we won the lottery or were involved in an accident that crippled ourselves, interesting enough research shows that people will often revert back to the form of happiness they had before these events occurred. However, happiness comes from within, and it cannot be found by making the world conform to your desires. Wealth, goodlooks, and genes might play some part, but if we practise things like meditation, exercise, learning a new skill or taking a vacation and having different experiences, and forming positive relationships with others can all help us lead a much more positive life. However, lack of control, shame and poor relationships can all impact on our happiness. Finding flow and being lost in an activity that we enjoy confirm some of our most positive and happy feelings.- LOVE AND ATTRACTION: “No man is an island, entire of itself: every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” John Donne. The author talks about Harry Harlow's work where chimpanzees were given two pretend mothers, one that would just offer milk to feed and another pretend monkey that was soft like a teddy bear. The chimpanzees were without parents and would often cling to the teddy like monkey rather than the one that just gave food. Attachments are important in form early positive relationships and along with the work of John Bowlby, if children do not form early positive attachments this can impact on their well-being and development.- ADVERSITY: This chapter really has always stayed with me. Although we would not wish adversity on others or ourselves, in the young that have experienced things like two world wars, or young men who have gone off to fight and lost comrades, these people can often have much greater positivity through the fact of the adversity they have suffered - often because everyone is in the same . When I was young, I lost four friends who never made it beyond the 21st birthday year of life, and these impacts have greatly shaped how I felt about grabbing life by the throat. I would not wish adversity such as that on another, but understanding this loss has in many ways can be quite a positive experience for myself. I realise how fragile life is, and I can learn as we all can a lot from this. Think of some people who said that having cancer with some life threatening illness that they've got through the other side, has been one of the best lessons and helped them to appreciate the value of life and living. Trauma can often shatter belief systems and robs people of their sense of meaning, but it can also help us to grow. We can't ethically conduct experiments that induce trauma at different ages but in a way life has performed these experiments for us. The major events of the 20th century such as the Great Depression or World War Two, have produced elegant analysis of data showing that many have thrived when these things have happened to them. They've helped to give meaning to life. Kids who went through difficult circumstances usually come out rather well. Everyone went through the same experiences, and this can help them to grow. “We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world” as Marcel Proust said.VIRTUE: Aristotle said “men become builders by building houses, and harpists by playing the harp. Similarly, we grow just by the practice of our actions, self controlled by exercising our self-control, and courageous by performing acts of courage”. So by leading lives, and accepting that life is not fair or that it even should be, we can obtain virtue to lead better lives. People will often say that we've lost our way, but if we can practise acts of positive virtue such as wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence (the ability to forge connections to something larger than the self), that will help us to be wise and courageous or humane, we can build a better society and culture. The following six virtues are true everywhere and include wisdom such as curiosity, love of learning, judgement, ingenuity, emotional intelligence and perspective. Courage can include valour, perseverance and integrity. Humanity should include kindness and loving behaviour towards others. Justice includes citizenship, fairness and good leadership. Temperance such as self-control, prudence and humility and finally transcendence such as appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, spirituality, forgiveness and humour can all help to strive towards improving ourselves and the world we live in. The rider who is trained by the elephant with rewards at each step can make great progress. And as he said in the Bible “it is more blessed to give than to receive”. It's a shame that there's a lot of hostility and negativity, anger that seems to be pervading our society and culture.DIVINITY WITH OR WITHOUT GOD: Our life is the creation of our minds and we do much of the creating with metaphors such as life is a journey, an argument to the war, and the mind is the rider on an elephant. With wrong metaphors we can become deluded and with no metaphors we are blind. We don't need to believe in a God necessary to have divinity, but we should practise emotions that make people rise or behavioural altruistically. There is beauty in nature, and some people have experienced divinity through hallucinogenic drug drugs such as LSD or psyllium and others by taking a walk in the woods. But by taking the time to marvel and staring at all that is around us, can also help us to lead happier and better lives. For others, this might be religious ceremonies or just dancing with others and getting lost in the embrace of music.HAPPINESS: Happiness comes from within, and when we think of the question what is the meaning of life, it's about finding positive experiences, leading a better life, and having a set of ideals that can be shared by all people. A wide range is different thoughts, so find what gives you meaning, find someone to love, and lose yourself in flow. Find harmony and purpose, with oneself and others. There will be struggle but this will help us to understand pleasure. Happiness is not something that you can find, acquire or achieve directly and just as plants need sun, water and good soil to thrive, people need love, work, and a connection to something larger.This is a great book that can teach one a lot to find happiness or joy by using examples, studies, and interesting stories. Highly recommended.

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt is an outstanding book on happiness as also on meaning and purpose in life.It is uplifting as well as empowering . Haidt stayed for some time in Bhubaneshwar,Orissa in India to study Hindu religion and has drawn some material from this study. He has also sourced material from Buddha ,Jesus,Benjamin Franklin and Shakespeare. He has successfully interpreted this knowledge in the context of modern science and psychology. It is not an ordinary self-help or motivational book but a book based on extensive studies and research to help the reader arrive at his own conclusions about way forward.The book talks about love, virtue,reciprocity and relationships,wisdom, religion,divinity, God , meaning and purpose of life while developing the happiness hypothesis.Happiness comes from within and happiness comes from without.Every one should read this amazing book . It is a perfect book for giving as a precious gift .

Tiene bastantes elementos de “la mente de los justos”, pero tiene mayor alcance. Es difícil que no aporte alguna idea rompedora, de las que hay que degustar despacio, y acaban por ser un ingrediente básico del resto de la propia vida.

Haidt’s book will help you understand yourself, but more importantly it will foster understanding for those individuals and cultures you typically fail to understand: those who think and function differently from yourself. Haidt manages to present important ideas and research without ever sounding pompous and his books are therefore very accessible. Enjoy the read!

Some great incites into how we think and feel the way we do. Well worth a read for anyone interested in understanding themselves or others around them.

Si quieres conocer sobre psicología positiva es un muy buen libro, ameno y sencillo de seguir!!! muy recomendabe de verdad!