The how of happiness
Drawing on her own groundbreaking research with thousands of men and women, research psychologist and University of California professor of psychology Sonja Lyubomirsky has pioneered a detailed yet easy-to-follow plan to increase happiness in our day-to-day lives-in the short term and over the long term. The How of Happiness is a different kind of happiness book, one that offers a comprehensive guide to understanding what happiness is, and isn’t, and what can be done to bring us all closer to the happy life we envision for ourselves. Using more than a dozen uniquely formulated happiness-increasing strategies, The How of Happiness offers a new and potentially life-changing way to understand our innate potential for joy and happiness as well as our ability to sustain it in our lives.
Stats for nerds
4recommend
16mentions
8people
2009–2022years
69% recommend31% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Life hack: choose to read books written by researchers about their field of study, rather than by non-experts dabbling in social science / psychology.
Positive Psychology is a great example -- rather than reading one of the dozens of books written by non-experts, why not go with something like The How of Happiness or Stumbling on Happiness - by people who actually study and run experiments they write about.
- If you're smart and unhappy, it seems like the best next step is to read some books on the topic of Positive Psychology written by researchers that study it. Two great starts: The How of Happiness and Stumbling on Happiness but there are many more.
ps - 4DWW (Four Day Work Week) would be an amazing improvement to happiness to anyone who gets it. Let's all work on making it the norm!
- The most meaningful thing I've found in the world is to help others. But I think good intentions are not enough - it is important to care about how effectively you help others. So I recommend Effective Altruism - a community of people working on making the world a better place while focusing on effectiveness of their actions.
https://www.effectivealtruism.org/
For over 10 years I've been giving at least 10% of my income to cost-effective charities (see GiveWell for recommendations https://www.givewell.org ). There are thousands of people doing the same, you should join in:
https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/
Finally, on the topic of happiness, read up on Positive Psychology to learn how to extract more enjoyment / eudaemonia out of life. Start by reading books by Ph.D. researchers (e.g. The How of Happiness, Stumbling on Happiness, etc).
- On the happiness front, consider learning about Positive Psychology (a rigorous research subfield within psychology focusing on happiness and well being). If you read books, consider reading ones by Ph.D. researchers in the field, rather than journalists (who unfortunately often overstep conclusions of research findings).
For example: The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky https://www.amazon.com/How-Happiness-Approach-Getting-Life/d...
I think trying LSD or Magic Mushrooms once (after proper research and understanding of safety precautions) may be an excellent move.
- Studying Positive Psychology feels like a good benefit-for-time-spent. A great book on it is Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. It's a great overview of how error-prone our predictions about what will make us happy are; along with, if I remember right, good advice for how to maximize happiness (alternatively, read The How of Happiness for more-direct advice).
https://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Happiness-Daniel-Gilbert/dp...
https://www.amazon.com/How-Happiness-Approach-Getting-Life/d...
- Optimize it by learning about happiness via Positive Psychology, a direction of inquiry about what makes people happy (above baseline).
One gem from the field: If Money Doesn't Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren't Spending It Right [0].
Great books from the field: Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert [1] and The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky [2]
[0] https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/danielgilbert/files/if-mon...
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Happiness-Daniel-Gilbert/dp...
[2] https://www.amazon.com/How-Happiness-Approach-Getting-Life/d...
