According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the year 2020 will see depression become second only to heart disease in terms of the global burden of illness. Fortunately, there are self-development experts, Buddhist monks, and psychologists who are writing lots of books on how we can be happier. So hopefully we’ll find a way to escape the WHO’s dire predictions.
Here’s a list of 27 jubilant happiness books. I’ve talked about some of these books about happiness in previous posts. I hope you enjoy the list!
The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
The book “The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living”
The Dalai Lama believes that the very purpose of our existence is to seek happiness, and the book contains many of the methods recommended by the Dalai Lama to cultivate happiness. You can read more about this book in my blog post: “Happiness Tips From the Dalai Lama”.
Stumbling on Happiness
From the book, “Stumbling on Happiness”
“When I was ten years old, the most magical object in my house was a book on optical illusions. Its pages introduced me to the Muller-Lyer lines whose arrow-tipped ends made them appear as though they were different lengths even though a ruler showed them to be identical, the Necker cube that appeared to have an open side one moment and then an open top the next, the drawing of a chalice that suddenly became a pair of silhouetted faces before flickering back into a chalice again.
[T]his is a book that describes what science has to tell us about how and how well the human brain can imagine its own future, and about how and how well it can predict which of those futures it will most enjoy.”
Zen and The Art of Happiness
The book “Zen And the Art of Happiness”
Wouldn’t that be the best piece of news you could hear? The author adds that if you are willing to give this concept a chance, you will be rewarded with a lifetime of happiness.
Flow: The Classic Work on How to Achieve Happiness
In “Flow: The Classic Work on How to Achieve Happiness”
If you’d like more information on the flow state, head on over to my post “How to Enter the Flow State”.
Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier
Robert Emmons, author of “Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier”
Books by Martin Seligman: The Founder of Positive Psychology
Positive Psychology asks the questions: “What are the enabling conditions that make human beings flourish?” This branch of psychology, which was founded by Martin Seligman, studies what actively makes people feel fulfilled, engaged and meaningfully happy. Two books by Dr. Seligman in which he discusses his findings, and how you can apply them in your own life in order to he happier, are:
- Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment
- Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
Books by Tal Ben Shahar
Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar is a Positive Psychologist who has authored several popular books and taught one of the most popular courses in Harvard University’s history, all on the topic of positive psychology. I’ve already written about him in my blog post “Harvard University’s Most Popular Course: Positive Psychology”. Here are three happiness books by Dr. Ben-Shahar:
- Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment
- Even Happier: A Gratitude Journal for Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment
- The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life
Here’s a fun video in which Dr. Ben-Shahar gives a brief introduction to Positive Psychology (those reading this by email may need to click over to the blog to watch the video):
Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth
I love the concept of “psychological wealth”. The authors of “Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth”
After decades of research they re-confirm some widely held beliefs about happiness and knock others down. Here’s what they claim are the essential components of true wealth:
- Life satisfaction and happiness
- Spirituality and meaning of life
- Positive attitudes and emotions
- Loving social relationships
- Engaging activities and work
- Values and life goals to achieve them
- Physical and mental health
- Material sufficiency to meet our needs
The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want
Notice the pie on the front cover of Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky’s book, “The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want”
The video below shows two identical twins; one is happy and the other is not. Their stories are evidence that genes don’t tell the whole happiness story.
What about life circumstances, which include things such as how much money you make, where you live, and how you look? Both twins participated in the show “Extreme Make-Over”, in which they underwent extensive plastic surgery to completely alter their looks.
They indicate that the increased happiness that they felt over the way that they looked after the surgery lasted for about a year. After that, they went back to their previous happiness levels. This is evidence that life circumstances don’t have that much of an impact on happiness.
So how do you make the most of the 40 percent that is under your control and that depends on how you choose to think and act each day? Dr. Lyubomirsky presents 12 happiness enhancing strategies, which are:
(1) Counting your blessings: Expressing gratitude for what you have and appreciating what others do for you.
(2) Cultivating optimism: Keep a journal in which you imagine the best possible future for yourself.
(3) Avoiding over thinking and social comparison: Minimize worrying about things that are not within your control and comparing yourself to others.
(4) Practicing acts of kindness: Doing good things for others, whether it’s strangers or those you know.
(5) Nurturing Relationships: Investing time and energy in cultivating and enjoying your relationships.
(6) Doing more activities that truly engage you: Increasing the number of experiences at home and work in which you “lose” yourself, which are challenging and absorbing.
(7) Replaying and savoring life’s joys: Paying close attention to and remembering often life’s momentary pleasures.
(8) Committing to your goals: Picking goals that are meaningful to you and devoting time and effort to pursuing them.
(9) Developing strategies for coping: Having strategies in place for dealing with stress, set-backs, and hardship.
(10) Learning to forgive: Letting go of anger and resentment toward those whom you feel have wronged you.
(11) Practicing religion and spirituality: Becoming more involved in your religious institution of choice or reading and pondering spiritually-themed books.
(12) Taking care of your body: Engaging in physical activity, meditating, sleeping well, and eating well.
A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted
A couple of years back Will Bowen was inspired to give a purple rubber bracelet to each person in his 280-member congregation. The bracelet, which says SPIRIT, was to remind people to stop complaining. “Negative talk produces negative thoughts; negative thoughts produce negative results”, says Bowen. To live a happy and prosperous life, you have to stop complaining. He challenged his flock to stop complaining for 21 consecutive days.
You can experience the 21-day challenge for yourself by reading “A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted”
How We Choose to Be Happy
In “How We Choose to Be Happy”
1. Intention: Happy people have a desire and make a commitment to be happy.
2. Accountability: Happy people take responsibility for themselves. They don’t play the victim and they don’t waste energy blaming others. When something goes wrong, people who are happy look for ways in which they can improve the situation, instead of arguing over who’s to blame.
3. Identification: Those who are happy look within to determine what truly makes them happy (as opposed to what society says should make them happy). This reliance on their internal compass might lead them to decide that the promotion at work isn’t really something they’re interested in.
4. Centrality: Happy people make central to their life that which makes them happy. Foster and Hicks recommend making your dream list the driving force in your life. Become devoted to doing what makes you happy.
5. Recasting: When something doesn’t turn out as planned, happy people allow themselves to feel the negative emotions that usually arise in light of a setback. However, they quickly start looking for the lessons and the meaning in the challenging situation. In other words, they look for ways in which to recast the negative in positive ways.
6. Options: Many people feel trapped by situations such as a job they don’t enjoy, a lack of money, toxic relationships, and so on. Happy people are open to possibilities and have a flexible approach: they look for ways out of situations which are holding them back.
7. Appreciation: Those who are happy appreciate the people in their life and stay in the present.
8. Giving: Happy people give to the world at large without an expectation of getting in return.
9. Truthfulness: Happy people are authentic; they’re truthful with others about what they want and what they need.
Books by Robert Holden – Director of the Happiness Project
Dr. Robert Holden is a pioneer in the fields of positive psychology and well-being and the author of “Happiness Now!: Timeless Wisdom for Feeling Good FAST”
He’s the Director of the Happiness Project in the United Kingdom, an eight week scientifically tested program that promises to rewire your brain for happiness. It’s been running in the UK for 15 years now. The course is now being offered online; if anyone is interested, go here.
Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill
Matthieu Ricard is the French scientist turned Buddhist monk who has been called “the happiest man on earth”. He’s the author of Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill
Ricard explains that he and another monk were invited to Tahiti. They were staying at a beautiful house with a large, lit swimming pool.
Looking out at the swimming pool they asked themselves whether having a pool like that would make them happy. They concluded that there was no relation between having a pool and happiness. And what if having a swimming pool did make them happy? Would having a pool twice the size make them twice as happy? The answer is, of course not.
They concluded that it’s the way in which you interpret things which determines your happiness, and this conclusion was confirmed the very next morning. Tahiti is hot and humid, and Ricard and his monk friend were sitting underneath a beautiful tree, and there was a soft, refreshing mist falling from the tree. They were both thinking: “Well, this is paradise”.
Then someone walked by and said: “You know, those are pissing flies” (cicadelles install themselves on trees and pump the sap until they “piss” a sticky liquid). Their perception of the world changed right away. 
He adds that if we assume that the inner conditions for well-being are really what will determine the quality of everything that happens to us, we realize that we don’t have to modify the whole world to suit our tastes, we just have to change our minds. Ask yourself the following:
- Which conditions in your mind lead to a sense of fulfillment?
- Which conditions in your mind take you away from that sense of fulfillment (anger, resentment, grudges, jealousy, excessive feelings of self-importance, and so on)?
Ten More Happiness Books
- Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul
- The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living
- How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life
- What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better
- What Happy Women Know: How New Findings in Positive Psychology Can Change Women’s Lives for the Better
- The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life
- Happiness Is a Choice
- Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out
- The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun
(This is Gretchen Rubin’s book and it’s due to be released in December).
- “The Pursuit of Happiness: Discovering the Pathway to Fulfillment, Well-Being, and Enduring Personal Joy”
If anyone has read any great happiness books that aren’t on this list, please share the title in the comments section.
Related Posts:
- The Buddhist Approach to Happiness
- More Happiness Tips: Eckhart Tolle
- 12 Superb Ways to Be Happier
- Be Happy Now – Set Goals Without Postponing Joy
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