{"id":160,"date":"2017-09-20T10:28:26","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T10:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lensq.com\/?p=160"},"modified":"2017-09-20T10:28:26","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T10:28:26","slug":"book-review-even-happier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lensq.com\/index.php\/2017\/09\/20\/book-review-even-happier\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Even Happier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who does not want to be more happy?<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As I was searching for more books on happiness, I stumbled upon this. I have been doing research on happiness for a year now but this was the first time I came across a book which has lots of exercises in it. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was excited to see the introduction of book and expected a lot of fun. Even though not all exercises are clear and doable, some of them are. I have already tried a few which are mentioned and there are a few which are totally new and some of them are just repetition in different forms.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are a newbie, and has no idea about how happiness works, you will not gain much from the book. But if you are already perfect with the basics, it is a good book to practise on being happy to the fullest. The interesting thing about this book is it has a quote for every chapter. Even though some of the quotes don&#8217;t produce any effect, overall the quotes make you take action.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The chapters are very short. For some of the chapters, the explanation and terms mentioned have cleared a lot of my doubts. Even though this book is mentioned at week level, you can read it all at once and make notes and plan on the exercises you want to do for the year or lifetime. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the chapters are vaguely related to happiness. But they still provide some value.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This book has been written for adults. If you are still a student, some of the chapters will not be relevant for you.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong>Important Lessons learnt from the book:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A few activities provide joy in the present. A few in the future. But focus on those which give joy both in the present and in the future<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In order to cultivate genuine intimacy,the focus in a relationship has to shift from the desire to be validated to the desire to be known<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The best way to increase self esteem is increase our failure coping mechanism<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Little or no conflict within a relationship indicates that the partners are not dealing with important issues and differences.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make children struggle so that they don&#8217;t pay for their luxury<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rat racers feel more despair after achieving material success because there is nothing left for them to pursue<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People perceive their work in three ways: job, career and a calling. Make yours a calling<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong>Why should you read this book?<\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just like how we have practicals in college, this book is like practicals in life. If you want to have some fun practising, you should go for it.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong>Top 10 quotes from the book:<\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhat you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">your life, you create more of it. Opportunities, relationships, even<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">what happened in my life.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTrue happiness involves some emotional discomfort and difficult experiences, which some self-help books and psychiatric\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">medication attempt to circumvent.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhat man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. &#8211; Viktor Frankl<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFailure meant a stripping away of the inessential. . . . I\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was set free, because my greatest fear had already been<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on which I rebuilt my life. . . . Failure gave me an inner<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">security that I had never attained by passing examinations.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Failure taught me things about myself that I could<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">also found out that I had friends whose value was truly\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">above rubies. . . . The knowledge that you have emerged<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">until both have been tested by adversity.\u201d &#8211; J.K Rowling<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTo dare is to lose one\u2019s footing momentarily. Not to dare, is to lose\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">oneself.\u201d \u2014S\u00f8ren Kierkegaard<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe best way you can predict your future is to create it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014Stephen Covey<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHow we spend our days is how we spend our lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014Annie Dillard<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe great end of life is not knowledge but action.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014Thomas Huxley<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Actually, who are you not to be?\u201d -Marianne Williamson<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cLife would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.\u201d \u2014Mark Twain<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<b>Top 5 Action Points:<\/b><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meaning exercise -Note down all the activities in the day but do only the ones you find meaning<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Healing exercise &#8211; Write a forgiving letter to people who have hurt you<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do one kind act per week<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take a walk in the nature<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advice from Your Inner Sage &#8211; Go forward in time and write a letter to your current self<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<b>Books mentioned in the book:<\/b><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Power of Full<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Engagement, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Passionate Marriage<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Radical Honesty, Brad Blanton<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Return to Love, Marianne Williamson<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<em><strong>Happy being more happier !<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who does not want to be more happy? As I was searching for more books on happiness, I stumbled upon this. I have been doing research on happiness for a &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","has-meta has-sticky-meta"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lensq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lensq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lensq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lensq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lensq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lensq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lensq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lensq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lensq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lensq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}