The How Of Happiness A New Approach For Getting The Life...

The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky is simultaneously an academic book and comprehensive guide about positive psychology and it’s applications in daily life. Dr. Lyubomirsky provides not only facts and figures to back up her science but also includes quizzes and exercises for the reader to learn more about himself or herself in context with the book. The book is broken down into 3 different sections: How to Attain Real and Lasting Happiness, Happiness Activities, and Secrets to Abiding Happiness. In the first part of the book, Dr. Lyubomirsky explains her 40% solution. Think of happiness as 100%. 50% of this is based on genetics and this is a person’s set happiness point. Even when a person experiences extreme emotion like winning the lottery after some time his or her happiness level will return to the set point. 10% is based on a person’s life circumstances such as where he or she lives, how much money he o r she has, how you look, etc. The final 40% is where Dr. Lyubomirsky puts her focus because this is the part of person’s happiness that he or she is able to control; this is ultimately determined by a person’s behavior. If someone wants to be happier, he or she needs to make changes to their behavior not their circumstances. Dr. Lyubomirsky goes into more detail about how a person can make this change in the second part of her book. Firstly, though, she provides the reader with a couple exercises and debunks aShow MoreRelatedThree Steps to the Happy Life: Why this Approach Does Not Work1097 Words   |  5 PagesThe happy life. What does this mean to me? Kristen Linker, a third year student at Redeemer University College. It begins with balance: trusting God, finding Joy, having harmonious relationships with the people in my life and doing the best I can with what I have at this stage in life. If I would have had to write this paper at the beginning of this semester, I would have had a completely different view on the happy life. However, through this course, I have learned what I think are the most important