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    Happiness Power
    Happiness Power
    Happiness Power
    Ebook207 pages2 hours

    Happiness Power

    By Robert Gill, Jr.

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    About this ebook

    How to stop chasing happiness and still live happily ever after

     

    Do you have everything you need, but still feel like something's missing?

     

    Do you frequently compare your life to others', wondering why they seem to have it all?

    Do you feel like you're just going after one high after the next, with no idea where the end goal is?

    You may have a life many people dream of, but sometimes, you can't help but feel some form of discontent.

    It's not that you're ungrateful or unappreciative of what you have. It might just be that what you have is actually not what you need to feel fulfilled.

    And you're not the only one going through this.

    Despite having one of the highest standards of living in the world, the level of happiness among Americans is at its lowest. In fact, it has been declining for the past 20 years.

    Social media, reliance on drugs, and the endless pursuit of wealth are just some of the reasons for this phenomenon. We are constantly bombarded with messages and images of how life should look like, and we try to reach this aspirational goal through any means necessary.

    We can chase it through traveling, buying expensive things, achieving career success, or even getting married and starting a family. But why do you still feel unsatisfied, even after you have all this?

    What is it that makes us truly happy?

    Plenty of scientific research has been done to find the answer to this question. There is also a lot of advice from self-help books and motivational speakers on being happy.

    Thankfully, you don't have to go through all the studies and TED talks online to find the key to happiness.

    In The Happiness Factor: How to Unleash Your Power and Live a Joyful Life, you will discover:

    Why your present circumstances don't have to determine your level of happiness, and how you can take your well-being into your own hands

    The #1 factor that helps us live longer, healthier, and happier lives, according to a decades-long Harvard study on adult life

    How to have a more positive mindset through this daily habit that Oprah Winfrey believes has rewarded her a million times over

    How you can combat loneliness with these friendly suggestions on how to build and strengthen your social circle

    The secret to happiness that the Japanese have known and practiced for centuries, contributing to their high levels of satisfaction and long life spans

    Effortless mindfulness tricks to apply throughout the day that will help you get through stressful days and pessimistic emotions

    The simple generous act that has the same positive effects as food and sex, offering satisfaction not only to you, but also to your recipient

    And much more.

    Although happiness is not the be-all and end-all of life, it sure doesn't hurt to go through life being happy rather than dissatisfied and lonely.

    Our lives weren't meant to be lived in constant pursuit of an abstract vision of happiness. Chasing after happiness will only make it so much harder to obtain.

    It is when you are focused on genuinely living a life of truth, purpose, and meaning, that happiness will come to you.

    Find out what it takes to live a life that's true to your values and your innermost needs.

    If you're in search of a truly joyful and meaningful life rather than just conform to other people's idea of happiness, then scroll up and click the "Add to Cart" button right now.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRobert Gill, Jr.
    Release dateJan 20, 2021
    ISBN9780578780443
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      Book preview

      Happiness Power - Robert Gill, Jr.

      PREFACE

      A

      young friend of the Nobel laureate, Bertrand Russell, once found the philosopher in a state of profound contemplation. Why so meditative? asked the young man.

      Because I've made an odd discovery, replied Russell. Every time I talk to an intellectual, I feel quite certain that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite. What a profound sentiment—is happiness truly tied to intellect? Is ignorance, indeed, bliss? Bertrand Russell found himself in a bit of a predicament as he weighed that sentiment heavily, and who can blame him? Happiness is as complex and profound as humans themselves, and it can be hard to grapple with for many.

      Happiness Power is a unique book that details how happiness's life-satisfying emotion provides significant benefits to those who experience it. It also offers those who seek happiness the latest methods and techniques to improve their outlook and gain the joy they are seeking. Happiness gives power to people who have achieved this state compared with those who exude pessimism and unhappiness. Most are unaware of the incredible power this book reveals. There is a deep connection between optimism and happiness because optimism reflects hope and faith, which help people to believe that this world is a good place.

      Of the many emotions we experience, happiness seems to be the priority that people aspire to achieve. We can define happiness as a pleasant emotional state that provides joy, well-being, contentment, gratification, and satisfaction. Research on happiness has increased significantly since the 1960s. The studies have revealed that the realities of what contributes to happiness are often complex and highly individual.

      Because happiness is what most of us are striving for, we should understand more about it. One thing is evident: Optimists are happier people. Optimism has many other benefits, too, which our book will examine in greater detail. For example, after conducting more than six hundred studies, Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman, Director of the Penn Positive Psychology Center, has found that being optimistic gets you the good stuff. By contrast, pessimistic people will often end precisely how you would predict them to—poorly. Winston Churchill described the relationship between an optimist and a pessimist aptly: A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

      Tali Sharot, a London-based neurologist and researcher on optimism, recounts in her book Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain that about 80 percent of the human population is inherently optimistic. Most just are not aware that we are. The good thing is that when people realize that they have this hopeful outlook within them, it does not take a lot of work to develop their optimistic side.¹

      Having an optimistic approach to life is critical to attaining happiness. An optimist expects more positive things to happen than negative ones. Being optimistic impacts the level of our happiness as well as other aspects of our lives. Of course, happiness does not depend on an optimistic outlook. According to the 2017 World Happiness Report, it is also dependent on factors such as care, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income, and good governance. Nevertheless, optimism is a significant part of the formula.

      Although it is hard to see the sunny side of the street, happy people have a way of turning the negativity that reaches them into positives more quickly than our unhappy friends. Now there is more good news for the cheery. A September 2019 study reported that optimistic people were more likely to live to be at least eighty-five years old. This finding was independent of other factors thought to influence life's length (such as socioeconomic status, health conditions, depression, social integration, and health behaviors), according to the researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

      Many unhappy people want to change their circumstances but do not feel that they can. In some instances, being unhappy or miserable is their way of life. That is because they often thrive on the sympathy from others. At the same time, unhappy people blame others for their situation. Sadly, they have no incentive to make life changes as they appear comfortable ruminating over their despair. Eduardo Andrade and Joel Cohen, in the Journal of Consumer Research, October 2007, evaluated why people enjoy horror movies. They concluded that some viewers are happy to be unhappy. Of course, unhappiness is not as simple as that, as we explain.

      Christine Carter, a sociologist and happiness expert, sums up the benefits of optimism nicely in her articles. Compared with pessimistic people, optimists are more successful in school, at work, and in athletics. They are healthier, live longer, and are more satisfied with their marriages. They have better mental health as they are less anxious and less likely to suffer from depression.

      In Happiness Power, we delve into the questions as to why happiness is so important. You might be curious about this yourself. Why is happiness considered a vital component of life, especially because there are many aspects to a fulfilling life? As you have read here so far, numerous scientific studies agree as to its importance. If not all, many indicate that satisfaction with life and well-being and meaning are integral parts of happiness.

      Before we go too far, I want to admit that happiness is not necessarily the ultimate goal for everyone. It is important because it has wonderfully positive benefits. But we should examine the science for a better understanding. Happiness science is a new field of social science known as positive psychology. It is not the old-school positive thinking or self-help, but rather a new empirical research field. Positive psychology functions constructively to obtain more of what we want to make ourselves better, happier people.

      This science was advanced after psychologist Martin Seligman developed the theory of learned helplessness early in his career. The approach details the response that follows when we believe our actions do not matter. It later led him to the idea that if we could learn to be helpless, we could also learn to be optimistic. This pioneering work is now known as learned optimism. It emphasizes the part that our cognitive processes play in maintaining happiness. Positive psychology was established in 1998 when Seligman made it his mission as president of the American Psychological Association to turn psychology's attention toward those elements of life that contribute to human flourishing. It does not deny the negative parts of life but argues for an in-depth exploration of the human experience's upper reaches.

      With all of this in mind, can individuals learn to be happy? Numerous studies conclude with an ear-splitting Yes! Happiness is a learned emotion. The degree to which it is believed that you can increase happiness varies widely depending on which theory is being advanced. However, there are no credible theories that allow absolutely no room for individual happiness improvement. Experts agree that you can improve your happiness when you put in the effort to do so.

      This book's purpose is threefold: 1) to make you aware of the extraordinary power of happiness and how it benefits a person; 2) to reveal how happiness gives special powers to those who achieve it; and 3) to explain how the power positively affects those around them as well as themselves. Finally, this book will investigate how making changes in one's outlook will improve happiness, along with all the powers that happiness confers.

      Is happiness a choice? Is happiness power? How can you be happy? Are these questions that you ask yourself? If so, this book is the answer for you. Whether you are unhappy, purposeless, or just unsatisfied with where you are in the moment, you have hope. The good news about being unhappy is that things can only go up from here! But first, we should understand what makes us happy, as you will learn in our first chapter.

      Now, smile! Let's get started!

      Chapter 1

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      The Power of Happiness

      The 'We' are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

      --Buddha

      A

      n ancient Middle Eastern morality tale describes what makes us happy.

      Sukru came upon a sad-looking older man limping along the road to town.

      What's wrong? Sukru asked.

      The man held up a torn bag and cried out, All of my worldly possessions barely fill this putrid, sorrowful bag.

      That is such a shame, replied Sukru.

      Just as the pitiful man looked the other way, Sukru grabbed the torn sack from the man's trembling hands and ran off down the dirt road.

      Now with everything lost, the gaunt old fellow fell to his knees with tears streaming down his cheeks. He was far more unhappy at that moment than ever before. But saddened still, he managed to climb to his feet and began his slow journey down the road.

      However, in the meantime, Sukru had rushed around the bend in the road. He placed the sack in the middle, where the frail man would see it as he hobbled around the curve.

      When the sorrowful old man saw his bag sitting in the road before him, he laughed with joy and shouted, My bag! I surely thought I'd lost you!

      Watching through the bushes, Sukru chuckled to himself. Well, that's one way to make a miserable old man happy!

      Happiness Power

      Happiness does not depend on what we have; it depends on how we feel about what we have. We can be happy with less and miserable with more. Recent happiness studies have shown that money increases happiness when it takes people from a place with real threats (like poverty) to a reliably safe place. After that, money does not matter much. However, our story demonstrates how quickly melancholy can change to happiness with just a shift in perspective.

      Happiness is indeed a powerful human emotion. Numerous studies have shown that happiness boosts motivation, creativity, and energy. It improves productivity. Research also indicates that happiness gives happy people greater power over their physical health. That is because feelings of positivity and fulfillment seem to benefit cardiovascular health, the immune system, inflammation levels, and blood pressure. It lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease and lengthens life expectancy. That power means that happy people get sick less often and experience fewer symptoms when they are sick. One reason that happy people have more influence over their health is that they exercise more frequently and eat more healthily. They are healthier all around and more likely to be healthy in the future.

      Happiness reinforces the power of self-worth and confidence. Happy people view things differently than unhappy people. They are more positive and more focused on solutions. Happy people view their world in terms of gain rather than loss.

      Happy people have immense power over misfortune. They have control over adversity, demonstrate strength over sickness, and offer advantages over life's reversals. This power provides them with greater success in business, social situations, and everyday life. It is an inspiring power to possess—inspiring because happiness is contagious. Happy people inspire those around them by elevating their mood. Yes, the power of happiness can seem magical.

      There are more benefits to happiness. The power of happiness enables more success in marriages, added friendships, higher incomes, and better work performance. With

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