The Myths of Happiness
What Should Make You Happy, but Doesn't, What Shouldn't Make You Happy, but Does
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3.6 • 28 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The bestselling author of The How of Happiness reveals how to find opportunity in life’s thorniest moments
Focusing on life’s biggest, messiest moments, Sonja Lyubomirsky provides readers with the clear-eyed vision they need to build the healthiest, most satisfying life. Lyubomirsky argues that we have been given false promises—myths that assure us that lifelong happiness will be attained once we hit the culturally confirmed markers of adult success. This black-and-white vision of happiness works to discourage us from recognizing the upside of any negative and limits our potential for personal growth. A corrective course on happiness and a call to regard life’s twists and turns with a more open mind, The Myths of Happiness shares practical lessons that prove we are more adaptable than we think we are. It empowers readers to look beyond their first response, sharing scientific evidence that often it is our mindset—not our circumstances—that matters most.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this thought-provoking volume, Lyubomirsky (The How of Happiness), psychology professor at the University of California Riverside, examines happiness and conventional notions about how it's nurtured in relationships, at work, and in one's own psyche. Many of these beliefs are damaging myths, she opines: while society leads people to believe that happiness will necessarily accompany the achievement of certain life goals like marriage or the birth of a child such misconceptions can lead to depression when the expected euphoria fails to arrive. Additionally, the author argues that phenomena that are traditionally viewed as negative (e.g., divorce, illness, job loss) can in fact promote the development of crucial life skills that can lead, in the long run, to a more sustainable form of happiness one that can cope with adversity rather than break down before it. "We must stop waiting for happiness, and we must stop being terrified of the potential for unhappiness," she notes. "othing in life is as joy-producing or as misery-inducing as we think it is." While remaining sympathetic to her readers' pain, Lyubomirsky demonstrates that positively reframing life events can mine the best out of even the darkest situations. Provocative and fresh.
