My Learning from a Great Book

This is the summary of my learning after reading the book, 'The How of Happiness.'

Brothers and Sisters,

Merry Christmas.

I am now reading a great book, 'The How of Happiness' by Sonja Lyubomirsky.

Here are the key points I wanted to share with you:

Key Learning: The "Happiness Pie"

The central concept of the book is simple. Our long-term happiness is determined by three factors:

a) A big chunk of our happiness, 50%, is a genetic "set point." This is the baseline figure that is already fixed for us.

b) A measly 10% of our happiness is determined by our circumstances. They include things such as our money, home, family, place we live, marital status, job, talents, career, achievement... anything and everything we count under the term, " our circumstances." In the long run, none of these count much towards our happiness because we adapt to them very quickly. This is known as hedonic adaptation.

c) A significant portion of our happiness, 40%, is produced by our INTENTIONAL activities. They include the way we CHOOSE to think and behave. This portion is the key to our happiness. They offer significant room for deliberate choice and thus can lead to deliberate creation of happiness in our lives. Of course, persistence and effort are the key here.

You may like to go through the book yourself. It makes for very revealing reading.

Best regards,
Essayist