A Great Book! | What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the...

A Realistic Prescription for Happiness | What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better | Dan Baker, Cameron Stauth

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	• What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better Dan Baker, Cameron Stauth St. Martin's Griffin, 2004 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 55 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Enjoyed this book a lot

I am a very happy person but there are times when it's a struggle even for me. I enjoyed this book because it made me realize that some of the things I do and the ways I think can be revised to help me be more content and relaxed about life. It's an easy read from a great publisher and makes a valuable addition to your book collection. If you need some tips on how to enhance your personal happiness - this is a good start.

A Great Book!

I can't imagine this book wouldn't help everyone who reads it. It sure helped me and I think provides valuable insight into how we handle things in our pursuit of hapiness. One of the first things I did was by copies for family members and recommend to close friends and family. Thank-you Dr. Baker for a helpful book that I will read repeatedly for years to come.

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A Realistic Prescription for Happiness

This book falls within a self-help sub-category that deals with happiness issues in a realistic, almost "tough love" style. I'm thinking of two other simlarly styled works - Resilience: Discovering a New Strength at Times of Stress, by Frederic Flach and Grow Up!: How Taking Responsibility Can Make You A Happy Adult, by Frank S. Pittman. These works present happiness not as some idealized, feel good, eternal emotion, but as a state that is achieved through discipline, diligence and responsibility, despite and even becuase of the crises and challenges that come upon us. This is in stark contrast to some of the other happiness prescriptions written by other books that promote affirmations, positive thinking and some downright corny activities.

Baker decribes the 6 happiness tools that he employs in his own life and tries to get his clients at the Canyon Ranch Lie Enhancement Program to apply. He describes the need for the intellect and spirit to override the functions of the reptilian brain, which is still mired in our survivalist flee-or-fight past, and tends to lead us into fear based, and therefore debilitating, responses to life's challenges. The number one antidote to fear is appreciation, as a from of love for people and things in our life, because the two - fear and appreciation - can not neurologically co-exist in the mind.

In addition, Baker delves into the five traps that lead people astray when trying to find authentic happiness, and ulimately cause them to spiral into unhappiness, anxiety and depression. The tragic stories of some of his patients can be jolting but they bring home the point that happiness is not a polyanna achievement but rather something that comes from the very nature of struggle and suffering within the human condition, given the proper attitudes and approach.

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How can you be happy when you are not?

You agree with your son who says he's happy but your spouse remains worried and wants a therapist to "check out" your son - what do you do? Dan Baker's book has the answer. Let a happy and confident man be evaluated by 100 therapists and about 43% of therapists will conclude "neurotic / psychotic" and 19% will likely say that he has adjustment problems. Because of this (and a few other) useful statistics in the book, and because of Dr. Baker's section on VERBs - victimhood, entitlement, rescue and blame -- I find "Science of Happiness" worthwhile. [I don't find a need to buy it, though. I can always go to our public library.]

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What Happy People Know

Excellent modern approach to the psychology of happiness with great case studies. The basic theory is clear and conclusion worth discussion.

Dr. Dan Baker, director of the Life Enhancement Program at Canyon Ranch, has devoted his life to teaching people how to be happy. And apparently, most of us could use a little tutoring. Research has shown that the root of unhappiness--fear--lies in the oldest, reptilian part of our brains, and negative reactions are often dictated by primal instincts. We're literally "hardwired for hard times." In What Happy People Know, Dr. Baker uses evidence from the new science of happiness to show us how we can overcome this genetic predisposition toward negative reactions and lead a truly rich, happy, and healthy life.

In this book, Dr. Baker shares the program that has revolutionized the lives of countless unhappy people, VIP's and regular Joes and Janes alike. First, you'll learn the only two issues that ever cause unhappiness and devise your plan to overcome both of them. Then, Dr. Baker teaches you how to spot the happiness traps, the five doomed ways we try to make ourselves happy, only to dig ourselves further into misery. Finally, he shares his happiness tools, the six simple skills that, when practiced consistently, will inevitably lead to greater optimism, courage, good humor, and fulfillment--in short, to happiness.

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