Can you learn to be happy?

    Yes ... according to the teacher of Harvard University’s most popular and life-changing course. One out of every five Harvard students has lined up to hear Tal Ben-Shahar’s insightful and inspiring lectures on happiness.

    Grounded in the revolutionary “positive psychology” movement, Ben-Shahar combines scientific studies, scholarly research, self-help advice, and spiritual enlightenment*. He weaves them together into a set of principles* that you can apply to your daily life.

    Ben-Shahar teaches that happiness isn’t as elusive* a concept as people think, and can actually be learned. He commits the fundamentals of his course to paper in this primer* on getting happy, which he defines as a combination of pleasure (short-term happiness) and meaning (long-term).

    Divided into three parts, “What is Happiness?” “Happiness Applied” and “Meditations on Happiness,” Ben-Shahar provides insight and exercises, prodding* reflection in readers (“Do you accept negative emotions as natural?” “Do you see your work as a job, a career, or a calling?”) while explaining the relationships between happiness, motivation* and goals.

    Though it sounds simple, Ben-Shahar insists on keen* self-awareness and purposeful action to overcome entrenched* patterns of despondency* and/or disbelief. The Chinese version of the book is available on dangdang.com and 360buy.com, and you can find the English book on amazon.(SD-Agencies)