Are you happy right now?
What about your happiness level for the week?
How can you live a better life?
“In the modern world, we have a big problem – a lot of us aren’t particularly happy,” (p.10) like this author who set out to shift his mindset into a happier mode by studying world philosophies.
First, you must define what happiness means to you, then uncover how living a good life is easier when you gain mental and emotional skills to weather its ups and downs.
At the heart of this book for teens are big lessons from ten philosophies: Zen, the Cynics, the Socratic School, Taoism, the Stoics, Aristotle, Buddhism, Epicurus, the Stoics again, and other ancient philosophers.
You can grow your resilience by studying the tenets of Buddhism, become seriously confident with advice from the Cynics, and power up your focus by studying Zen.
The author discusses each philosophy’s strengths in relation to living a good and balanced life, weaving in his experiences and reflections on seeking out different philosophical paths.
Each chapter ends with a set of challenges so you can interact more fully with that philosophy – walk a banana down the street (the Cynics), learn a challenging skill (the Stoics), get into the great outdoors (Taoism) – and see what its tenets might bring to your life.
When are you seriously happy and why?
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Book info: Seriously Happy: 10 Life-Changing Philosophy Lessons From Stoicism to Zen to Supercharge Your Mindset / Ben Aldridge. Quarto Publishing/Holler, 2024. [author site https://www.benaldridge.com/book] [publisher site https://quarto.com/books/9780711297807/seriously-happy] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
