Review Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill

Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill by Matthieu Ricard joins the latest books in my Kindle. I believe it might have been offered free, but I missed it at that savings. I bought it for $1.99.

I'm a sucker for books on happiness, because the concept of happiness is dear to my heart, something I have to fight for, and always a little bit nebulous, almost there but a little bit out of reach.

Ricard is a French Buddhist monk and former cell biologist. He has written a number of books, which if they are as readable as this one, will join my to-read list which is getting longer and longer. I'm not very far into the book yet, but I wanted to talk about it.

Here are some of the ideas discussed in the first few pages (I could do a post on several more of them too, and might):

Is happiness a skill that, once acquired, endures through the ups and downs of life? ...Happiness is ... a way of interpreting the world. Matthieu Ricard

Is happiness

the radiation of joy over one's entire existence or over the most vibrant part of one's active past, one's actual presence, and one's conceivable future[?] Robert Misrahi, philosopher

How would you define 'active past' -- (this is not discussed in the book) those things of our past that are active in consciousness today or that have long-lasting effects on our every days, whether for good or ill? compared to inactive past, that may or may not seem to have an effect on us, but are in the long-forgotten reaches of our minds?

Is happiness intentionally vague so that each person can interpret it in his or her own way? (Henri Bergson)

I like the idea that happiness is a joy that hovers over all aspects of life, that we can acquire the skills for happiness, that we can interpret happiness for ourselves. Ricard states that happiness is more than fleeting moments and causative events.

What do you think happiness is?
Would you like to read this book along with me?

I think it is possible to have happiness even in the midst of sorrow, but it takes some effort and some intentional choices. Here's to making them!

Karin
www.savvythinker.com

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