The Happiness Hypothesis

I borrowed this audiobook from National Library. I am rather unhappy these days and is seeking ways to change my emotional state. I remember a conversation I had with a colleague in Toronto on a ride to a service call. He was very knowledgeable in a lot of the Eastern Philosophy and it surprises me that a white guy know so much about Eastern thoughts. So I asked how come he is so knowledgeable. He told me that he had a lot of unhappy times. So he read a lot of Western Philosophy trying to get answers and then he turns to Eastern Philosophy. He reads to find out why he is unhappy and how to fix his unhappiness.

I read a lot on Tao, Buddhism, Chuang Tzu, meditations, Zen and other esoteric subjects when I was young. Many a times, I wonder why am I born to suffer, study, work and then die. Lao Tzu and Tao De Jing is one of the best that make me feel happy with poems like Sitting, Sitting, the Grass grows Green. Mountains will be mountains and White Clouds will be white clouds.

Today, the Positive Psychology or professors come up with their own recipes for Happiness. I am just on disk 1 of The Happiness Hypothesis. The western way is to do research. The first "proven" way is volunteering. Volunteering is like taking Prozac according to the author. It get rid of depression. Unlike Prozac, the effect stops the moment you stop taking the drug, the effects of volunteering continues even after you have stop all the volunteer work.