'stumbling on happiness': a review

This is a quickie, but I'm tossing it up anyway.

This book popped to the forefront of my mind when I decided that I was going to focus on happiness and look at it in my own life. And I went to the library and got it.

As I walked out, thumbing pages and wondering how silly I was being, I couldn't help think what a waste reading this book was going to be. It leans more on the science side of things, but in that "Blink" / "Freakanomics" tone.

Great, knowing how my brain fires isn't going to make me happier. That's like reading a book on my digestive system to fix colitis.

Boy, was I wrong. On every count. The book was fantastic. It did help me understand various firings in my brain. And I have adjusted based on tis knowledge and have actually gotten less tense/anxious as a result.

I never realized how much time I spent thinking about the future. Well, I did. And I knew that it was detrimental. But it took the book to make me realize that I had to stop. And I have. Which has made the whole "Rachael going to Harvard" a little easier to swallow. I have managed to stop worrying about what my life will be like in 6 or 8 months and have focused instead on right now.

There are some quotes from the book I want to talk about, but I returned it to the library already. Thankfully, it is being checked out again so that Rachael can read it.

Obviously, this one gets a strong A, though your mileage might vary. Even if you don't share my focus at the moment, I would still give it a strong recommend (and maybe then an A-).