The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living

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Dr Russ's first book, 'The Happiness Trap', was published in Australia in March 2007, and is already well on the way to becoming a bestseller. Figure those values out, then set immediate, short medium, and long term goals that are congruent with your values. Connecting: be present in the moment, observe what is around you (feelings, sounds, sensations, what you see, etc.

The acronym also stands for the process Accept your internal experience; Choose a values-based direction; Take action! I think this book would be most helpful for people who have tried a few different things to manage their head space but continue to find that negative thoughts/feelings keep arising. Life is pain; non-attachment is the solution; the importance of mindfulness; the benefit of breath work… This all starts to feel a lot like cultural appropriation and philosophical plagiarism. If you had only one year left to live, how would you like to be as a person and what would you like to do during that time?

I also believe that a fulfilling life is a joyful life--note that I do not say a "happy" or "ever-pleasant" life, as I think there is an important distinction. What is in your control is your ability to continue your journey, step by step, learning and growing as you progress--and getting back on track whenever you wander.

Today’s middle class lives better than did the Royalty of not so long ago, and yet humans today don’t seem very happy. Yes, there’s a very high chance this program will make you happier, as long as you actively apply the principles. In sum, I think Harris and ACT have a lot to offer, I just have some personal beef with the way it was presented in this particular book.I also think it’s true that we shouldn’t always want to fight bad feelings and just let them be instead. Additionally, the way that Harris describes the underlying theory of ACT sure sounds a lot like Buddhist philosophy, even though it hasn’t been labeled as such.

This book doesn't tell you not to be anxious : it tells you to be it and then here's what you're gonna do.

As human beings we are all faced with the fact that sooner or later we will grow infirm, get sick and die. Some of the important things ACT teaches are that sometimes life is painful, and we need to accept that fact; our thoughts do not control our actions, particularly when we step back and observe what our thoughts are and decide whether they are in line with our values; if yes, act on them, if no, don't try to force the thoughts away, but choose an action that is in line with your values. Lowest moment is when he explains that the acronym ACT is pronounced like the word "act": I think we might've guessed. When I got into self-help books, I had two problems I wanted to solve: how to become likable and how to solve an addiction I'd had since I was 13-years-old.