Kerstin Hack: Happiness

Contents

Happiness

What is happiness?

My happiness and I

Different kinds of happiness

1 Removing obstacles to happiness

2 Discovering happiness

3 Happiness in motion

4 Secure happiness

5 Happy together

6 Growing happiness

7 Preserving happiness

Specific goals

Help to find happiness

Kerstin Hack: Happiness. Inspiration for a rich life

Microbook No. 6

© 2021 Down to Earth · Laubacher Str. 16 II · 14197 Berlin

Design: www.michaelzimmermann.com

Photos: photocase.com - .daumenkino. (1), vonnypony (2), florianwimmer1 (9), hui-buh (11), x-over (15), kuse (17), Fritz (19), judithh (23), Endless Summer (25), Gerti G. (27); sxc.hu (7, 13)

ISBN: 978-3-86270-336-4

Scripture quotations are taken from the "New International Version" and the "New Century Version". Some verses are abridged.

Further books by Kerstin Hack and inspiration for your life

www.down-to-earth.de

Happiness is not a gift from the gods; it is the fruit of an inner attitude. —Erich Fromm

Everyone wants to be happy. We long for those intense feelings that fill us in moments of happiness. That’s why we respond eagerly to promises of happiness: "Buy this or that car, house, drink and you will be happy." Or: "Kiss the right woman or find an attractive man and you will gain eternal happiness." Even though we are constantly surrounded by these promises of happiness, we rarely meet people who exude contentment or even happiness.

Where can we find true happiness? This Micro-book summarizes the results of current happiness research, explains which ways of thinking and acting make us happy and offers specific inspiration to boost your own happiness.

Happiness by chance?

Being lucky is not the same as being happy.

Many people believe that happiness is something that happens to them by chance: winning the lottery, meeting your dream girl, inheriting a countryside villa. Great luck does indeed bring happiness. But not for long. Those happy feelings normally don’t last for more than three months. After that the lucky fellows are just as (un)happy as before.

Learned happiness

Every man is the architect of his own fortune.

No one can control all their circumstances. Yet people who actively and consciously shape their lives are generally happier than those who passively wait for "good fortune". We can learn to be happy. To be more precise: Happiness itself can’t be learned but the ways of thinking and acting that lead to happiness can be.

Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. —Ps 144:15

God wants us to be happy. He created us in such a way that all actions which bring forth, foster and sustain life are accompanied by feelings of happiness. This is true for actions that sustain the biological life like sex, eating, movement and learning but also for activities which foster social life like loving, giving, doing something meaningful. In short:

Everything that brings life also makes us happy.

This happiness-giving God likes to give us advice on good lifestyle choices. The bible and other classics are full of tested wisdom about ways to succeed in life and to be happy. These old pieces of advice and the results of modern "happiness research" are surprisingly similar. Pondering them and entering into a conversation with the creator of life himself could be a first step towards happiness.

There is nothing good unless you do it! —Erich Kästner

Contract with myself

No one but myself is responsible for my happiness. I want to live a happier life and I hereby decide to do everything necessary to create more room in my life for happy moments, hours, days and years.

Place, Date

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