If you didn’t grow up speaking Greek, you wouldn’t expect to leave home and instantly be fluent in it, would you? So why is it that we expect to suddenly be “fluent” in Happiness if Happiness wasn’t practiced in our homes?
Happiness as a Second Language teaches happiness step-by-step, in the same manner as one would learn a new language. Each chapter builds on the concepts and exercises in the previous one, starting with the most basic lessons, progressing through the intermediate stages, and finally graduating to the more advanced concepts. Readers will learn how to introduce themselves as happy; how to count; how to use the days of the week, months of the year, and all the colors in the rainbow to be happy. Readers learn the verbs, nouns and adjectives of Happiness; Happiness in the present, past, future and “future uncertain” tense; how to overcome the influence of those who actively try to negate their happiness, and how to avoid the setbacks that happen when learning anything new.
The writing is simple and straightforward, the instructions easy to follow, and the sample situations familiar, touching, often heartbreaking and sometimes hysterical. The true value of Happiness as a Second Language is that everyone who diligently works to achieve the happiness promised in the premise will find positive results from the very first page.
Very Insightful I found this book to be very inspiring, thoughtful and easy to read. The author really knows how to connect in a way that makes her ideas very accessible. I would recommend this to just about anyone. You don’t need to be in crisis to be able to benefit from the insights in this book. She’s really given this a lot of thought and time. Bravo!!!
So Happy with my purchase! I started following the “Happiness” blog thanks to a recommendation on Facebook, and have been eagerly awaiting this book ever since. It surpassed my expectations – the real-world anecdotes I had expected, thanks to the clever blog posts I had already seen. But the actual step-by-step organization and “homework” that was suggested made so much sense that I am surprised nobody else has thought of this before. I like to think of myself as a happy person, but I can see where there are things I could be doing to be more consistently happy – I think there is something here to be learned for everyone. I would recommend buying a hard copy, because you will want to share what you’ve learned, and refer back to it often, which is easier in a traditional printed book. I read this on my Kindle, but I have another copy on the way, for that reason.
Eye opening and poignant It’s fascinating as an adult to come across concepts that completely change your perception about things you thought you knew. That’s what I found in this book and why I highly recommend it.