Happypedia
Coming soon…
Self development book that has innovative ways to help readers live happier, healthier and more peaceful lives. The key focus areas of the book are mental health, wellbeing, relationships and self-development. The readers will find a unique perspective that will truly change the way they see themselves and their place in the world. Revealing new things about our human behaviour, with stories and strategies to improve our lives.
About Happypedia:
If we work on all the elements that contribute towards happiness, then our increased happiness makes maintaining our happiness easier. This is due to a phenomenon I call ‘The Happiness Helix’. Our challenge in reaching happiness is often finding the right balance of these elements, as more of one often means less of another – and having more knowledge can help with that.
This book takes a scientific and holistic approach to happiness, exploring the characteristics of good foundational beliefs as well as the benefits of healthy food, sleep, exercise, relationships and thoughts. It also looks at the role that gratitude, purpose, mindfulness, optimism, deities, compassion, money, therapy and being in the present moment play in our happiness journey.
The components of happiness are intricately interwoven with each other in a web of interactions. The complex and non-intuitive nature of some concepts means they have often been overlooked, but with the aid of relatable stories and analogies, The Happiness Helix aims to make this knowledge accessible to everyone.
Contents of book
Part 1. Happiness is within us 9
Chapter 1: Happiness, the basics 10
Why understanding happiness is important 10
Can we be happy all the time? 12
What is good and what is bad? 14
What are the bare necessities of happiness? 16
Increasing our happiness with Good Things 30
Increasing our happiness with Good Thoughts 50
“I am not as happy as I used to be” 68
Chapter 2: The Happiness Helix 70
Part 2. The world of consciousness, beliefs and decisions 76
Chapter 5: Making decisions 119
PART 3. Aligning our beliefs and the universe 146
Chapter 6: What is my purpose? 148
Chapter 8: Finding happiness in relationships 159
Chapter 12: Emotional trauma 190
Chapter 13: Reducing worry and anxiety 209
Chapter 14: Reducing rumination 222
Chapter 17: Building the habits for happiness 243
Chapter 18: What the future holds for happiness
The research
Nearly 500 scientific papers have been referenced in the draft of The Happiness Helix. Ranging in spheres from consciousness, neurotransmitters, locus’s of control, mindfulness, food, exercise, sleep, anxiety, trauma and rumination.
What I would like to achieve with this book
To change the underlying belief system of the world to be more aligned with how we know the universe works. I liken it to when we moved from thinking that the sun revolved around the earth to the earth revolving around the sun it was very hard to swallow. So too is moving from the belief that we are in charge of our destiny to our choices being controlled by our environment. But grasping this concept can make the world a happier place. So the unique selling point I set out with was that knowing how decisions are made can make it easier to make sense of our life, reducing anxiety, rumination and making it easier to forgive and accept our lack of control. However in the process of writing a new USP emerged and that is that happiness does not come from one thing. There are other books on happiness that spruke happiness comes from acceptance or compassion, purpose or mindfulness. Some say you can find happiness through gratitude, empathy or cognitive behavioural therapy. The truth is trying to be happy with just one of these is like trying to build a house of just one material. We will have a much stronger and more beautiful house if we build our house from all the required building materials, this being wood, steel, stone, concrete, plaster, tiles and paint. So to achieve happiness we need all the components. So that is what my book demonstrates. It tells us what the 5 components to happiness are and how they are intricately intertwined. It breaks down very complex concepts like what is happiness and what is consciousness to be more understandable and relatable. My book is like 20 books on happiness rolled into one.