How to Be Happy Life Life Feeling Short-Changed by the Self-Help Books He Consulted, Tal Ben-Shahar Built His Own Route to Wellbeing. Adam Forrest Tries to Put His Natural Cynicism Behind Him and Give the Approach a Go

Sunday Herald › January 24, 2008

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Summary

A FRIEND called recently, asking me to rank my personal happiness on a scale of one to 10. I sighed or squirmed; probably both. It seemed a particularly moronic way to measure something so important. Still, the good friend lives on the other side of the world and seemed to be having a tough old time of it, so I paused briefly to calculate my overall level of happiness.

"Six." "Me too, " he said. "A six seems about right most of the time." "A six isn't bad, " I suggested.

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How to Be Happy Life Life Feeling Short-Changed by the Self-Help Books He Consulted, Tal Ben-Shahar Built His Own Route to Wellbeing. Adam Forrest Tries to Put His Natural Cynicism Behind Him and Give the Approach a Go

"It's not bad, but it's not very good either. Imagine being a seven most of the time. Or an eight or a nine. Wouldn't that be great?" January, at least on this side of the world, is not typically the time of year to think about reaching eights and nines. According to Cardiff University research, tomorrow is the most depressing day of the year. I usual...

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