Book Review: Being Happy: You Don't Have To Be Perfect To Lead A Richer, Happier Life By Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD

I recently received a copy of the book, Being Happy: You Don't Have To Be Perfect To Lead A Richer, Happier Life by Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD., to review.


We've all been there at some point in our lives - maybe you're there right now. That frustrating, overwhelming feeling of not doing everything perfect - from doing everything the "right way" with your first child (ahem, Moms, you know what I'm talking about!) - to flipping out when a grade we received in high school or college was less than we expected. In fact, the author starts out the book talking about his struggles in school and his failure to get an A in a class.

Being Happy covers three main parts: Part One is the theory, where you learn about accepting failures, emotions, success, and reality. Part Two discusses the applications such as optimal work and optimal love. Part Three leads into different meditations such as "The Platinum Rule" (look for it on page 200! what? you think I am going to give everything away?!)

Being Happy has sort of a interactive workbook feel to it, with the author pausing to ask "time-in" questions throughout, such as:

Which painful emotions do you tend to have trouble accepting?

You know mine, that frustrated, cranky feeling I get at the checkout line when my coupons aren't working because the clerk isn't listening to me - ha! All trips through the checkout line are supposed to be perfect, with the clerk smiling nicely, not asking those silly questions (such as "why are you buying 10 jars of peanut butter?" sigh!), everything scanning at the correct price, and the coupons magically going right through on the first scan. A girl can dream, right?

Seriously, while I don't believe that any book is a cure-all - far from it - this is one of those books that you can use as a stepping stone to "fix" the issues in your life. Many of us do have a problem with expecting everything to go exactly as planned, and while we are struggling with the feelings when they don't follow the plan, life is passing us by.

It's OK for your kids to watch an extra half hour of TV sometimes. It's OK if you order take-out, because you're too tired to cook. It's OK to skip that work luncheon because you hate your co-workers.

If this might sound familiar to you, Being Happy: You Don't Have To Be Perfect To Lead A Richer, Happier Life was previously published as a hardback book under the title The Pursuit of Perfect. By the way, the author is a New York Times bestselling author.

Being Happy: You Don't Have To Be Perfect To Lead A Richer, Happier Life by Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD is a paperback self-help book published by McGraw-Hill. It is 246 pages long. The suggested cover price is $18.00, but Amazon has it available for $12.44 as of this posting.

You know the drill: I received a copy of this book to read in order to share my thoughts on it. All opinions are my own.