Happy

Derren Brown

I read this before I started doing chapter summaries, but I got a lot from this book and it is well worth the time.

Summary

Our happiness is largely determined by the stories we tell ourselves after the fact, Daniel Kahneman's remembering self. The Stoics offer two suggestions:

1. It is my own judgement that is causing my suffering, and I have the power to change that judgement now
2. Don't try to change things that I cannot control

Tools to help with suffering are talking to myself, not adding to first impressions, premeditating the loss of things I hold dear, and asking myself, “Do I have a problem right now?”