The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living Paperback – 21 July 2020

I absolutely love this book, one of my favourites. First read it years ago and have always kept the advice in mind and tell people often what the Dalai Lama says: the meaning of life is to be happy, and the path to happiness is kindness! It really is true and whenever I am focused on kindness to others I notice myself being happier.I love the balance in this book between the wise words of the Dalai Lama combined with the scientific explanations from the psychology point of view.

helps one realise material things are not important, but happiness is

I think everybody reaches a point in life where they start to question whether they are on the right path in life and how can they "live better". I picked up this book and have found it is very interesting to see how the Dalai Lama ("DL") sees things.In the west we constantly feel the need to surround ourselves with "nice things" such as the over priced designer clothes, cars, nice house etc. but it is humbling to see that often the poorest people seem most grateful for what they have. *I am thinking back to a picture I saw with a child living in a war zone holding a dirty doll that made her smile* and by poor I mean poor in a third world country - not poor in a first world country (think: a nice 3 bed house paid for by the state).If I'm honest, I think that the west has lost perspective on what is really important and this book sends the message that happiness can be achieved from within.This book does make me think that if everyone was compassionate, caring and generous towards each other then the world would be a better place. However in reality those who are will find that they are out of pocket taken advantage of but I'd like to think the principle of Karma exists.

This book is such a gift and touches you in a very deep true place. For anyone wanting to go further, however, I feel Dawn Paul's book 'A healer of souls', takes you to the next level spiritually.

This book is amazing. To avoid beating round the bush.I bought a few self help sort of books, to try & improve self contentment & happiness & to kill a bit of time at work, when it's quiet.I started off with this one. I am not a reader to be honest, so I wanted something to break me in. It was easy enough to follow. I needed a dictionary for some of the words, but I understood it.It's a mix of the dalai lama's principles, but then the western psychologist explains things in a way that we understand with case studies & examples. I believe it works very well. It has made me think differently about things & makes you realise that your happiness is about how you perceive & deal with situations.The only thing that would be an improvement would be as if there was a summary at the end of the key points. However, it's not the end of the world. I'll read it again & make my own shortened down notes, to remind me of the key principles.I wish the other books I bought off Amazon were as easy to follow as this one.The book is that good, I am now going to see if there are books of a similar nature/theme.

I was expecting the book to be about Dalai Lama and his teachings but it is mostly about the autor’s meetings with Dalai Lama and his thoughts. I only finished 3 chapters before moving to another book. It wasn’t even a hard read but I didn’t feel engaged.

For me this was a book that had to be read slowly and with determination, with many pauses for looking-off-into-the-distance-deep-in-thought. The Dalai Lama believes in fundamental goodness in all human beings, in the value of compassion and kindness, and a sense of commonality among all living creatures, he really is a most remarkable human being if only the whole World could feel the same .......... but I digress the book. Cutler's input mostly detracts from the teachings of the Dalai Lama. At best, he makes small, often insignificant links between the Dalai Lama's point and western science. Like how he made the connection between Buddhism's idea of training the mind to the scientific idea of "plasticity" which proves that, indeed, you can train the mind. I strongly recommend this book for anyone trying to move on from any sort of suffering (death, divorce, argument, career blues, etc.) which means we would ALL find this book useful. It's true that we all have one unique goal as human beings: happiness. This book is a great starting point for MORE happiness in our lives.

Achieve Enlightenment in this easy to read, accessible and practical guide to the Art of Happiness, highly recommend an insightful book.