Do you want to be perfect? Or do you want to be happy?
We're all laboring under our own and society's expectations to be perfect in every way—to look younger, to make more money, to be happy all the time. But according to Tal Ben-Shahar, the New York Times bestselling author of Happier, the pursuit of perfect may actually be the number-one internal obstacle to finding happiness.
Applying cutting-edge research in the field of positive psychology—the scientific principles taught in his wildly popular course at Harvard University—Ben-Shahar takes us off the impossible pursuit of perfection and directs us to happiness, richness, and true fulfillment. He shows us the freedom derived from not trying to do it all right all the time and the real lessons that failure and painful emotions can teach us. He provides exercises for self reflection, meditations, and “Time-Ins” to help you rediscover what you really want out of life.
Table of contentsIntroduction: The Perfect TrapChapter 1: Benevolent JealousyChapter 2: The Upside of AnxietyChapter 3: Ordinary ExpectationsChapter 4: Don’t Just Get Over ItChapter 5: Understanding the UnknowableChapter 6: Succeeding at FailingChapter 7: Permission to FeelChapter 8: The Law of IdentityChapter 9: The Platinum RuleConclusion
