The Art of Happiness
For those of you who are avid book readers, and even to those of you who are not, have you ever picked up a book with a message that you needed at that exact time in your life? The Art of Happiness was one of those books for me. I picked it up to fulfill my reading challenge of “A book written by someone you admire.” In this novel, Cutler and The Dalai Lama discuss what methods and habits we can practice in order to experience a happier life.
The authors break down very complex ideas into simplified ideals including: The Purpose of Life, Human Warmth and Compassion, Transforming Suffering, Overcoming Obstacles, and Reflections on Living a Spiritual Life. Even while writing a summation of the book, I have a hard time not pouring out the numerous lessons I learned while examining this text. If I were to write down one lesson that will dominate my internal dialogue it will be that “at the basic human level… we are all the same; each one of us aspires to happiness and each one of us does not wish to suffer.” I only hope to put more of The Dalai Lama’s lessons into practice to slowly better myself.
Not all of the concepts in this book are easy to contemplate. With that being said, I think everyone should get through this book at least once (if not repeatedly to help process the message) as food for thought and hopefully to help you change your frame of mind when dealing with others.
Malia's Pizza Rating
A morning meditation on pizza and how it might save the world; seriously, who couldn’t come together over a slice of pizza?