How to Be Happier – Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD

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[cjy]

I want to share a personal story I had with Tal.

My father has been a long time fan of Tal Ben Shahar's work, in fact that's how I got to know Tal's work in the field of positive psychology.

In 2016 my father had a very rough year - relocating to a new country, a challenging separation with my mother, and coping with mild depression.

For his 68th birthday my siblings and I decided to gather his friends, ones from the past, as well as ones from different cities to wish him a happy birthday through a video compilation. My sister didn't tell us but she also reached out to Tal to see if he would be willing to participate.

2 minutes into the video, at a gathering of 20 of his closest family and friends, I will not forget my dad's complete jaw dropping suprise and delight to see Tal wishing him personally a very happy birthday. I could see it meant so much to him.

Now you have to imagine, Tal has no direct knowledge or connection of my family. So here's a complete stranger, with an incredibly busy schedule between teaching and writing, carving time out of his day to send a personal and uplifting message to a complete stranger on the other side of the continent.

It may seem like a small act, but what a spirit of generosity. Tal is not just talking about theories and science, he walks the walk. What a remarkably generous and inspiring person. We are truly grateful.

Thank you Tal!

(2020 my dad is in a far better place physically, emotionally, and mentally than he was 4 years ago.)

Hope this finds you well!

[FightMediocrity]

Hey guys, Tal's a pretty cool guy. He taught the most popular class in Harvard's history and this book is the backbone of that. Hope you enjoy.

[AbdelMX]

Ok, I stopped this video midway to write this comment as I don't understand why people are complaining about the channel owner not voicing the book reviews himself. I'm fairly new to this channel, but in the short tie that I have been subsribed I have watched a lot of his book reviews, and I find this new format as entertaining as the old one if not more.

You'd expect people to be more excited that they're getting the cliff-notes right from the source (who understands the material much better than our guy for obvious reasons), but screw logic. Let's all be inconsiderate and unappreciative, and bitch about the slighest changes completely diregarding the ***FREE*** content creator's well being and what it means for him to have the production time cut down for him.

If only people would be more understanding, and a bit less whiney ...

[bottendaal]

This is really heplfull.
I changed my life and because of that I focused too much time at school. Now I give up some time for friends and because of that I become happier and more succesful at school

[carolineashbourne]

Really love your style and find these animations so inspirational for helping us aim towards a better (and happier) way to live. Please keep them coming!

[Dsnike]

by far the more important channel on YouTube for me this past year

[igotmovies]

Fight Mediocrity's videos are on my happiness quadrant list

[MarioTomicOfficial]

Tal is a boss! His book The Pursuit of Perfect was a life-changer for me. Will definitely check out "Happier"!

[bimetsherojne]

results that i draw from all comment is that our brains like to be entertained not informed and made wiser, if we don't make the commitment to learn we will never grow. I got several of his book, at some point in my life i had everything and i was happy learning about happiness and positive psychology gave me new eyes to see the world. great field to learn

[carsonbarlow]

I hear a lot of complaining about the use of the word nihilism. I'm going to look up its official definition after this comment, but before I do, I'd like to say that I think it is important to focus on the message that is being presented. What ever you call "Good now, bad later" is logically not as good as "Good now, good later."

I really liked this video.

[LennisPerezTV]

So simple and true and yet a lot of people don't follow this principle! Thank you for creating such a great video!

[Hamza]

MAN watching your videos puts me on the top-right quadrant i should spend more time watching your videos !!

[ShoelessJoeChristian]

FATGUED! Why are people complaining about this video just stating the obvious? Everyone is at a different place, and this is just the right video for people who haven't realized this. Also, for those of us who may already know about these concepts, videos like these still serve as good reminders.

[madhuryamalla]

watching fight mediocrity is one of my activities in happiness...worth watching these videos..thanq..

[Far-Beyond-Ordinary]

Another great one! Someone else suggested that you narrate what the authors write, sounds like the best of both worlds to me. You save time (4 hour work week) and we are happy to hear from you.

[mubasheeramg]

Thank you for investing your precious time in sharing knowledge!!

[sairaj]

You are changing people's lives .... Very good work

[saucyonePR]

out of the three reviews not from you this is by far the most enjoyable. but like others who share the same opinion, waiting on your narrations. keep up the good work

[allabout]

Dude I am waching your videos and you are saying all things that are in my mind today. And things that happened to you some time ago, the same happened to me today. Great information thanks, I'll go to your channel every morning, you can remind very meaningful things. Thanks.

[nullinf]

This video is 75% accurate, because although the focus was on happiness I feel like that more time should've been about addressing your "Nihilist Quadrant." That quadrant is absolutely false in the way it was named, it should've been called "The Pessimist Quadrant."

The emphasis on this change would've made much more sense because nihilism is portrayed so much more negatively than it actually is, often done by people who haven't thought about it's legitimacy. It is defined as "a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless"(Merriam-Webster) as to your conclusion that it's ".. result of a particular disappointment or failure, or because it's just one of those days."

Doesn't seem like you spent a whole lot of time researching this idea. Coming from someone who "taught the most popular class in Harvard's history" it seems like it was just lazy, I'm seventeen and have explored this idea many times. But dude, literally google it and you can find the actual meaning in 30 seconds.