Many Americans report that they are not very happy in their day-to-day life and living; evidently something is missing for most Americans. One of the objectives of this book is to address this issue of unhappiness that may have an impact on their overall health.
Another objective of this book is to help people develop their own happiness recipes through looking at ancient wisdom from the East and the West, conventional wisdom, and spiritual wisdom.
A happiness wisdom recipe is like a GPS that guides us in the direction of the destination we are heading. Some of us may choose the highways; others may prefer local or toll-free routes. Likewise, a happiness wisdom recipe is a matter of personal choice and preference, based on each individual's own past experiences and core values.
Core values are not life goals, which have to be pursued and achieved to give an individual happiness; core values, on the other hand, are beliefs of an individual in humanity that have to be lived, rather than just being acknowledged, in order to fully experience the innate happiness in humanity. Your core values are your beliefs that are meaningful to you, giving you happiness now and then. They may be something held in common by many people, or they may not be. Your core values are meaningful only to you, regardless of whether they are meaningful to anyone you know. Likewise, you do not have to remodel your life to live the core values of others. Of course, you may want to adapt your life to transform yourself if you appreciate some of the core values of others. That explains why you need creativity to try a new recipe, or change some of the ingredients in your current recipe.
Remember, you are living a life in which you spend a lot of your time engaged in actions that are an expression of your true values, as well as a reflection of the person you are meant to be. These actions, or rather your perceptions by your thinking mind of these actions, give you happiness or unhappiness-that is why you need wisdom to take these right actions.
The bottom line: it is humanly possible to be happier more of the time and to experience higher quality happiness than you have ever felt before. Just learn to be wiser, and be happier!
About the Author: Born in Hong Kong, Stephen Lau received his education from University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, the SEMEO Regional Language Center, Singapore, and University of Cambridge, the United Kingdom.
Stephen Lau is a researcher with books and websites on health and healing, the art of living well, as well as books on ESL (English As A Second Language).
His interests also include art and antiques: he paints and collects Chinese antiques.
Stephen Lau now lives in the United States.
