Do You Compare Yourself or Your Relationship to Others? 5 Surprising Ways to Stop Letting Comparison Steal Your Happiness

In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz contends that the vast array of choices presented to us leaves us stressed and indecisive. To lift this burden, Schwartz, a professor of social theory and social action, recommends we learn how to better navigate our choices, from groceries to health insurance.

Schwartz’s work combines psychology, economics, and his personal experiences. In this guide, we’ll examine the types of choices we face, the challenges of making choices, how excessive choices make these challenges more difficult, and how to live with expanded choice. Our guide adds scientific and cultural context to Schwartz’s ideas, plus updates on how choice has grown since the book’s publication.

In Good Vibes, Good Life, Vex King argues that the key to living your dream life is to have good vibrations or “good vibes.” When you put out good vibes like gratitude and joy, you attract good vibes back; however, when you put out bad vibes like resentment, regret, or impatience, you’ll attract bad vibes and consequently experience more hardships. The key to minimizing bad vibes and maximizing good ones, King argues, is self-love and acceptance.

This guide will discuss King’s Law of Vibration, how you can raise your vibrations, the things that negatively impact your vibes, and how to use your good vibes to achieve your ideal life. Throughout the guide, we’ll also relate King's concepts to recent scientific research and the opinions and recommendations of psychologists, other spiritual guides, and life coaches such as Eckhart Tolle and Rhonda Byrne.

Positive thoughts are the key to a happy life because they lead to positive words and actions. When we think positively, we treat ourselves and other people better, enjoy healthier relationships, make better choices, and are resilient in the face of adversity.

But being positive can be difficult. In Battlefield of the Mind, Joyce Meyer explains that the Devil makes it his mission to corrupt our minds with negative thoughts. Luckily, we have God on our side. Meyer shows us how we can thwart Satan’s attacks and find happiness and fulfillment with God's positivity as our guide. In this guide, we provide additional context on the Christian principles that inform Meyer’s work and supplement her ideas with a wide range of perspectives, including those of theological scholars, self-help authors like Eckhart Tolle and Mark Manson, and proponents of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz contends that the vast array of choices presented to us leaves us stressed and indecisive. To lift this burden, Schwartz, a professor of social theory and social action, recommends we learn how to better navigate our choices, from groceries to health insurance.

Schwartz’s work combines psychology, economics, and his personal experiences. In this guide, we’ll examine the types of choices we face, the challenges of making choices, how excessive choices make these challenges more difficult, and how to live with expanded choice. Our guide adds scientific and cultural context to Schwartz’s ideas, plus updates on how choice has grown since the book’s publication.

What do J.K. Rowling, LL Cool J, and George Washington have in common? Stoic philosophy. For generations, Stoicism has motivated scores of people to live well.

In The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday and translator Stephen Hanselman share insights from the ancient Stoic philosophers on how you too can live a good life. It was a bestseller in 2016 and has since been expanded into a thriving podcast and website.

At the core of Stoicism is the belief that the cardinal virtues—self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom—are the source of internal stability and the measure of a good life.

Our guide explores three categories of Stoic practices the authors cover in The Daily Stoic, including viewing life with self-control, responding to life with justice and courage, and managing our lives with wisdom. Within each category, we look at essential principles that support these Stoic practices. Our commentary explores other perspectives on these principles and offers more insights from Stoic philosophy and modern psychology.

There’s a reason that countless books have been written on the topic of self-esteem. How you feel about yourself has a massive impact on the quality of your life, and raising your self-esteem can radically reshape both your internal and external worlds. That said, it’s easy to understand that you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, but actually raising your self-esteem can seem impossible. How can you think highly of yourself if you truly believe, at your core, that you’re inadequate?

To answer this question, we’ve brought together the advice of many experts from the worlds of psychology and self-help, including Brené Brown, Nathaniel Branden, and Mark Manson. You’ll learn about the specific destructive patterns low self-esteem can create in your life, as well as five habits you can practice every day to raise your self-esteem.

The Big Leap, by psychologist and personal growth coach Gay Hendricks, aims to help you overcome the psychological barriers to success and fulfillment. Hendricks asserts that, while we all have an innate call toward our most successful and fulfilling life, even highly successful people are often unable to achieve beyond a self-imposed limit, a “happiness threshold.” As you achieve greater success, Hendricks says you reach this threshold, which triggers self-sabotaging behaviors.

Hendricks explains how our happiness thresholds are established early in life, through the adoption of false beliefs, and how to identify your own false beliefs. He offers practical advice for applying this new knowledge to your life and relationships, in order to take the “big leap” into living your best life.

We’ll compare Hendricks’s ideas on happiness, limiting beliefs, and self-sabotage with those of other authors and experts, and we’ll explore the scientific research behind key concepts.

Everyone wants to find true happiness in their lives, but many of us believe that happiness can only come from experiencing huge changes—such as a trip around the world or a lottery jackpot. But, as it turns out, you can change everything...without changing much at all.

In The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin explains how resolving to make the smallest of changes in your everyday life—using the “good” dishes, remembering friends’ birthdays, or singing in the morning—can translate into more vivid memories, stronger relationships, and a deeper sense of happiness and gratitude in your life.

In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz contends that the vast array of choices presented to us leaves us stressed and indecisive. To lift this burden, Schwartz, a professor of social theory and social action, recommends we learn how to better navigate our choices, from groceries to health insurance.

Schwartz’s work combines psychology, economics, and his personal experiences. In this guide, we’ll examine the types of choices we face, the challenges of making choices, how excessive choices make these challenges more difficult, and how to live with expanded choice. Our guide adds scientific and cultural context to Schwartz’s ideas, plus updates on how choice has grown since the book’s publication.

Former Vedic monk and award-winning content creator Jay Shetty claims that the route to happiness and fulfillment is to Think Like a Monk. According to him, monks are the calmest and happiest people in the world because they live with a sense of purpose that aligns with their true, inner selves.

Fortunately, you don’t need to cut yourself off from the modern world or shave your head to benefit from this mindset. Shetty draws from his experiences as a monk, ancient spiritual texts, and the latest psychological research to transform abstract concepts into actionable methods you can easily incorporate into your life.

In this guide, we’ve compared and contrasted Shetty’s key concepts with up-to-date psychological research and advice. In addition, we’ve expanded on his methods with actionable ideas from other self-improvement practitioners and psychologists.

Do you feel unsatisfied with your life but unsure about how to get unstuck, feel happier, and do more things that feel meaningful and positive?

Many authors have tackled this subject. While they all take different approaches, they seem to agree on one thing: Knowing your values and living in alignment with them is key to feeling satisfied and happy with your life.

In this Master Guide, we’ll examine and compare what over a dozen experts have to say about living your best life, compiling advice from a range of authors, including a poet, a former Vedic monk, a holistic psychologist, life design professors, happiness experts, and self-help authors. You’ll come away with a better understanding of what’s making you feel unhappy, a clearer picture of who you are and what you really want out of life, and actionable steps for living a more meaningful and happy life.

Minimalism offers a formula for how to live a meaningful life by first getting rid of clutter (like excess stuff and debt) and then focusing on five key areas: your health, relationships, passions, growth, and contributing to others.

The authors Millburn and Nicodemus achieved the American dream of corporate success and conspicuous consumption, but it left them unhappy, exhausted, and deeply in debt. They quit their jobs, re-examined their lives, and started the popular website TheMinimalists.com. In this book, they explain how anyone can follow their path of self-examination and how to make small daily changes to achieve a clutter-free, debt-free, and fulfilling life.

Former Vedic monk and award-winning content creator Jay Shetty claims that the route to happiness and fulfillment is to Think Like a Monk. According to him, monks are the calmest and happiest people in the world because they live with a sense of purpose that aligns with their true, inner selves.

Fortunately, you don’t need to cut yourself off from the modern world or shave your head to benefit from this mindset. Shetty draws from his experiences as a monk, ancient spiritual texts, and the latest psychological research to transform abstract concepts into actionable methods you can easily incorporate into your life.

In this guide, we’ve compared and contrasted Shetty’s key concepts with up-to-date psychological research and advice. In addition, we’ve expanded on his methods with actionable ideas from other self-improvement practitioners and psychologists.

In Good Vibes, Good Life, Vex King argues that the key to living your dream life is to have good vibrations or “good vibes.” When you put out good vibes like gratitude and joy, you attract good vibes back; however, when you put out bad vibes like resentment, regret, or impatience, you’ll attract bad vibes and consequently experience more hardships. The key to minimizing bad vibes and maximizing good ones, King argues, is self-love and acceptance.

This guide will discuss King’s Law of Vibration, how you can raise your vibrations, the things that negatively impact your vibes, and how to use your good vibes to achieve your ideal life. Throughout the guide, we’ll also relate King's concepts to recent scientific research and the opinions and recommendations of psychologists, other spiritual guides, and life coaches such as Eckhart Tolle and Rhonda Byrne.

There’s a reason that countless books have been written on the topic of self-esteem. How you feel about yourself has a massive impact on the quality of your life, and raising your self-esteem can radically reshape both your internal and external worlds. That said, it’s easy to understand that you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, but actually raising your self-esteem can seem impossible. How can you think highly of yourself if you truly believe, at your core, that you’re inadequate?

To answer this question, we’ve brought together the advice of many experts from the worlds of psychology and self-help, including Brené Brown, Nathaniel Branden, and Mark Manson. You’ll learn about the specific destructive patterns low self-esteem can create in your life, as well as five habits you can practice every day to raise your self-esteem.