Conversation with Arthur Brooks — The Pillars of Happiness

Do you ever get the sense that the world is getting worse over time? In Enlightenment Now, psychologist Steven Pinker says you might be falling prey to psychological biases that are distorting your perception. Because, he argues, things are actually getting better by every measure.

Pinker provides statistics on such factors as health, wealth, equality, human rights, happiness, peace, and freedom, to show that all of those things have improved over time, all around the world. And he says the driving forces of this progress are reason, science, and humanism— values that are derived from the European Enlightenment.

In this guide, we’ll delve into the data Pinker presents to show why he believes humanity is on the path of progress. Throughout, we’ll compare his ideas to those of other scholars, provide counterpoints, and update some of the statistics with more current data.

In the last decade, teen mental health has steadily declined—over 40% of high school students now say they feel persistently sad or hopeless. In this article we’ll examine what might be some of the causes, as well as some potential solutions.

You may have learned that a chemical imbalance in the brain causes depression, but that’s only part of the story. Biology lays the foundation, but trusted sources like the World Health Organization agree that your life experiences and the society you live in are the biggest causes of depression.

In Lost Connections, journalist Johann Hari investigates the psychological and social factors that contribute to mental illness (which he calls “disconnections”), as well as innovative social and environmental treatments for depression (or “reconnections”). Learn the questionable history of antidepressants, why Amish people hardely ever get depressed, and how mushrooms might be the antidepressants of the future.

In From Strength to Strength, management expert Arthur Brooks says that as we get older, our professional skills start to decline, and we can no longer succeed in our current jobs. Despite this, with the right mindset, the second half of your life can be even happier and more meaningful than the first. If you find a job that suits your changing skill set, and if you change your idea of “success” from career achievement and material wealth to happiness and fulfillment, you can continue to thrive.

In this guide, we’ll first explain how and why you lose your job skills as you get older. We’ll then discuss solutions: how you can find a job that suits your changing brain, and how to achieve a meaningful life instead of fruitlessly chasing success in your former field. In our commentary, we’ll discuss whether this professional decline really is inevitable and explore some methods to keep your mind sharp. We’ll also offer strategies for making the most of your life as you age.

Western culture is steeped in individualism, the worldview that encourages you to pursue individual happiness and prizes personal freedom as the highest societal good. But, according to cultural commentator David Brooks, this individualist worldview breeds selfishness and deprives your life of greater meaning. Consequently, he argues that you should embrace relationalism—the worldview that prioritizes selflessness and service to others—to lead a deeply fulfilling life.

In his 2019 book, The Second Mountain, Brooks details his own experiences to explain why the relationalist approach to life is more satisfying than its individualist counterpart. Along the way, he outlines the four commitments that are crucial to relationalism—your vocation, marriage, community, and belief system—and provides actionable steps to making these commitments.

In this guide, we’ll discuss Brooks’s distinction between individualism and relationalism, followed by a foray into the four commitments that constitute relationalist living. Throughout the guide, we’ll also discuss additional strategies for making Brooks’s commitments and examine counterarguments about the importance of these commitments.

Happiness is more than just a positive state of mind—it’s a state of being that enhances your health, strengthens your relationships, and fuels both your creativity and productivity. However, though many people are aware of these benefits and try to feel happier, their efforts often fail to create consistent, long-term happiness.

In The How of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky—psychology professor and recipient of the Templeton Positive Psychology Prize—addresses this challenge. Drawing from her extensive research as well as insights from leading scientists in the positive psychology field, she unpacks the factors that fuel happiness and provides practical strategies to nurture and sustain it.

In this guide, we’ll explore Lyubomirsky's thoughts on what contributes to long-term happiness and how you can amplify it in your life. Additionally, we’ll supplement her ideas with psychological research and actionable methods from other self-improvement authors and practitioners.

If you want to heal your body, you have to cultivate a healthy mind. In Mind Over Medicine, Lissa Rankin explores the mind-body connection and reveals our innate ability to promote self-healing. By proliferating positive beliefs and designing a fulfilling lifestyle, she says you can create conditions for healing relaxation and whole-body health.

Rankin is a physician, author, and speaker. Using her own chronic illnesses as a catalyst, she expanded her modern, Western healing repertoire to include holistic medicine after researching mindset and lifestyle factors on spontaneous remissions. She now teaches that optimal health involves more than just prescription medicine and physical treatments—it also depends on the quality of our beliefs, our relationships, and our jobs.

In this guide, we examine Rankin’s principles for healing and compare them to similar books like When the Body Says No and The Upside of Stress.