This book explores the theme of happiness and well-being from religious, spiritual, philosophical, psychological, humanistic, and health perspectives. Taking a non-binary approach, it considers how happiness in particular has been understood and appropriated in religious and non-religious strands of thought. The chapters offer incisive insight from a variety of perspectives, including humanism, atheism and major religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism. Together they demonstrate that although worldviews might vary substantially, there are concurrences across religious and non-religious perspectives on happiness that provide a common ground for further cross-cultural and interreligious exploration. What the book makes clear is that happiness is not a static or monolithic category. It is an ongoing process of being and becoming, striving and seeking, living ethically and meaningfully, as well as arriving at a tranquil state of being. This multifaceted volume makes a fresh contribution to the contemporary study of happiness and is valuable reading for scholars and students from religious studies and theology, including those interested in interreligious dialogue and the psychology of religion, as well as positive psychology.

This specially selected collection of landmark work from the Journal of Happiness Studies maps the current contours, and the likely future direction, of research in a field with a fast-rising profile. This volume, which inaugurates a series aiming to explore discrete topics in happiness and wellbeing studies, features selected articles published in the Journal of Happiness Studies during its first decade, which culminated in an ‘impact factor’ in 2011. As the introductory work in the series, it provides readers with a vital overview of the prominent issues, problems and challenges that well-being and happiness research has had to overcome since its appearance on the scientific stage. The journal’s very success evinces both the high scientific quality of the research covered, and the steadily growing interest in a subject that draws responses from a vast range of epistemological aiming points, taking in economics, sociology, psychology, philosophy, education and medicine. The series of volumes following this debut publication will represent a unique contribution to the literature in their multidisciplinary focus on particularized topics. It is reckoned that this will help strengthen cross-disciplinary synergies among authors investigating the same topic, as well as whet the appetite for happiness research among professionals and experts inhabiting a variety of academic domains. This volume addresses the theory of well-being and happiness, the different research approaches now probing their features and components, and the socio-economic and cultural issues that impact on their promotion..

This work explores the phenomenon of happiness from a variety of angles. The papers discuss the nature and conditions of happiness, methodological questions, policies and discourses, and the significance of specific factors, like landscapes or educational environments, for happiness.

Different cultures experience happiness differently. Traditionally, the West is considered materialistic, and happiness is said to come from achievement and acquisition. The East is said to be more people-oriented, where happiness is a result of deep personal interactions. Thus, poor people can be happier in the East than the West, because they are not so concerned with possession and more with society. This book considers happiness and quality of life in non-Western countries and cultures. Its coverage is diverse and spans the breadth of the non-Western world, revealing unique perspectives of happiness and life quality embedded in rich cultural traditions and histories.

Anthropology has long shied away from examining how human beings may lead happy and fulfilling lives. This book, however, shows that the ethnographic examination of well-being--defined as "the optimal state for an individual, a community, and a society"--and the comparison of well-being within and across societies is a new and important area for anthropological inquiry. Distinctly different in different places, but also reflecting our common humanity, well-being is intimately linked to the idea of happiness and its pursuits. Noted anthropological researchers have come together in this volume to examine well-being in a range of diverse ways and to investigate it in a range of settings: from the Peruvian Amazon, the Australian outback, and the Canadian north, to India, China, Indonesia, Japan, and the United States. Gordon Mathews is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has written What Makes Life Worth Living? How Japanese and Americans Make Sense of Their Worlds (1996) and Global Culture /Individual Identity: Searching for Home in the Cultural Supermarket (2000), and co-written Hong Kong, China: Learning to Belong to a Nation (2007); he has co-edited Consuming Hong Kong (2001) and Japan's Changing Generations (2004). Carolina Izquierdo is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for the Everyday Lives of Families (CELF) at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research has centered on health and well-being among the Matsigenka in the Peruvian Amazon, the Mapuche in Chile, and middle-class families in the United States.

This original collection draws on the latest empirical research to explore the practical challenges facing happiness researchers today. By uniquely combining the critical approach of sociology with techniques from other disciplines, the contributors illuminate new qualitative and biographical approaches of the study of happiness and well-being.

This book helps quench the quest of knowledge of academicians, researchers, and others interested in developing a complete and critical understanding of consumer happiness. The relentless search of happiness by humans is sought in different ways. Scientific discussion on happiness for long was considered a forte of Philosophers. Other disciplines seldom delved into this. But today not only science but neuroscience, marketing, and other varied fields have started delving into it and have developed a keen interest. The book has been conceptualized on this line of thinking and thus divided into two parts. The first part is customized towards understanding various perspectives of happiness and the relative importance of knowing the same. The first chapter of this section is on the biological perspective of happiness. The second is titled ‘Behavioural perspective’. The third chapter is an attempt to elucidate the cultural perspective of the concept of happiness. The fourth is on the role of technology in inducing happiness. Fifth and sixth are on theories of happiness and measuring happiness, respectively. Knowledge about the different perspective and theories has a wide range of benefits. It informs us about how the brain works, interprets, and reacts. This theoretical understanding helps us to move beyond the trial and error methods towards a more scientific underpinning of adoption of measures that would generate long-lasting happiness in consumers. The second part of the book is dedicated toward understanding consumer happiness from a neuroscience perspective, i.e. keeping consumer happy. This segment has ten chapters. The first is on differentiating the concept of happiness from satisfaction. The second is on sensory marketing and happiness. The third deals with the store design and shelving of products to generate happiness. Fourth and fifth chapters relate to persuading the consumers. While the fourth chapter is on developing persuasive messages and the fifth is on subliminal messaging sixth chapter is on pricing and seventh on advertising. The eighth chapter highlights the role of emotions and the ninth is on the different factors that induce happiness in consumers. The last chapter is about raising some unanswered questions and food for thought for readers. Together the contents of the book make for a complete understanding of the concept of happiness and how it is shaping the world of marketing. Addressing the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of consumer happiness in the same book makes the book comprehensive.

Examining the fundamental thinking underpinning the foundation for economic studies of happiness, this book explores the theories of key economists and philosophers from the Greek philosophers to more modern schools of thought. Lall Ramrattan and Michael Szenberg explore the general measures of happiness, utility as a method, metrical measures of happiness, happiness in literature and the scope of happiness in this concise book.

How happy are you? This naive question proved to be so powerful as to shake up social sciences and attract the attention of media and policy makers around the globe. Everybody wants to be happy. Thanks to the recent progress in measuring subjective well-being, social sciences have asserted that people's own evaluation about their well-being must be taken seriously. The opportunity of measuring happiness in a consistent and reliable way provides new impulse to a joint effort from a variety of disciplines to improve people's quality of life and potentially change the way modern societies are organised. This book provides a reference tool to understand current developments. It provides an overview of the evolving body of happiness research and draws some of its future trajectories. This book collects the contributions of scientists from psychology, sociology, economics, political science and other scientific domains sharing the quest for improving people's quality of life. Building on this expertise, the book provides a compass to orient the reader in a burgeoning literature to document, inform and suggest ideas for future research.

ÿAre you longing for greater happiness, but you feel like it's just not possible?ÿHave you heard that happiness is just a state of mind, but you don't know how to attain that state? Diane Wing, a teacher, personal transformation guide, and intuitive consultant, has unlocked the secrets that make happiness possible. This book is packed with methods to help you transform your thought processes, patterns, habits, and behaviors so you can experience greater happiness, peace of mind, and abundance. Discover in these pages the art of seeing life differently through such processes as: Turning regular household chores into meditation activitiesReducing the noise in your environment so you can focus betterKnowing who you truly are rather than trying to be everything to everyone elseSaying no in effective ways that don't make you feel guiltyLearning to do less and appreciate moreCleansing your thoughts to remove negativity and ground yourselfYour personal evolution into greater happiness awaits you! Don't wait any longer. "The Happiness Perspectiveÿis a superb account of positive choices, exercises, and plenty of questions to ponder. I will be using it soon with my women's groups."ÿ --Barbara Sinor, PhD, author,ÿFinding Destiny "Profoundly transformative, The Happiness Perspective is a brilliant, comprehensive blueprint for self-awareness, inner peace, and the attainment of ultimate happiness." --Dyan Garris, author, visionary mystic, and New Age recording artist "The Happiness Perspective is filled with tips and techniques that work to change your worldview and bring calmness into your life. I know because I've tried many of these techniques myself, learning how to do less and enjoy life more." -- Tyler R. Tichelaar, PhD. and award-winning author ofÿThe Children of Arthurÿseries Learn more at www.DianeWing.com