The Happiness Trap

How to Stop Struggling and Start Living
by Dr. Russ Harris | Trumpeter © 2008 · 240 pages

ACT. That’s where it’s at. This is our second Note on Russ Harris and his great introduction to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. (Check out the Notes on The Confidence Gap as well.) In this book, Russ walks us through how we get caught in the happiness trap and, more importantly, how to free ourselves. We’ll take a quick look at the myths of happiness, the six principles of ACT, how to deal with emotional quicksand, how NOT to visualize (and what to do instead), and writing down your values (<— science says that’s wise).


So here is the happiness trap in a nutshell: to find happiness, we try to avoid or get rid of bad feelings, but the harder we try, the more bad feelings we create.
Dr. Russ Harris

“This book is based on a growing body of scientific research that suggests we are all caught in a powerful psychological trap. We lead our lives ruled by many unhelpful and inaccurate beliefs about happiness—ideas widely accepted because ‘everyone knows they are true.’ These beliefs seem to make good sense—that’s why you encounter them in nearly every self-help book you ever read. But unfortunately, these misleading ideas create a vicious cycle in which the more we try to find happiness, the more we suffer. And this psychological trap is so well hidden, we don’t even have a clue that we’re caught in it.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that there’s hope. You can learn how to recognize the ‘happiness trap’ and, more importantly, you can learn how to escape. And this book will give you the skills and knowledge to do so. It’s based on a revolutionary new development in human psychology, a powerful model for change known as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT. …

The aim of ACT [pronounced like the word ‘act’] is to help you live a rich, full, and meaningful life while effectively handling the pain that inevitably comes your way. ACT achieves this through the use of six powerful principles, which will enable you to develop a life-enhancing ability known as ‘psychological flexibility.’”

~ Russ Harris from The Happiness Trap

ACT.

← That’s where it’s at.

This is our second Note on Russ Harris and his great introduction to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. (Check out the Notes on The Confidence Gap as well.)

In this book, Russ walks us through how we get caught in the happiness trap and, more importantly, how to free ourselves. (Get a copy of the book here.)

In this Note, we’ll take a quick look at the myths of happiness most of us are influenced by along with the six principles of ACT and a few of my other favorite Big Ideas.

I hope you enjoy and I’m excited to share so let’s jump straight in!

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About the author

Authors

Dr. Russ Harris

Medical Practitioner, Psychotherapist and Executive Coach.