The Art of Happiness

A curious book, because it mingles some scientific approaches with Buddhism philosophy. It was actually my first contact with a book related to Buddhism. My main reason to pick up this book is that it brings some findings on the effects of meditation in our brains.

I think that the parts about meditation and inner peace were useful and enlightening. I was amazed at how the practice of meditation could result and significant changes on the brains of monks that meditate for long periods daily.

The main focus of the book is happiness, tho. And the author discusses many topics that usually can be related to our happiness: power, pleasure, wealth, etc. And the causes to our suffering: selfishness, ignorance, afflictive emotions, etc.

What I've learned from this book is that happiness is a skill, it must be learned and it resides in ourselves.

Is was a very positive reading, and lead me to think about how violent and pernicious our society can be by our state of mind. It is a book that encourages love, peace and altruism.

Towards the end of the book I felt it was becoming a little repetitive and the Buddhist content increased significantly.