BOOK SUMMARY

THE ANTIDOTE: HAPPINESS FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN'T STAND POSITIVE THINKING

Author: Oliver Burkeman
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
Date of Release: 3 January 2013

Mr Burkeman believes that our search for happiness has not been successful because we may be going about it the wrong way.  He thinks that positive thinking and optimism are actually counterproductive.  He recommends the opposite - the 'negative way' of embracing uncertainty, insecurity, pessimism and failure - as the road to contentment and satisfaction.

His antidote consists of the following assertions:

1. Trying too hard to achieve happiness is, in fact, the problem because it often results in unhappiness.

2. Stoic philosophy teaches us that it is irrational to be upset by things over which we have no control. If we seek to control only things we could control, namely, our beliefs, our judgments about the world and our own actions, even the worst-case scenario would not seem to be so bad.

3. Adopting the Buddhist teaching of detachment by approaching life with neither clinging nor aversion can bring contentment.

4. Don't be goal-crazy, but embrace uncertainty and be open to the world by bravely taking action using whatever means you now have at hand.

5. We should focus on the present and not dwell too much on ourselves.

6. We shouldn't expect fixity in a world of change, permanence in a transitory existence nor security in an uncertain universe.  We should appreciate that the true meaning of life is in the very process of life itself.

7.  The ubiquity of failure compels us to embrace it freely and honestly.  This will liberate us from our fear-driven desire for perfection. If we have a growth mindset, we will not see failure as evidence of inadequate innate ability but as a sign that one's current limits have merely been reached temporarily.  We are perfectly able to grow and overcome those limits later.

8. Living with the thought of life's finitude makes one live it more meaningfully. Death is the ultimate worst-case scenario, so everything else pales in comparison.

9. We should develop our negative capability of 'not-doing' and constantly accept that the nature of life is ultimately a mystery.