The Happiness Myth Summary

The Happiness Myth, by Jennifer Hecht discusses the assumptions of happiness that can be seen in both history and today's society, and what it means to be happy. Similarly, many of the beliefs we have today can be traced back to the past. When doing so, drugs, money, bodies, and celebration are four common factors that still continue to this day which are also influenced by societal views. Hect also describes three kinds of happiness: a good day, euphoria, and a good life. In addition to not only how they work together, but how they can also be opposites. As well as how society creates “trances of value”, preventing us from the things that actually make us happy. In her book, Hecht also describes three kinds of happiness, a good day, euphoria, and a happy life. A good day can be filled with many pleasures, while euphoria lasts powerfully in memory and often involves vulnerability. However, a happy life takes hard work and makes time for both a good day or euphoria. In order to achieve this, Hecht teaches that one

In the Eating chapter of The Happiness Myth, Hecht goes into depth of some of these trends and how society affects the way we see our food. People often believe what they are taught and continue to practice them without questioning, and not knowing otherwise. Though, Hecht claims, “What is important to happiness here is both the liberation from the particular obsessions of the culture, and the realization that we like invoking obsessions, we have fun with them, and they make us feel better for a while, until they make us feel worse.” (Hecht 194). Thus, the reason these types fads still exist today is because people like to have things to fester over, and allow us to temporarily feel better about ourselves. Though this solution is only temporary, instead, we should learn from our own experience rather than believe what others tell us to believe is