Through my literature review, I have come to the conclusion that we know pretty much everything we need to know about happiness. We understand the theory and we know the practice of happiness. Yet, many people are not happy. Why? I found the clue in Nierenberg (1996) "Do it right the first time". He argues - and I agree - that most children have been raised in an environment of "blame and shame" (p.19). This is a recipe for what is known as "learned helplessness" (or to use a new expression, learned unhappiness).
The good thing is that we know how to help people who feel helpless...That is the exciting part and that is the breakthrough that I mentioned on the 12th October 2012.
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