For most of us, making a very deliberate effort to be happy can have the opposite effect. Being hyper aware of getting to a state of contentedness likely exacerbates our own anxiety and unease. But what if we tried taking a negative path to happiness? Could that be the key?
Writer Oliver Burkeman has been thinking a lot about this and writing about the happiness industry in his new book, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking .
He joined Kara Miller in Studio Three to discuss how our innate pessimism might serve us better in the happiness department than any wildly exuberant motivational speech or best-selling self-help book.
GUEST:
Oliver Burkeman , writer, journalist
