Robert Mack - Happiness from the Inside Out: The Art and Science of Fulfillment

Happiness from the Inside Out reads like a conversation with a cherished friend a friend who gets you, levels with you, and supports you, while sharing of himself in generous, brave, and authentic ways. Wrap Rob Macks heartfelt wisdom around you, and youll have every insight you need to create true and lasting happiness.

Copyright 2009 by Robert Mack

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Text design by Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mack, Robert.
Happiness from the inside out : the art and science of fulfillment /
Robert Mack ; foreword by Vanessa Williams.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-57731-658-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Happiness. 2. Self-actualization (Psychology) I. Title.
BF575.H27.M33 2009
150.1988dc22

2009003180

First printing, April 2009
ISBN 978-1-57731-658-9
Printed in Canada on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper

New World Library is a proud member of the Green Press Initiative.

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I first met Rob Mack on the set of the short-lived series South Beach, which aired on what became the CW. In the pilot, Rob played a boy toy for my character. In one scene, his character had to rough up my character in a nightclub. He completed his mission during that one day of shooting, and I didnt see him again for five months. Then one afternoon, I was having lunch with my daughter on Lincoln Road in Miami, when Rob stopped by our table and reminded me of our encounter on-screen. I recognized him immediately. How could I forget that radiant smile?

Over the next few months while I was shooting in Florida, Rob and I got together often for long discussions about life, love, and personal choice. I was thoroughly convinced that this bright, eager mind had a message to spread. Rob is an honest, open man of color, brought up in a world of differences, looking to make sense of it all. And, we hope, to give solutions to others with hearts and ears open to solve their problems.

At the time, Rob was consumed with a quest to understand happiness. We often spoke of how everyone strives for happiness but all too often have no idea what real happiness looks like or feels like, so to speak. In fact, I told Rob a few stories about my own discoveries of what did and didnt bring happiness.

When I told Rob these stories, we agreed that many people have had similar experiences. You may have had them yourself, experiences that were outrun by ballooning expectations of how an event or person or job would forever change you and make you eternally happy. Yet later you realize that youre no better off than before, the dog still needs to be walked, and the laundry still needs to be done. So then you set a new goal, but that one doesnt make you permanently happy either; that happiness, too, is short-lived.

You may assume, like many of us assume, that happiness is success professional success, romantic success, financial success, physical success, or even spiritual success. Or you may think that success in any or all of those forms will bring happiness. But does success really cause happiness? Over the course of my life, Ive had many thoughts about this: Maybe, Ive often pondered, success isnt happiness. Maybe getting what you want isnt happiness either. Maybe happiness is something more, or something else.

When I talked with Rob about these thoughts, I realized that he had asked many of the same questions, and he had gone on to ask even more. In fact, Robs approach to life, like his coaching practice, is always in the form of a question. If happiness is ultimately what we all strive for, then why dont we each spend more time learning about what happiness really is, how to get it, and where to find it? Why do we spend more time thinking about, talking about, and making decisions about where to eat, what car to drive, what career to pursue, where to live, what clothes to wear, who to date and marry, and, whats worse, what other people are eating, driving, pursuing, wearing, and doing? Why do we spend more time discussing whats going wrong in our lives than we do discussing whats going right in our lives?

Rob was so intrigued by these questions that he obtained a masters degree in positive psychology in an effort to quench his thirst for answers to these age-old questions. His coaching practice, too, is aimed squarely at helping others answer these questions, or questions like them, for themselves. This book allows Rob to help you by guiding you to find your own answers, just as he found his own answers. Welcome Robs writing into your mind and heart, sit with this book and allow him to share his insights about how you might create a happier, healthier, and wealthier life from the inside out.

As you read this inspiring book, allow yourself to be shown the tools that can help you achieve awareness and confidence in the outside world. Realize that happiness is ultimately your own responsibility, but let an expert Rob Mack show you a few shortcuts. I know that if you listen closely to what he has to say and apply his principles to your life every day, you will achieve unprecedented success and unfathomable happiness in your life. Its a lot easier than you think. But you have to keep an open mind and an open heart. You have to practice patience and perseverance.

Robs insights and practical advice will not disappoint you. Now if only they could bottle that radiant smile of his!

Vanessa Williams, actress and singer

We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.

ANNE FRANK

W hat would make you live happily ever after?

When I ask people this question, most of them answer it by listing things they want. They basically tell me that for them, happiness will come when they get these things. This line of thinking seems logical enough, but is it true? If it is true, the majority of people living in the United States, Canada, Europe, and large parts of Asia should be euphoric.