Andy Cope - The Happiness Revolution: A Manifesto for Living Your Best Life

DR ANDY COPE & PROF PAUL MCGEE

Illustrations by Fiona Osborne

This edition first published 2021

2021 by Paul McGee and Andy Cope

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 9780857088888 (paperback) ISBN 9780857088925 (ePDF)

ISBN 9780857088949 (epub)

Cover Design and Images: Fiona Osborne

[rev-o-lu-tion]

1. Activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation
2. A fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualising something: a change of paradigm
3. The overthrow or repudiation of a regime or political system by the governed

It's almost as if civilisation has become less civil.

In this section of the book we look at why happiness has become harder to come by. You'll get a personal invite to the revolution, learn a fabulous Latin phrase, chat to some runner beans and meet some unhappy bunnies.

There's some academic dirty talk and we invite you to choose between two made up diseases: gray brittle death or Hawaiian cat flu.

We also introduce change-quakes, and balance out some silly stuff (we take a trip to 2007 in a DeLorean) with serious material (cognitive load theory and the fundamental organising principle of the brain).

All in all, Part 1 goes some way to introducing you to the notion that change in the external world has not been matched by change between your ears. Plot spoiler - basically, the world has outpaced us and we're struggling to keep up.

The first section is concluded with a quick overview of Andy's research. Again, a deliberate light touch to 12 years of hard graft because we figure that you just need the basics, followed by some how-tos.

But first, we're going to ask you to do less and stop trying.

Buckle up. It's gonna get bumpy.

We hear a lot about the far leftand the far right, but neverthe far middle.

The problem with most revolutions is that they can get messy. They're associated with rabble rousing, bloodletting, overthrows and mass demonstrations. People can lose their heads.

This isn't that.

Welcome to our alternative revolution.

THE HAPPINESS REVOLUTION is centred on the most sought after thing on the planet. We had to put thing in inverted commas because, technically, happiness isn't a thing. It's not got a shape, form or mass. Happiness is an emotion. A feeling. It's something we want more of for ourselves and if we asked you what you want for your children and grandchildren and you could only have ONE thing that'd be happiness too. Like us, you're not too bothered about what jobs they end up doing or who they end up marrying (or not), so long as your offspring are happy.

Happiness, so sought after, so in demand. Yet so scarce and fleeting.

We need to come clean at the outset. There are no guarantees. There is no single happiness silver bullet. But we promise you that there are ways and means of improving your chances of having more good days and fewer stinkers.

Rather than waiting (and waiting and waiting and waiting) for evolution to equip us with the necessary skills to thrive, we're inviting you to join a revolution. Don't fret Paul and myself have no goons or henchmen and we're absolutely NOT asking you to grab a pitchfork and march to Parliament. To avoid any misunderstanding, we're calling it a quiet revolution. An uprising of wellbeing and a raising of the bar from mental health to mental wealth because, bottom line, there's a world shortage of happiness right now. In fact, there's a glut of the total opposite, hence our call to action to every person on the planet.

We're pitching in at whatever's the opposite of doomsday and herein lies the nub of the problem. I've just Googled doomsday and there is no opposite. The dictionary gives me 26 disaster synonyms (meltdown, apocalypse, bloodbath, catastrophe and suchlike) but no equivalent good day. It seems the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse can ride into town unopposed. And that's pretty much what's happened. Negativity has had the upper hand for way too long. We're well versed in phobias and disorders. We have entire systems in place to catch the anxious and unwell. Psychologists have spent 150 years perfecting pills, potions and therapies and yet mental ill health has got staggeringly worse.

Thousands of people are living lives of screaming desperation where they work long hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't like.

[Nigel Marsh]

We understand that when you buy a personal development book, you want some answers. Give me some strategies, ideas and techniques. I need to learn how to wrestle back some control of my life. I want to regain my sanity, clarity and wellbeing. I want to learn how to feel amazing in a world that seems hell bent on knocking me sideways.