What is Happiness Anyway?
 
The first half of The Formula for Happiness will show you that happiness is not merely a matter of what we think, how we perceive, or how we interpret things. Instead, quality of life is ultimately the consequence of the ways things really are and what we actually do.
 
In The Formula you will learn how contentment and satisfaction in living is determined by how we are situated with respect to certain things, people, and events that we encounter in the course of daily living. Because these circumstances of our lives have natural or intrinsic worth, they are referred to as values. Since research reveals that these are the values which actually make a difference in terms of quality of life, they are referred to as core values.
 
The Formula will show you how our happiness is a matter of whether and to what degree we are able to obtain and maintain ten core values. You will see how our overall level of happiness and contentment is a matter of obtaining all or almost all of these ten core values more or less simultaneously. You will discover that together these ten values make up the matrix of core values.
 
A Tool for Measuring Your Happiness
 
In addition to clearly laying out the matrix of core values, The Formula for Happiness contains a scientifically validated means of measuring where you stand with respect to each of the ten core values. The General Inventory of Life Satisfaction (GILS) will enable you to find out where you stand with respect to happiness, contentment and satisfaction in living by showing you how to calculate a General Estimate of Life Satisfaction (GELS) score. This score ranges between zero and 100 and it is highly correlated with subjective well-being.
 
You can get your GELS by clicking on Measure Your level of Happiness, once you have finished reading this page.
 
Self-Defeating Behaviors and Beliefs
 
The second half of The Formula for Happiness will show you what we need to do to become and remain happy.
 
You will learn how the circumstances of our birth and our subsequent behavior determines whether and to what degree we are able to get and keep core values. You will also learn about the role priorities, expectations, attitudes, and thought processes play in our ability to get and keep core values, as well as the degree to which we are able to enjoy and appreciate the core values we already have. You will learn that whether and to what degree we are able to get and keep core values is a matter of our ability to avoid certain patterns of self-defeating behavior. While such behaviors may often appear to enhance the quality of human life, in fact, they frequently result in a threat to, or loss of, one or more of our core values resulting in unhappiness and dissatisfaction with our quality of life The Formula will also describe and illustrate nine self-defeating beliefs. These are ideas about life and how to live which are held by many people these days. You will learn how each of these beliefs tends to motivate people to engage in one or more of the seven self-defeating behaviors.
 
Principles for the Pursuit of Happiness
 
Once you have a clear understanding of self-defeating behaviors and beliefs, The Formula will provide you with a set of four basic guidelines for making choices in daily life. Like the wellness principles developed by experts in physical medicine, these are four simple ideas about how to deal with alternatives in daily living which enable you to get and keep core values. The Formula will show you how regularly acting on these principles enables us to maximize our potential for obtaining and maintaining core values. The book will also reveal how we experience greater levels of optimism, an improved sense of mastery, and enhanced self-esteem when we regularly make use them for making choices in daily living.
 
Once you have learned about the matrix of core values and the principles for the pursuit of happiness, The Formula for Happiness will provide you with two self-administered and self-scoring programs which will enable you to enhance your quality of life. One - a program for personal strategic planning - enables you to identify goals from which you can develop plans of action which are likely to actually enhance your overall happiness, contentment, and emotional well-being. The other - a program for momentous decision making - will provide you with a method for making major decisions such as what to major in at college, which career to pursue, whether to take a particular job, whether to remain in a romantic relationship, whether to get married, whether to have a child, whether to get divorced, and whether and when to retire. These programs are light years ahead of anything available anywhere else in the scientific community and on the self-help bookshelves today.
 
Our Promise to You!
 
If you've found this website through a search on terms such as happiness, quality of life, contentment, or emotional well-being, it is likely that you have some unanswered questions regarding the nature of a happy, fulfilled life. Whether you are currently unhappy, live a humdrum monotonous existence, find yourself on a treadmill of emergencies and disasters, or are perhaps essentially happy but facing a momentous decision, this book will help you manage your life more effectively. You will come to understand the nature of happiness with a new clarity, and discover what you can do to become and remain happy. If you choose to follow The Formula for Happiness, you will have the promise of an enriched and enhanced quality of life.