The best books on Happiness Through Negative Thinking recommended by Oliver Burkeman

Your book, The Antidote, is subtitled “Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking”. Why do you think our pursuit of happiness through positivity can lead to so much trouble?

Sometimes it is the very pursuit of happiness that stops us from achieving it. Put simply, I think many of the techniques that claim to enable us to achieve happiness don’t work. They are too focused on strenuously stamping out any trace of negativity, rather than cultivating the conditions of real happiness. The more complex and subtler idea is that happiness is impossible to aim for directly. I’m not just talking about all the bad self-help books out there – I think the “cult of optimism” is broader than that. We are all to some extent in its grip, whenever we think that the way to achieve whatever we’re trying to achieve is to go after it vigorously, and that if we believe it will all work out fine then it will... (continues)

Prologue

"I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be “happy.” I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have it make some difference that you lived at all. -Leo Rosten, writer (1908–1997)"

"Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference" by Rutger Bregman: https://a.co/izQK4KP

Enough

Humans carry millions of years of evolutionary pressure to acquire more resources and higher social status. But it's our relationships that really make our lives fulfilling today.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/common-sense-science/202506/why-more-is-never-enough

tiny invisible games

"I suppose if there were something valuable that I could leave you with, it would be to say that you can play tiny invisible games inside of your plainest tasks." The comedian and writer Jenny Slate offers some words of wisdom to new graduates.
http://nyer.cm/ak7dQRa

Connect

"The happiest people aren't necessarily those who have figured out their grand purpose in life. They are the ones who have found meaningful ways to connect with others through activities that bring them joy." Here's why. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-regret-free-life/202503/the-purpose-happiness-connection

Movement, the best drug

Move your body, grow your brain: the science of hippocampal neurogenesis 

"We know that as little as 10 minutes of walking can improve your mood, getting that bubble bath with the dopamine, serotonin, endorphins going. Anybody can do that."

https://bigthink.com/people/wendy-suzuki/

Phil.Oliver@mtsu.edu

👣Solvitur ambulando

💭Sapere aude

$ or meaning?

"…There's this study called the American Freshman Survey, it's been done since the late 1960s. At that time, when students were asked about their most important life goals, about 80 to 90 percent said that developing a meaningful philosophy of life was most important. Today that's 50 percent. In the '60s, 50 percent said making as much money as possible was a really important goal. Today, that's 80 to 90 percent. The numbers have reversed. For me, that shows that this is not human nature. It is culture. It can change..."

Rutger Bregman Wants to Save Elites From Their Wasted Lives

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/magazine/rutger-bregman-interview.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

3 Ways to Find Peace in an Anxious World

"…The single best thing you can do outside of social connection is get outdoors," he said, adding that research shows: "Clouds and sky and light and the sound of water and the smell of spring get into your nervous system and calm it all down… I really believe that people should do what works for them," Mr. Harris said…

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/well/mind/joy-anxiety-sara-bareilles.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Siblings

"Happiness and the absurd are two sons of the same earth. They are inseparable."
— Albert Camus

Stoic figs

Want to live a happy, in the sense of meaningful and purposeful life? Here's one place to begin.

Massimo Pigliucci

https://substack.com/@figsinwintertime/note/c-118630315?r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action