Foreword by S. Y. Siddiqui

Preface

Acknowledgements

Needle in a Haystack

Defining Well-being

The Stoics

The Psychoanalysts

The Philosopher: Bertrand Russell

The Physician’s Perspective

The Positive Psychologists

Mind–Body Connection

Policy and Institutions

My Stress Profile

Outer Realm

Inner Realm

Well-being Enablers

Understanding Our Sources of Stress

The Outer Theatre Factors

Family Dynamics

Parenting

Relationship Stress

Lack of Financial Predictability

The Deadly Commute

24/7 Work

Deadlines

Dealing with a Surfeit of Information

Health

Difficult Boss, Office Politics and Competition

Connecting Outer and Inner Realms

How Do I Know That I Am Stressed?

Well-being Beyond External Circumstances

Anxiety about the Future

Exercises for Overcoming Anxiety

Grief about the Past

Exercises to Overcome Grief of the Past

Discomfort with Present Circumstance

Effectively Dealing with Present-moment Stressors

Do I Know Myself Well Enough?

Universal Distortions

Anchoring or Priming

Overcoming Anchoring or Priming

Base Rate Neglect

Overcoming Base Rate Neglect

Loss Aversion

Overcoming Loss Aversion

Some Combination Distortions: The Choice Architecture

Overcoming Choice Architecture

Mental Accounting

‘Focusing’ and ‘End of History Illusion’

Personal Distortions

Freudian School

Transactional Analysis

Rituals, Pasttimes, Games and Scripts

My Working Self: A Personalized Analysis

Why and How We Transact

How Do We Break Free?

Games We Play

A Journal of Mistakes, Forgetfulness and Errors

Well-being Through Dream Analysis

Why We Sleep?

Why We Dream?

Retrieving and Recording Your Dreams

Carrying Out Dream Analysis

Dreams Are Wish Fulfillments

My Body as a Well-being Compass

Body Language

Bio-chemical Markers of Well-being

Blue Zones and Longevity
Moderate, Regular Physical Activity
Life Purpose
Stress Reduction
Diet
Pro-social Focus

More Biological Markers
Cultivating Pro-social Behaviours
Compassion-Temple Exercise
Collective Prayer
Gratitude
Mental Subtraction and Savouring

Meditation: Why, When and How It Works?

Types of Meditation

Vipassana
Why Does It Lead to Well-being?

Zen Meditation

Transcendental Meditation

Vichara: Inquiry into Identity

Can Hobbies Be Meditation?

The Common Thread

The Route and Milestones to Well-being

How We Came Here?

Can We Measure Our Progress?
What Next?

Evolving the Well-being Protocol

Bibliography

A handful of stressors and internal psychodynamics derail the happiness of normal people like you and me. Fortunately, rigorous science and psychology can be applied to this problem.

Happiness at Work: Mindfulness, Analysis and Well-being tells you what to apply, how to apply and why it works. It is utterly simplistic to wish away external stressors. However, are you taking the best decisions about them? Everyone gets some of their decisions wrong, aver the behavioral economists, as universal distortions are always at work. We can deploy some decision-making paradigms to minimize these distortions. We are beset with individual distortions too, as we are wired with certain tendencies and default modes. As soon as you understand the source and dynamics of these individual distortions, you would begin to heal. Your everyday errors, interpersonal interactions, nighttime dreams and body language, all give useful clues to this wiring. On top of this insight, you can build a fine temperament of mindfulness about your body, mind and interactions as well as your entire life. This would lead to peak emotional and mental wellness. Even as professionals leading busy lives, you would see the signs of progress yourself, in weeks and months. This is what ‘happiness at work’ is all about.