The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

“We help other people because we can, or because it makes us feel good, not because we're counting on some future payback. There is a word for this; love.”

- Eric Weiner

I just finished reading "The Geography of Bliss", written by Eric Weiner few days ago. It was a story where one grump American searched for the happiest place in the world and shared with readers on what they can learn from it.

He traveled from Iceland (one of the world’s happiest countries) to Bhutan (where the king has made Gross National Happiness a national priority) to Moldova (not a happy place). He also traveled to Switzerland, where he discovered the hidden virtues of boredom (I agree with that :D); to the tiny-and extremely wealthy-Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, where the relationship between money and happiness is laid bare; to India, where Westerners seek their bliss at the feet of gurus; to Thailand, where "not thinking" is a way of life; to a small town outside London where happiness experts attempt to “change the psychological climate.”

"Place". That is what "The Geography of Bliss" is about. How place - in every aspect of the word - shapes us, defines us. Change your place, I believe, and you can change your life. (http://www.ericweinerbooks.com/books/the-geography-of-bliss/description/)

Honestly, I am not a book reader. Usually after few pages reading, I would fall asleep. If I can't sleep at night, I will take a book out and read on my bed so that I can fall asleep faster. Hahaha... But I found this book is quite interesting. Perhaps because I've been to some of the countries he mentioned and I would like to know what he wrote about happiness in those countries.

I will not tell you here about the story inside the book. It's better for you to read and find it out yourself :) Let me share with you some of his quotations from the book he wrote.

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“Rule number one: wear loose clothing. No Problem.

Rule number two: no alcohol for the next three days. Slight problem. I'll miss my evening glass of wine but figure I can go for three days without and compensate later.

And the last rule: absolutely no coffee or tea or caffeine of any kind. Big problem. This rule hits me like a sucker punch and sure would have knocked me to the floor had I not been sitting there already. I'm eying the exits, plotting my escape. I knew enlightenment came at a price, but i had no idea the price was this steep. A sense of real panic sets in. How am I going to survive for the next seventy-two hours without a single cup of coffee?”
― Eric Weiner

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“Part of positive psychology is about being positive, but sometimes laughter and clowns are not appropriate. Some people don't want to be happy, and that's okay. They want meaningful lives, and those are not always the same as happy lives.”
― Eric Weiner


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 “Money matters but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important. So are friends. Envy is toxic. So is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude.”
― Eric Weiner 

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“That's why we feel so disoriented, irritated even, when these touchstones from our past are altered. We don't like it when our hometown changes, even in small ways. It's unsettling. The playground! It used to be right here, I swear. Mess with our hometown, and you're messing with our past, with who we are. Nobody likes that.”
― Eric Weiner

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“Some places are like family. They annoy us to no end, especially during the holidays, but we keep coming back for more because we know, deep in our hearts, that our destinies are intertwined.”
― Eric Weiner

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“Money sometimes buys happiness. You have to break it down, though. Money is a means to an end. The problem is when you think it is an end in itself. Happiness is relationships, and people in the west think money is needed for relationships. But it's not. It comes down to trustworthiness." I'd heard the same thing in Switzerland. Trust is a prerequisite for happiness. Trust not only of your government, of institutions, but trust of your neighbors.”
― Eric Weiner

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“I would not have done anything differently. All of the moments in my life, everyone I have met, every trip I have taken, every success I have enjoyed, every blunder I have made, every loss I have endured has been just right. I am not saying that they were all good or that they happened for a reason...but they have been right. They have been okay. As far as revelations go its pretty lame, I know. Okay is not bliss or even happiness. Okay is not the basis for a new religion or self help movement. Okay won't get me on Oprah, but okay is a start and for that I am grateful. Can I thank Bhutan for this breakthrough? It's hard to say […] It is a strange place, peculiar in ways large and small. You lose your bearings here and when that happens a crack forms in your armor. A crack large enough, if you're lucky, to let in a few shafts of light.”
― Eric Weiner