#11 Intellectual Wellbeing

We mentioned last that Tal Ben Shahar in his book “Happier” lists five categories, five areas, that contribute to the 40% category, the category that gives us some element of control to impact our happiness. Those five areas again are: Spiritual, physical, intellectual, relational, and emotional well-being. And as I mentioned, at first blush it sounds like the five areas cover the totality of our life – every aspect: just do these 5 all-inclusive areas well, and yes, you’ll be happier. (pause) But what Tal Ben Shahar helps us understand, is that for most of us, we don’t need a total life overhaul and that’s not at all what he intends to convey. Instead, what we’ll learn is that there are realistic, manageable, attainable skills in each of these categories which we can learn and implement, that can truly help us increase our happiness.