BOOK REVIEWS

Stumbling on Happiness – Daniel Gilbert

Book review

A fascinating read that led to my ADHD self-diagnosis

This book will always hold an important place in my heart, not only is it a fascinating and mentally stimulating journey into how we confuse ourselves about happiness but it was a key step for me in diagnosing my ADHD. Whilst reading about our frontal lobes purpose in plan our future, I started to realise how little of this applied to me. I seldom dwell upon the future, not next year, not next month, not even tomorrow. So I was just hoping happiness would find me, without giving it a moments thought!

In his book, Gilbert brings a great sense of humour and a wealth of experience of research into what makes us happy. He argues that we each have different views of what comprises happiness and that projecting it on others is an error. The development of our frontal cortex, which began two million years ago, gave us the power to imagine and to create a mental image of the future. Humans (me excepted!) have an ability no other creature possesses, to consider options, imagine scenarios, consider paths to follow.

The problem is we are able to consider what will make us happy but have minimal skills for choosing reliably. Attempts to forecast what will bring us happiness usually prove inaccurate, as the brain is often busy with sensory inputs and our body functions resulting in our concious making positive estmates and judgements based on poor or insufficient information. Gilbert suggests the best approach is to find people who had similar choices and circumstances in the past see what impact on their happiness their choices made. So in fact its best not to use our frontal lobes to plan happiness at all, thank goodness for that!

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ADHD Coach, Andrew Lewis

Andrew Lewis

Andrew Lewis is an ADHD Coach, writer and founder of SimplyWellbeing. He has over ten thousand hours and fifteen years of experience in coaching ADHD executives, business professionals and creatives. His expertise with ADHD is personal, with decades of his own experience, bringing up an ADHD child, running a large support group and in coaching clients often for years He has published his writing via this website and has ADHD online courses in development. His business expertise comes from a twenty years career in software, from programming, through marketing, sales and running a few start-ups.

Further reading

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Sympathetic and helpful advice for adults with ADHD, from manager of ADHD clinic, with ADHD himself
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Hallowell's (author of Driven to Distraction) very effective and warm guide to parenting ADHD
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Brilliant comprehensive guide to adult ADHD
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Hartmann’s theories are both empowering and healing to the self-image of people with ADHD
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As you can expect from Barkley, a scientifically precise exploration of ADHD yet somehow detached from the reality of ADHD?
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Low self esteem comes as part of the package with ADHD, this book has excellent advice in building self esteem
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