Why Be Happy?: The Japanese Way of Acceptance, Hardcover

In the tradition of popular books that introduced the concepts of hygge, ikigai, and wabi sabi a beautiful, practical guide to ukeireru, the Japanese principle of acceptance, which offers a path to well-being and satisfaction for the anxious and exhausted.
Looking for greater peace and satisfaction? Look no further than the Japanese concept of ukeireru, or acceptance. Psychologist Scott Haas offers an elegant, practical look at ways we can reduce anxiety and stress and increase overall well-being. By learning and practicing ukeireru, you can:

• Profoundly improve your relationships, with a greater focus on listening, finding commonalities, and intuiting
• Find calm in ritualizing things such as making coffee, drinking tea, and even having a cocktail
• Embrace the importance of baths and naps
• Show respect for self and others, which has a remarkably calming effect on everyone
• Learn to listen more than talk
• Kon Mari your life by downsizing experiences and relationships that offer more stress than solace
• Cultivate practical ways of dealing with anger, fear, and arguments -- the daily tensions that take up so much of our lives

By practicing acceptance, we learn to pause, take in the situation, and then deciding on a course of action that reframes things. Why Be Happy? Discover a place of contentment and peace in this harried world.

About the Author

Scott Haas is a writer and clinical psychologist and the author of four books. The winner of a James Beard award for his on-air broadcasts on NPR's Here and Now, he holds a Ph.D. from the University of Detroit and he did his doctoral internship at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital. He works in Japan three to four times each year. He is based in Cambridge, MA.