Happiness Simplified uncomplicates the complicated.

I’ll never forget that day. I was 27 years old, well-groomed, and had a haircut to die for. But at the same time, my forehead was sweating, my hands were shaking, and my body was restless. I was advancing, step by step, in the immigration line at Berlín-Tegel airport to finally enter Germany. I was trying to appear normal, but that likely only made me look more suspicious. In my head, I kept projecting the idea of ending up in prison. I didn't carry any drugs on me, but I had escaped from another country. And I was f--ked.

Throughout the entire history of humanity, in both Eastern and Western literature, we can find an incredible diversity regarding the definition of happiness. This is a subject that is widely discussed with several definitions, yet it is a topic that is quite disconcerting.

According to a survey conducted by psychiatrist Robert Waldinger on what were the most important goals in the lives of today's young people, 80 percent of those surveyed said that "being a millionaire" was one of their most important goals. And not only that, half of them desired to be famous, as well. So, we work hard to achieve these goals, but are they really the most important things in life for happiness?

For many, the most logical formula to happiness is to have more pleasure and avoid pain, and today, we live in a generation that wants instant gratification. If we want to watch a movie, we look at Netflix or HBO. If we want to buy something, we get same-day delivery on Amazon. We want a date? Well, we have Tinder. We don't even have that uncertainty of not knowing what's going to happen, we just swipe right.

Although these comforts in life have become better by any standard, why is it that more people feel hopeless, depressed, and lonely? Suicide rates have increased globally, and there is a great emptiness swallowing people whole. And we don’t need to be clinically depressed to feel it. Many people, sooner or later, ask themselves: Is this all there is to life? I believe that not knowing what “happiness” really means is the very thing that generates so much confusion and suffering in our daily life. And the first step to understanding happiness is why we can so often be unhappy in the first place.

Our brains were not designed to make us happy; they were meant for us to survive. Rather than seeking pleasure and greater comfort, we should accept our failures and fears, and stop avoiding our problems in order to confront our most painful truths. In that way, we can find greater honesty, responsibility, courage, and satisfaction in our lives, which in turn will give us more happiness. In this audiobook, using events from my own life, I don't give a quick solution, but I do explain the primary factors that determine happiness and how you can find it in a surprisingly simple way.