Intro
2023 has barely started. It’s a new page we want to fill in with dreams, aspirations, and bold goals. I write these before New Year’s Eve (isn’t it the most magical time for this?) for about three years in a row. And, every year, I try to come up with one word to describe its main “theme.” This one is pretty obvious — HAPPINESS.
I’m very happy (here we are, the word already comes at its full play out!) to have finished reading “That Little Voice in Your Head” by Mo Gawdat. This book means a lot to me, and I’ll tell you why in just a bit.
Meanwhile, let me just share when I first got acquainted with Mo’s philosophy — it all started with the book named “Solve for Happy.” I started taking this book to the park and reading it there — it was the dark time of the COVID-19 pandemic — the loneliest I’ve ever felt in my entire life. This book has taught me how to use the Happiness equation as taught by Mo:
“Solve for Happy” Mo Gawdat
This became my mental survival formula. This is very simple and so deep at the same time. Events happen all the time in our lives, and all of them are pretty neutral. It’s the way we think about it that matters (hello, positive or negative vibes).
Happiness is a choice and our responsibility. So, I’ve chosen to be happy to the extent that I could have at least some influence on, the rest — trying to let it go with the flow in its positive sense.
The Book
"That Little Voice in your Head: Adjust the Code that Runs your Brain"
was released in 2022. I bought its Kindle version right away, and it automatically was categorized into the ‘I-want-to-read-it-slowly-and-process-every-bit’ brain shelf. I want to say right away that I admire the engineering approach to structuring the information (in both books, by the way).
This book is a practical manual with lots of exercises and visuals teaching how you can reprogram your brain and reinstall its old software. Mo reveals how this can be done in a very precise flowchart, which is presented at the very beginning of the book.
In a nutshell, the book comprises three parts:
- The Neural Causes of Suffering
- The Side Effects of Thought
- The Neural Path to a Happier Life
Let’s take a look at my key takeaways from each chapter that I believe will help you on your happiness journey and, perhaps, encourage you to explore this amazing book by yourself. Let’s dive in.
The Neural Causes of Suffering: 4–3–2–1
“That Little Voice in Your Head”
Those are the reasons we are so unhappy. I will not dive deep into each category, the way Mo explains everything is so structured and understandable, that you’d get back over and over to those, I promise.
I particularly liked the section about the hypernormalization of reality. There’s so much violence, fear, horror, and fake news streamed all across media channels, that we are so used to them that we consider them to be ‘normal.’ We still can choose to opt out of these lies and surround our environment with little sparks of positivity, as Mo says:
“Invest in your happiness, not in the lies of the modern world.”
The Side Effects of Thought
The biggest discovery from this part of the book for me was this:
“Our thoughts trigger our emotions.”
Although it might seem otherwise, Mo proves that emotions are triggered by a particular thought in your head. For sure, we might experience a whole bundle of emotions at the same time, and it might be hard to name those at first. But at the very core of it, it’s the specific thought that triggered that emotional storm. Emotions, though, are vital (all of them), and it’s important to be able to identify those and run the so-called sanity check. Remember:
“We only feel when we’re alive and we’re only alive when we feel.”
The Neural Path to a Happier Life
From this part of the book, I’ve armored myself with the tool called the happiness flowchart. See it below.
This flowchart helps identify areas we have or do not have our influence on. You go through a set of questions to identify your emotions, and thoughts that trigger them, and then a checklist of action items you can follow to do something about it (if nothing is within your range of power, then, simply let go).
To buy the book: Amazon
I could not recommend this powerful book to you enough. I am pretty sure, this is, in my humble opinion, the best guide on happiness and retraining your brain. Share your thoughts in the comments below on your takeaway, and what does it mean to be happy for you?”