A New Earth & Positive Psychology

I’ve completed my informal study of positive psychology and other books related to the science and economics of happiness by reading the following books:

• Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
• Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment by Martin E. P. Seligman
• The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt
• The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want by Sonja Lyubomirsky
• The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz

I’m not planning to read any more but as I’ve been thinking about the topic, it has brought me back to thinking about Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, which I’ve written about on several occasions.

It seems to me that the purpose of A New Earth is to increase people’s happiness and thus increase everyone’s general happiness and to all become “awakened” or “enlightened.”

But it also seems to me that positive psychology provides more of a plan to increase happiness, and certainly is much more based in science and facts.

So my advice to people who liked A New Earth: consider reading The How of Happiness (my favorite book so far about positive psychology) or some of the other books I’ve read in the field of positive psychology, particularly if you’re looking for more concrete prescriptions of how to make your life better!

Hay House, Inc.

I just read Mark Oppenheimer’s May 4, 2008 New York Times Magazine article, “The Queen of the New Age,” which was eye-opening for me.

I had never heard of Louise Hay or Hay House, Inc. and am surprised to find that I have read or own books published by Hay House (such as The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: a practical guide to the fulfillment of your dreams by Deepak Chopra and Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires by Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks and Wayne Dyer).

I am very wary of “New Age” books but since my mom reads them I’m generally open to reading them, just with a fairly heavy dose of skepticism. (How appropriate that I am writing this on Mother’s Day.)

Last year, Hay House sold 6.3 million products and took in $100 million (8% of which was profit)! That’s a good chunk of change. New Age books are certainly all the rage — just think of the success of Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret, and anything by Wayne Dyer — and Hay House has the market cornered.

Not only do they make oodles of money on their books, dvds, tapes, cds, and other products but they must make a good amount on their events too. The I Can Do It! 2008 - Las Vegas 2008 conference featuring 35+ of Hay House’s top selling inspirational authors — including Wayne Dyer, David Hawkins, Brian Weiss, and Louise Hay herself — costs about $200 per day to attend (or a bargain rate of $350 for the whole weekend)!

While I can’t see myself paying those fees for a New Age conference, I feel like I would certainly pay those kinds of rates to attend conferences by a panel of historians (like David McCullough) or scientists and science writers (like Norman Doidge and Oliver Sacks) but it doesn’t seem like many other publishers have followed Hay House’s lead.

Mainstream publishers take note!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Over the weekend, I finished A New Earth: awakening to your life’s purpose by Eckhart Tolle and started reading Lisa See critically-acclaimed novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

I’m reading it for a book club and so far I LOVE it. I love historical fiction and love reading books by Asian American authors so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.

I’ve only read the first few chapters and have already found See’s writing to be beautiful and emotionally moving. The theme of female friendship and and See’s detailed description of 19th century China make for a mesmerizing read!

I’d never heard of nu shu (女書, nǚ shū in pīn yīn) — secret writing used by women in China to communicate with their female friends — and am fascinated that this was See’s inspiration for this book. Will have to do some research and see what I can learn about it.