Happiness! (Ignatius Press)

Since May 2015, Fr. Robert Spitzer has released three books for Ignatius Press as part of his "Happiness, Suffering, and Transcendence" series. The books are as follows - Finding True Happiness, The Soul's Upward Yearning, and God So Loved the World. In addition to these books, they have also released a DVD study program that is both approachable and affordable! It is simply called Happiness! and I am going to tell you about it. Happiness! takes up only two DVDs and is divided into seven lessons. The lessons are as follows:

1. The Four Levels of Happiness
2. The Comparison Game
3. The Faith to Reach Transcendence
4. Level 4 Evidence: Near-Death Experiences
5. Level 4 Evidence: The Resurrection
6. Transcendence: Is Unconditional Love Real?
7. Happiness, Love, and Suffering

The two presenters of the video series are Eric Johnson and Jennifer Milani who conduct interviews with guests such as Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, Leah Darrow, and of course Fr. Robert Spitzer. Each video lesson is approximately 30 minutes long and presented in a way that makes the material very easy to learn. However, the companion book is the best part of this program. Each lesson comes with exact timestamps in the DVD that sync up with the page in the study book. There are ample room for notes, and perhaps the most captivating part are all the illustrations. These illustrations are comic in nature, but they really reinforce the main points of the lesson and help it stick in your brain.

This study focuses a lot on Level 4 happiness, because that is the ultimate happiness, but what I really took away from this program was a self-realization of how I view happiness. The four levels in the most basic form are pleasure, comparisons, empathy, and transcendence. I would love to say that I hover between Levels 3 and 4 all the time, but unfortunately, I still find myself in Levels 1 and 2 from time to time. There are times when I am merely worried about what I want/what will make me happy and other times where I find myself envious and making comparisons. Both of these are fleeting and shallow happiness. Pleasure doesn't last forever, and with comparisons, there's always someone better and worse than you. This study opened my eyes to my own shortcomings and helped me realize I need to get beyond Levels 1 and 2, and aim for Level 3 to start off with, but ultimately strive to reach Level 4. It was a very humbling experience.

I highly recommend this study in large part because of the humbling experience. We are all searching for happiness in the world, and a lot of people haven't found it, because they are dwelling on the first two levels. This study will open their eyes to this reality and get them aiming for a higher level, which can only be found in God. This seems like a perfect study for young adults, but anyone could benefit from this study. With its short length (7 lessons) and affordability (under $50), this is a program that every parish should consider investing in.

This program was provided to me for free by Ignatius Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Gospel of Happiness (Image Books)

The Gospel of Happiness is a book that I would normally glance at the title in a bookstore and then pass it over and keep looking at other books. Maybe it's the fact that it sounds too much like the prosperity gospel, or maybe it's that the book is bright yellow. I'm not really sure, but the author of the book Dr. Christopher Kaczor, is someone I have read before and someone I trust as an author, so I decided to give this book a chance. The book's main goal is to show how positive psychology and Christian practice overlap. Chapter One explains Martin Seligman's five elements of happiness - 1. Positive emotion, 2. Engagement, 3, Relationships, 4. Meaning, and 5. Achievement (PERMA). Dr. Kaczor elaborates on each of the five elements and explains how they relate to Christian practice. For example, "The Christian call to engagement is also seen in various personal vocations to different states in life. Through finding and living out a vocation [ . . . ] a person engages in an activity of service to others."

Chapter Two discusses tapping into this great joy which is God by way of faith, hope, and love - the three theological virtues. He explains this further by telling us the following three things. 1. People of faith believe that what they do matters both presently and eternally. 2. Hope is more than a wish that things turn out well, but the belief that despite how awful things are on earth, Heaven is a reality. 3. Love of God is the greatest love, because when we love God we unite our will with his and it opens us up to loving everyone, including our enemies. The remaining chapters in the book cover prayer, gratitude, forgiveness, virtue, and willpower.

This was an interesting book in which Dr. Kaczor does a fine job of showing how Christianity and positive psychology intersect. With that said, a lot of the book felt like preaching to the choir, as most Christians will tell you that the reason for their positive outlook and practices are because of their faith in God and practicing of his teachings. I believe this book would primarily appeal to those interested in the field of psychology and psychiatry. As someone with a BA in psychology, I was appreciative to read about the field of positive psychology, as much of what I encountered in pursuing my undergraduate degree turned me off of the subject entirely. Four stars.

This book was provided to me for free by Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes! To read an interview with Dr. Kaczor, click here!

Remade for Happiness (Ignatius Press)

Today in Fulton Sheen week, I will be reviewing Remade for Happiness. This book was originally published in 1946, but Ignatius Press has recently re-released it for our spiritual edification! There are fourteen chapters in this book. The first seven are questions Sheen asks and answers for us.

1. Are you happy?
2. What is God like?
3. What are you like?
4. How did you get that way?
5. Who can remake you?
6. Is religion purely individual?
7. How can you be remade (if you so choose to be remade)?

As you can see, there is a natural progression with the questions. The first question leads us to the realization that though we experience moments of happiness, we are not truly happy. If we were, then we wouldn't need to continue to look for happiness. The second question introduces to God, the One who can make us happy. We are then juxtaposed with God and it is explained why we are the way we are. Chapter Five brings God back into the picture and explains that we cannot remake ourselves. If we could, we would not need God. Six also strips away the pride of the individual letting us know that we cannot experience salvation alone. We need others to get to Heaven. That is why we have Mother Church. Then, in one of the longer chapters, Chapter Seven walks us through the process of being remade.

The next four chapters in this book walk us through the Four Last Things - Judgment, Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven. He explains that in our judgment, everything will be stripped away and we will be left to be judged by our choices. However, God will not be the one judging us. We will be judging ourselves by the life we lived. There will be no pleading or bargaining, merely the cold reality of truth. After this judgment, he explains so succinctly that there are three possible destinations. "Hell: Pain without Love; Purgatory: Pain with Love; and Heaven: Love without Pain." The final three chapters fittingly deal with faith, hope, and charity (or love).

I was born 3 years after Fulton Sheen's death, so I never had the opportunity to see or listen to him live. That doesn't mean I haven't watched or listened to almost all of his old programs, though. This book is classic Sheen and reads like he is there speaking the words to you. It is practical, straightforward theology without unnecessary words. Part of me is telling me to pass on my copy of this book to someone else, so they may gain from its riches. The other part of me is telling me to keep this book and reread it at least once more. You too might experience this conflict after you read it, so you better buy two!

This book was provided to me for free by Ignatius Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this book helpful, please click here and hit Yes!