Author of Happy Now?: The Science of Satisfaction

Millions of people die each year due to illness caused or exacerbated by stress, anger, pessimism or depression. Everyone wants to be happy, and most know that the way to do this is to rid themselves of these negative emotions. Unfortunately, what people fail to realize is that you cannot do this merely by telling yourself to think differently. You have to change the way you think, yes, but you also have to change your behavior, your expressions, your language, your balance of neurotransmitters and your neurological associations.

My book is the culmination of a decade of research into positive, cognitive, biological, behaviorist, industrial-organizational, developmental and social psychology and neurology with a focus on empirically proven and tested ways to achieve long-term satisfaction. This is not a new-age book about achieving happiness, nor does it simply describe one approach using one discipline. It is an easy-to-read and easy-to-follow step-by-step guide to everything that scientists have found works. It will even teach you how to change your biological and neurological make-up in order to change your habits and increase your satisfaction, intelligence, creativity, and productivity.

I have spent the past decade taking a positive psychological approach to all disciplines of science in order to find out what makes some people happy and well-adjusted. I have looked at organizational-industrial psychology in order to determine how people become satisfied with their work, thus making them more productive. I have looked at cognitive psychology to determine how happy people think when compared to the unhappy. I have used behaviorist methods to see how happiness or depression can be ‘learned’ or ‘trained’ and social psychology to see how other people affect one’s happiness. I have ventured into neurology, a subject central to my postgraduate degree, to find out how one can change the synaptic connections between our neurons that create our sense of self and personality, and I have studied biological psychology in order to learn exactly which neurotransmitters effect our happiness and well-being and how to manipulate them with the use of specific foods and activities. Because I am a journalist and writer, as well as a scientist, I have compiled my findings in a digestible and easy-to-understand manual for others. Aside from my research during and after my formal studies, I also have a BA in Journalism, a BA in Sociology and an MA in Cognitive Semiotics. I have previously written a self-published book while in undergraduate school, my first attempt at displaying certain psychological methods for happiness – that time within a narrative fictional tale, I have published dozens of articles for Gstaad Life, a publication for which I served as editor, as well as for various online magazines.