In the ongoing spirit of rethinking and reframing our lives, it’s worth reading Paul B. Farrell’s gentle advice in The Zen Millionaire’s 14 Secrets to Happiness on MarketWatch.com. He references such diverse sources as Warren Buffett, Charles M. Schultz (creator of Peanuts), Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience; formerly based at the Drucker School) and the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh.
It echoes and builds on advice he gave in a similar column in August 2007, Crash course for ‘happier millionaires’. Farrell includes a reading list of 10 books to set you on the road to happiness, including Flow, the Dalai Lama’s The Art of Happiness (written with Howard C. Cutler), Jacob Needleman’s Money and the Meaning of Life, Daniel Gilbert’s Stumbling on Happiness and Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.
Needless to say, these columns are not for millionaires or aspiring millionaires only. They have perspective-setting ideas for anyone trying to navigate today’s crazy economy.