Abstract

“Being happy in spite of setbacks” discusses what happiness is and how to achieve it. Wanda Krause provides seven key ways to achieve happiness in the face of adversity and setbacks. She shows how it is possible through her own experience and learning, and through the wisdoms she’s collected from her work of nearly two decades on individuals pursuing change and the “good life”. The seven directives she discusses are: exit the thinking vortex, do the healing, pursue purpose, be broader systems intelligent, seek to learn, give yourself and others wellbeing and love, and change course. She argues that the practice of these steps is not just for overcoming obstacles and being happy, but that the world is in dire need of leaders who fight for what they know to be true, love, happiness, and peace with what is and a reality that is different. Setbacks are an inevitable part of life – in fact, of a life well lived. One does not get happy through the pursuit of happiness in and of itself; rather, it is in the pursuit of success, purpose, creating meaning, and in living the “good life”—happiness is the bonus, the side effect.