The Trauma of Everyday Life by Mark Epstein - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction Happiness helps us to maintain our morals in the society. Happiness is crucial to every individual worldwide because it reduces the negative energy of the mind. The negative energy created can have devastating effects if it is not controlled. The negative energy produced in the brain makes people act out of emotions instead of rationality. Happiness accommodates happy feelings among people and helps them to distinguish between good and evil. Happiness includes the pleasant feelings, and it motivates people to maintain their personal and social happiness. In the book, In the Trauma of Everyday life we meet the author Mark Epstein. He is a psychiatrist at a private firm in New York City. He is the author of several other books that talk about the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy. He did his undergraduate at Harvard University. He is a prolific writer and in this book, he invites the author the reader to try to learn from his expertise. He believes that trauma is the emotional response of individuals to the devastating event in their lives. He wants readers to try to learn from the readers on how to handle trauma like Buddhists. He argues that every person at some point in his or her life faces trauma, and it is a stepping-stone for individuals who experience growth. He argues that the trauma individuals go to help them in understanding the growth they are experiencing (Epstein 25). According to Epstein, the manner in which an individual handles trauma is important in understanding growth and change among individuals. He suggests that to arrive at happiness individuals have to think about the situation. He reveals how individuals use Buddha to understand and overcome the effects of trauma. Trauma does not happen to a few known individual but anyone. The author states that trauma is a transformational process used to define the process of mind development. According to him, the pain an individual goes through helps them to connect to the world on fundamental levels. Trauma does not destroy individuals rather it strengthens their ability to think and seek happiness. The originality and authenticity of the writer together with his inward struggles help the individuals search for happiness despite the trauma. It opens our mind to understand the suffering of other and seek for internal happiness. Jonathan Haidt is a professor of ethics and a psychologist at the University of New York. He researches on the morals of human beings on their daily to activities (Haidt, 8). He began with research by studying the negative emotions of individuals. The emotions are the shame, disgust, revenge among others, and it made him focus on the positive feelings. He did research on how to help individuals understand and respect the moral of other individuals. His hard work has enabled him win three awards from the University of Virginia in the United States of America. He filters the philosophy about the happiness of individuals to help lead a real life. He stresses that it can be difficult to find the right thing that makes an individual happy. He struggles to explain to the readers the importance of having peace in the mind. Individuals focus on happiness when they have peace in the mind. He uses the direct quote that says that the flesh desires what the Spirit opposes. In addition to, he feels that the mind has many divisions, and it helps in the differentiation between reasoning and consciousness. He compares it to the inability of the rider to control the elephant. It explains most of the puzzles in the life of most individuals. The metaphor the author uses describes the rider, which means the conscious mind of individuals and the giant elephant that mean the unconscious mind (Haidt 11). He insists that individuals have to live a decent lifestyle to become happy no individual. Individuals have to live nobly and sensibly to become comfortable. In the current society, we have lost the opportunity to grow most of the good behavior. He believes that happiness comes from within an individual. Dr Siegel describes mindsight as the capacity of individuals to be aware of the mind of others. He describes the mindsight as a powerful lens, which assists most of the people to understand the inner lives of our lives. Dr Siegel believes that the mind sight helps us become aware of the mental process of our own brain. The ability to analyze the situation helps most of the individuals clarify internal emotions (Siegel, 19). Analysis of internal emotions helps individuals to control their happiness. When an individual is attentive, there are neurons in the brain that cause the brain to process different emotions. According to the author, the mindsight helps us to tame our emotions, which helps in searching for personal happiness. He argues mindsight gives individuals the ability to clarify the difference between being sad and feeling sorry. The Mindsight is a skill, which is learnable, and it is vital to apply in the search for happiness. Hardwiring is a book by Dr Hanson, which provides a manual of how to create new brain patterns. The ability to create new brain patterns can change the lives of many individuals. The author, Dr Hanson lays out a simple plan to uses the hidden power in our daily experience to create neural structural. The neural structures are full of happiness and love among people. Happiness attracts peace and confidence, which promotes positive energy among individuals. Dr Hanson building provides four steps to look for happiness, and they include strengths in the brain, balancing the negative energy of the mind, being contented, and finally having a powerful sense of flexibility (Hanson 23). Application of these four steps helps individuals transform their lives to seek for happiness. Dr Hanson believes that any person can attain happiness if they follow the steps of healing that he provides in his book. Epstein and Hanson have different opinions in dealing when it comes to dealing with the happiness of individuals. Both writers have the same objective, which is to promote happiness among most individuals. Both authors also feel that to achieve happiness a person must prepare him or herself mentally. They believe that happiness come from within an individual. Epstein argues that the manner in which an individual handles trauma is important in understanding growth and change among individuals. He feels that individuals have to think about happiness in order to achieve their goals. The pain an individual goes through helps them to connect to the world on fundamental levels. Epstein says that trauma should help the individuals seek for happiness. It is because trauma is a transformational process used to define the process of mind development. In addition to, trauma does not destroy individuals rather it strengthens their ability to think and seek happiness. On the contrary, Dr Hanson provides ways of creating new brain patterns to help to look for happiness (Hanson 6). It is a different approach from Epstein because the ability to create new brain patterns can change the lives of many individuals. Dr Hanson provides a simple plan that uses the hidden power in our daily experience to create neural structural. In relation to, Dr Hanson provides four steps to look for happiness, and they include strengths in the brain, balancing the negative energy of the mind, contentment and finally having a powerful sense of flexibility. Dr Hanson believes that controlling the negative energy of the brain increases happiness within the brain. Trauma is the emotional response of people after the devastating event in their lives. Hanson, Siegel, and Epstein have different approaches towards how individuals handle trauma in their lives. Dr Hanson believes that individuals should heal their mind in order to treat trauma in their lives. He feels that individuals should have, enrich, absorb, and link their problems to better growth mentally. Relaxing the brain ensures that the mind has enough emotional balance to handle trauma. Contrarily, Dr Siegel argues that the mind sight helps us become aware of the mental process of our brain. In the process, it creates a scenario that helps individuals to manage trauma. Dr Siegel stresses that the Mindsight is a powerful lens, which assists most of the people to understand the inner lives of our lives. Understanding of an individual spiritual life helps him or her control the emotion of trauma (Siegel, 19). Controlling inner emotions is important to individuals to conquer the emotions associated with trauma. Lastly, Epstein wants readers to try to learn from the readers on how to handle trauma like Buddhists. He feels that trauma does not destroy individuals rather it strengthens their ability to think and seek happiness. He says that understanding trauma helps to open up the mind to happiness. He argues that most individuals face trauma in their daily lives and it acts as stepping stones for internal growth. The internal growth prepares individuals to handle trauma. In conclusion, the mind plays a vital role in the development of the world. People with the right perception towards life find it easy to develop themselves personally. Work cited Epstein, Mark. The Trauma Of Everyday Life. Print. Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis. New York: Basic Books, 2006. Print. Hanson, Rick. Hardwiring Happiness. Print. Siegel, Daniel J. Mindsight. Richmond: Oneworld, 2011. Print. Read More