The Five Thieves of Happiness

Bestselling author and motivational speaker John Izzo posits that happiness is not something to be sought but something we have natural access to-but sometimes have to fight to keep.


From bestselling author John Izzo comes this practical and inspirational guide to happiness-not finding happiness but protecting the innate sense of well-being that resides within each of us at every moment.

Dr. Izzo says that happiness and contentment are our natural states-and cites ancient spiritual traditions and modern neuroscience to back up his claim. On a sabbatical he took to find out why he lacked a sense of joy in his life, despite being a successful consultant, speaker, and author, he realized what the cause of much of our unhappiness is. Reflecting as he walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain and spent time in the deserts of Morocco and in the Andes of Peru, he saw that specific mental activities and attitudes take our happiness from us. He calls them the five thieves of happiness: the thief of control, the thief of conceit, the thief of coveting, the thief of consumption, and the thief of comfort. This is a thoughtful exploration of why we let these thieves in, how they steal our happiness from us, and what attitudes we can adopt and actions we can take to effectively lock them out.