Summary of The Good Life By Robert Waldinger M.D. and Marc Schulz Ph.D: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness

By Willie M. Joseph

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This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

Summary of The Good Life By Robert Waldinger M.D. and Marc Schulz Ph.D: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness

 

IN THIS SUMMARIZED BOOK, YOU WILL GET:

• Chapter astute outline of the main contents.
• Fast & simple understanding of the content analysis.
• Exceptionally summarized content that you may skip in the original book

The Harvard Study of Adult Development reveals that the strength of our connections with others can predict the health of both our bodies and our brains, and that it is never too late to strengthen the relationships you have and build new ones. The Good Life is a New York Times Bestseller that reveals how to make our lives happier and more meaningful through our connections to others. It has been praised by bestselling authors Jay Shetty, Angela Duckworth, and Laurie Santos.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Willie M. Joseph
• Release date: Mar 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215465202

Willie M. Joseph

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Book preview

WHAT MAKES A GOOD LIFE?

In a 2007 survey, millennials were asked about their most important life goals. Seventy-six percent said becoming rich was their number one goal, while fifty percent said a major goal was to become famous. In a decade later, similar questions were asked again, and the top goals again included things like making money, having a successful career, and becoming debt-free. These goals are common and practical goals that extend across generations and borders, and are often measured by title, salary, and recognition of achievement. We are bombarded with messages about what will make us happy, about what we should want in our lives, and about who is doing life right. We may wonder if our own life is lacking in parties and beaches.

The good life is a complicated life, full of love, but also pain. It is a process that includes turmoil, calm, lightness, burdens, struggles, achievements, setbacks, leaps forward, and terrible falls. This book is built on a bedrock of scienti c research from the Harvard Study of Adult Development, an extraordinary endeavor that began in 1938 and is still going strong today. Bob is the fourth director of the Study, and Marc is its associate director. The Study set out to understand human health by investigating not what made people sick, but what made them thrive.

The Harvard Study is the longest in-depth longitudinal study of human life ever done, and is supported by hundreds of other studies involving many thousands of people from all over the world. It is a book about the power of relationships and is deeply informed by the long and fruitful friendship of its authors, Rosa and Henry Keane. They never understood why Harvard researchers were interested in them, let alone why they were still interested, still calling, still sending questionnaires, and occasionally still ying across the country to visit. Henry Keane was only 14 years old when researchers from the Study rst knocked on his family's door and asked his parents if they could make a record of his life. He married Rosa in 1954 and was asked to participate more directly in the Study in 2002.

He felt a sense of duty to participate and had also developed an appreciation for the process, so he opened his life to the research team. Charlotte was there for a two-day visit to interview the Keanes and administer a survey of questions about their health, their individual lives, and their life together. She had her own questions about what makes a good life and how her current choices might a ect her future. Charlotte interviewed Henry and Rosa together and separately in what we call attachment interviews. The videotapes and interview transcripts would be studied so that the way Henry and Rosa talked about each other, their nonverbal cues, and many other bits of information could be coded into data on the nature of their bond.

The most important question was what is their greatest fear? Charlotte recorded their individual answers to this question in separate interviews, but now it was time to discuss the question with each other. Rosa was quiet for a moment and then told Henry her greatest fear was that he might develop a serious health condition, or that she would have another stroke. Henry agreed that those were scary possibilities, but they spoke at length about how a serious illness might a ect their adult children's lives, and each other. Eventually Rosa admitted that there was only so much a person could anticipate, and there was no use in getting upset before it happened.

Henry Keane's 1941 intake interview reveals that his family was among the poorest in Boston, that at age 14 he was seen as a stable, well-controlled adolescent, and that as a young adult he resented his father's alcoholism. In 1953, he broke free of his father and moved to Willow Run, Michigan, where he met Rosa, a Danish immigrant and one of nine children. They were married and had one child, Robert, who contracted polio and died in 1959. Henry and Rosa's daughter, Peggy, is also a participant in the Study. She has multiple perspectives on the same family environment and events, and she rated her parents as very a ectionate and never considered separation or divorce.

Henry rated his life this way: enjoyment of marriage, mood over the past year, physical health over the past 2 years, and heart rates calm down after brain teasers. This information gives us a deeper and fuller measurement of Henry's health and happiness. Henry was a shy man who devoted himself to his closest relationships, which provided him with a deep sense of security and coping mechanisms. He was able to report over and over again that he was happy or very happy, even during his hardest times. In 2009, his greatest fear came true: Rosa passed away.

The family legacy continues in their daughter, Peggy, who recently sat down for an interview at our office in Boston. Peggy has been in a happy relationship with her partner, Susan, and now reports no loneliness and good health. She is a respected grade school teacher and an active member of her community, but the path she took to arrive at this happy time in her life is harrowing and courageous. The Harvard Study of Adult Development has tracked people from the time they were teenagers all the