The reason I titled this book “Good Life” despite it being about happiness is to correct the tendency to understand happiness as just a “momentary feeling.”
Happiness is a momentary feeling, but at the same time it is the happiness of ‘life’.
Just as good food is more than just good taste, happiness in life is more than just momentary happiness.
Although happiness has both the meaning of a good feeling and a good life, modern people tend to pursue happiness only as a good feeling.
So, I intentionally titled the book 'Good Life' to emphasize the need to consider happiness as a balanced aspect of a 'good life'.

--- From the "Prologue"

Part 01 | The Happy Life

Happiness isn't just about happiness.
Just knowing this fact puts my mind at ease.
The reason we are wary of happiness as something light is because we understand happiness not as a state of inspiration or interest, but as the pleasure of eating ice cream.
The reason why fatigue about happiness has increased is because we think that happiness is a 'blessing' that can only be experienced by breaking away from everyday life.
Happiness is much deeper than we think, yet at the same time, it is extremely ordinary.

--- p.
43

The idea that there is no need to make an effort because we will eventually return to our original emotional state, whether in terms of happiness or suffering, is overly cynical.
Considering the limitations of human existence, where death may come at any moment, every moment of our lives is precious.
It is not a wise attitude toward life to ignore the happiness of the present moment because you think it will eventually return to where it was.
Because the most certain life for us is always in this moment.
--- pp.
84 - 86

It is clear that genetics plays a role in human happiness.
However, this is not so surprising given the first law of behavioral genetics, which states that heredity is involved in almost all human traits.
The important point is that while genetics contribute to happiness, they never determine one's destiny.
Genetic determinism, especially strong genetic determinism, is not only wrong, but it also risks weakening our will to be happy and leading us to be overly cynical about our individual and societal efforts to become happy.

--- p.
88

While it's important to learn the "mental skills" of happy people, it's equally important to learn how happy people structure their daily lives.
A happy person and an unhappy person may live the same daily life with different mindsets, but it is highly likely that they lived different daily lives from the beginning.
Perhaps, rather than trying to analyze the minds of happy people, we should prioritize analyzing their daily lives.
It is important to eat any food with gratitude and joy, but it is also important to eat delicious and healthy food from the beginning.
It's important to try to meet everyone with a happy heart, but it's also important to hang out with good people from the beginning. It's also important to discover the secret to making boring things fun, but it's more important to do things that are fun from the beginning.

--- pp.
94~95

We need to pay much more attention to doing what we love than we do now.
When you hear the "adult" advice that you can't make a living doing only what you love, you should always remember the mantra that you can't make a living doing only what you're good at.
Because that's the secret to how happy people live.

--- p.
99

A happy person is one who lives for experiences rather than possessions.
Even if you buy something, you are a person who tries to gain the experience that the thing provides.
Conversely, unhappy people are those who buy possessions rather than experiences.
Even while experiencing something, he is a person who owns or thingifies that experience.
As what you buy changes, what you live changes as well.
The reason happy people live differently is because they buy differently.
--- p.
117

Part 02 | The Meaningful Life

Humans are beings who constantly reflect on their lives and give stories to their lives.
It is human nature to recall the past and plan for the future, creating meaning by connecting the past, present, and future, a process called 'connecting the dots.'
This work is not about the individual moments of life, but about life as a whole.
Life is a series of interpretations and reinterpretations.
It is human to regret past pleasures that seem foolish in retrospect, and to be thankful for past pains that seem blessings in retrospect.
As Charlie Chaplin said, “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot,” moments of experience do not end in that moment, but are constantly reinterpreted and reevaluated over time.
Therefore, we cannot understand a good life based on moments or feelings alone.

--- pp.
142~143

Meaning does not only have heavy and big meanings, but also small and light meanings.
Small meaning refers to the extremely personal meaning experienced in everyday life.
It is the meaning experienced through everyday tasks such as preparing breakfast for children every morning, calling elderly parents to check in, completing assigned tasks on time, teaching a child the multiplication table, saying a mealtime prayer, successfully dieting, watering plants, and being punctual for appointments.
It doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice yourself to get something.
It's not something that can be achieved by giving up pleasure.
Just as there is small but certain happiness, there is also small but certain meaning, there is also small but certain meaning.
--- p.
150

Humans experience meaning when they feel that what they are doing reveals who they are.
When things go well, it feels good, but when things are personal, it feels meaningful.
If we become obsessed with achieving things like success, accomplishment, utility, and efficiency, we may enjoy momentary feelings of happiness, but the possibility of experiencing a meaningful life decreases.
A meaningful life is a life of self.

--- p.
159

A goal is a condition of happiness that can never be given up.
You must discover your own goals, not someone else's.
Above all, we must restore the everydayness of our goals.
If you think that only special and grand things are goals, and so neglect small and precious goals in the name of caution against goal-oriented thinking, you are filling up your own reservoir of happiness.
The goal is like a runway.
Without it, life is just a series of conflicts.
--- p.
206

Part 03 | The Classy Life

When we ask ourselves whether happiness is the highest value that transcends all other values, we become more aware of the need for a virtuous life.
Is it ever justifiable to pursue one's own happiness at the expense of others? Unless you're an extreme happiness-first enthusiast, few would answer yes.
The happiness we pursue should not only not infringe upon the happiness of others, but should also be a happiness that helps others become happy.
The argument is that rather than forcing a life of self-sacrifice for others, it is necessary to pursue one's own happiness while truly respecting and cherishing the lives of others.
If we consider that one of the highest human virtues is respect for the happiness of others, it becomes clearer that we must embrace a virtuous life as a core element of the good life.

--- p.
225

A person of character is one who is honestly surprised by the unexpected.
When everyone is rushing to come up with quick diagnoses and solutions, there are people who think about the problem persistently and intently for years, and learn what they should learn from it.
The reason we're wary of people who always seem to have the answer to every question, whether it's their area of ​​expertise or not, is because we sense they don't acknowledge their own intellectual limitations.

--- p.
254

Personality can be said to be the family status that a person has.
Character is not a matter of degree of moral perfection, but of the accuracy and quality of the assumptions an individual holds about the world.
Therefore, character development means the process of examining one's own assumptions and changing bad assumptions into good assumptions and baseless assumptions into accurate assumptions.

--- p.
255