What part does happiness play in your hopes? You’d be a very unusual person if it didn’t feature somewhere. After all, we’re born into the world without really knowing why we’re here and die generally none the wiser – surely we want to enjoy as much as possible of the time in between. Can happiness be taught? Some psychologists think not – they tell us that some are just born ‘the happy type’. But many believe that happiness can be taught.

I’ve seen it for myself. A friend of mine, Alan Davidson, has been teaching happiness for many years around the South of England and the results are dramatic. His students frequently report that their whole lives have been turned around. Can we set happiness as a goal just like any other and work towards it, just as we would work towards any other goal? Or can we become happy simply by changing our way of thinking? Let’s examine these in detail.