Accept your troubles, thank your lucky stars

Tal Ben-Shahar wants to help us all towards being happier people in 2008. He's offering four key ideas drawn from 'rigorous academic research' in the field of positive psychology. Idea number one is not being too hard on yourself. If you experience painful emotions like 'anxiety, sadness, fear, or envy', you should understand that it doesn't mean anything is wrong with you. You're only human: 'we need to accept our emotions as we do other natural phenomena'. Idea number four tells us to focus on the positive: we should appreciate the good things in our lives, be grateful for them on a daily basis.

I have no particular quarrel with either of these admonitions, but I wish Dr Ben-Shahar had added a fifth key idea: learn how to balance different guidelines to happiness in a sensible way.