Frans Meijers – författare

The Pursuit of Happiness: Between Prosperity and Adversity looks at activities, practices, and experiences that are instrumental in changing one’s level of well-being. This book focuses on the situations in which well-being is challenged, or even decreased, and explores, guided by Dialogical Self Theory, pathways that lead to its elevation. Research has suggested that there are three main determinants of well-being: genetic factors, one’s individual’s history, and happiness-relevant activities. The third and most promising means of altering one’s happiness level are activities and practices that require some degree of effort. A surprising finding is that these personal efforts may have a happiness-boosting potential that is almost as large as the probable role of genetics, and apparently larger than the influence of one’s individual history. Efforts are invested in fields of tension between prosperity and adversity. The Pursuit of Happiness covers a variety of topics, such as finding happiness and well-being in the face of extreme adversity, the role of honesty in genuine happiness, the promise of minimalistic life orientations, the value of inner silence, evaluating our lives from a future perspective, and the relationship between happiness, career development, counselling, and psychotherapy. This book was originally published as a special issue of the British Journal of Guidance & Counselling.

The Pursuit of Happiness: Between Prosperity and Adversity looks at activities, practices, and experiences that are instrumental in changing one’s level of well-being. This book focuses on the situations in which well-being is challenged, or even decreased, and explores, guided by Dialogical Self Theory, pathways that lead to its elevation. Research has suggested that there are three main determinants of well-being: genetic factors, one’s individual’s history, and happiness-relevant activities. The third and most promising means of altering one’s happiness level are activities and practices that require some degree of effort. A surprising finding is that these personal efforts may have a happiness-boosting potential that is almost as large as the probable role of genetics, and apparently larger than the influence of one’s individual history. Efforts are invested in fields of tension between prosperity and adversity. The Pursuit of Happiness covers a variety of topics, such as finding happiness and well-being in the face of extreme adversity, the role of honesty in genuine happiness, the promise of minimalistic life orientations, the value of inner silence, evaluating our lives from a future perspective, and the relationship between happiness, career development, counselling, and psychotherapy. This book was originally published as a special issue of the British Journal of Guidance & Counselling.

This edited volume offers cross-country and cross-cultural applications of Dialogical Self Theory within the field of education. It combines the work of internationally recognized authors to demonstrate how theoretical and practical innovations emerge at the highly fertile interface of external and internal dialogues. The Theory, developed by Hubert Hermans and his colleagues in the past 25 years, responds fruitfully to the issue of educational experts hitherto working in splendid isolation and does so by combining two aspects of Dialogical Self Theory: the dialogue among individuals as well as dialogical processes within individuals, in this context students and teachers. It is the first book in which Dialogical Self Theory is applied to the field of education. In 13 chapters, authors from different cultures and continents produce theoretical considerations and a wide variety of practical procedures showing that this interface is an ideal ground for the production of new theoretical, methodological, and practical approaches that enrich the work of educational researchers and specialists. Academics, practitioners, and postgraduate students in the field of education, particularly those who are interested in the innovative and community-enhancing potentials of dialogue, will find this book valuable and informative.  Ultimately the work presented here is intended to inspire more self-reflection and creative ways to engage in new conversations that can respond to real-world issues and in which education can play a more vital role.