Happiness Is a Choice You Make
Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old
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Narrated by:
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Robert Petkoff
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By:
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John Leland
About this listen
This program includes original recordings of interviews from the New York Times series
Based on the popular New York Times series, life-changing wisdom from an unexpected source: America's oldest old
In 2015, the award-winning New York Times journalist John Leland set out to meet some of the city's oldest inhabitants for a series on America's fastest-growing age group: those over 85. Leland was at a crossroads in his own life. His marriage had fallen apart, and, at 55, he was alone for the first time. He was also caring for his elderly mother, whose main desire was to die. He understood aging, like many of us do, as nothing more than the relentless deterioration of body, mind, and quality of life. He wondered: Is there a threshold at which life is no longer worth living?
But the six elders Leland interviewed took him in a different direction. Beyond illuminating what it's like to be old, physically and materially, they provided a life-changing education in resilience and joy. They had lived long enough to master the art of living, and they shared their wisdom generously. Leland did not anticipate all that he would learn, nor did he anticipate the popularity of the series: Its following grew to nearly half a million online views for the finale, plus print readers.
Happiness Is a Choice You Make, based on the series, is a rare, intimate glimpse into the end of life and the insight that can enhance the years preceding. What he finds is deeply heartening: Even as our faculties decline, we still wield extraordinary influence over the quality of our lives. Happiness is a choice we make.
Learn how to live from those who have mastered the art
©2018 John Leland (P)2018 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- By Anonymous User on 01-12-24
By: Deborah Norville
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Changing the Way We Die
- Compassionate End-of-Life Care and the Hospice Movement
- By: Sheila Himmel, Fran Smith
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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There’s a quiet revolution happening in the way we die. More than 1.5 million Americans a year die in hospice care - nearly 44 percent of all deaths - and a vast industry has sprung up to meet the growing demand. Once viewed as a New Age indulgence, hospice is now a $14 billion business and one of the most successful segments in health care. Changing the Way We Die, by award-winning journalists Fran Smith and Sheila Himmel, is the first book to take a broad, penetrating look at the hospice landscape.
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Sadly, not very engaging.
- By Debra S. Long on 06-16-18
By: Sheila Himmel, and others
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Walking on Eggshells
- Navigating the Delicate Relationship Between Adult Children and Parents
- By: Jane Isay
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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We raise our children to be independent and lead fulfilling lives, but when they finally do, staying close becomes more complicated than ever. And for every bewildered mother who wonders why her children don't call, there is a frustrated son or daughter who just wants to be treated like a grownup. Now, renowned editor Jane Isay delivers the perfect gift to both parents and their adult children-real-life wisdom and advice on how to stay together without falling apart.
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Disappointed
- By tammy alvarez on 01-13-19
By: Jane Isay
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Chicken Soup for the Soul - Find Your Happiness
- 101 Inspirational Stories about Finding Your Purpose, Passion, and Joy
- By: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen
- Narrated by: Cynthia Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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What makes you happy? Others share how they found their passion, purpose, and joy in life in these 101 personal and exciting stories that are sure to inspire and encourage listeners to find their own happiness. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Happiness will encourage listeners to pursue their dreams, find their passion and seek joy in their life with its 101 personal and inspiring stories. This book continues Chicken Soup for the Soul’s focus on inspiration and hope, reminding us that we all can find our own happiness.
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I got even more depressed
- By Tom on 09-08-14
By: Jack Canfield, and others
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The Four Things That Matter Most 10th Anniversary Edition
- A Book About Living
- By: Ira Byock MD
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Four simple phrases - "Please forgive me", "I forgive you", "Thank you", and "I love you" - carry enormous power to mend and nurture our relationships and inner lives. These four phrases and the sentiments they convey provide a path to emotional well-being, guiding us through interpersonal difficulties to life with integrity and grace. Dr. Ira Byock, an international leader in palliative care, explains how we can practice these life-affirming words in our day-to-day lives.
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A must read
- By Light Seeker on 03-14-21
By: Ira Byock MD
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The Unspeakable
- And Other Subjects of Discussion
- By: Meghan Daum
- Narrated by: Meghan Daum
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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It's a report tempered by hard times. In "Matricide", Daum unflinchingly describes a parent's death and the uncomfortable emotions it provokes; and in "Diary of a Coma" she relates her own journey to the twilight of the mind. But Daum also operates in a comic register. With perfect precision, she reveals the absurdities of the marriage-industrial complex, of the New Age dating market, and of the peculiar habits of the young and digital.
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Complaining about her dead mom.
- By Erik Hermansen on 11-23-14
By: Meghan Daum
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Modern Loss
- Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome.
- By: Rebecca Soffer, Gabrielle Birkner
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time when we mourn public figures and national tragedies with hashtags, where intimate posts about loss go viral and we receive automated birthday reminders for dead friends, it's clear we are navigating new terrain without a road map. Let's face it: Most of us have always had a difficult time talking about death and sharing our grief. We're awkward and uncertain; we avoid, ignore, or even deny feelings of sadness; we offer platitudes; we send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit.
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Not What I Was Expecting
- By Bessie Mae on 03-01-23
By: Rebecca Soffer, and others
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Living Life as a Thank You
- The Transformative Power of Daily Gratitude
- By: Nina Lesowitz, Mary Beth Sammons
- Narrated by: Susan Boyce
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Living as if each day is a thank you can help transform fear into courage, anger into forgiveness, and isolation into belonging. Authors Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons present a simple yet comprehensive approach for incorporating gratitude into one's life and reaping its many benefits. The book is divided into ten chapters, including "Ways to Stay Thankful in Difficult Times,” "Gratitude as a Spiritual Practice,” and "Putting Gratitude into Action."
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I can’t take robotic narrator
- By Caryn on 03-25-21
By: Nina Lesowitz, and others
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Committed
- A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
- By: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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At the end of her best-selling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. But providence intervened one day in the form of the United States government....
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Perfect timing
- By Nancy on 01-15-10
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American Spirit
- Profiles in Resilience, Courage, and Faith
- By: Taya Kyle, Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: Taya Kyle
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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From Taya Kyle, New York Times best-selling author of American Wife and widow of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle, an inspiring collection of stories, both personal and drawn from American history, that showcase the resilience of the “American spirit”.
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Just love Taya Kyle!
- By Rebecka R. Murray on 05-14-19
By: Taya Kyle, and others
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The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers
- Reclaiming Our Passion, Purpose, and Sanity
- By: Meg Meeker M.D.
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Friendship. Simplicity. Love. Value. Faith. Solitude. Money. Fear. Hope. Purpose. Dr. Meg Meeker has seen mothers struggle with these 10 issues for the past 25 years, and she has also learned how to help them live less stressful, happier, more fulfilling lives. The Ten Habits of Happy Mothers will show women how to reduce loneliness, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem by inspiring women to embrace more positive emotions and habits.
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Recommend the book but had hard time listening to
- By Kaletra Dispennett on 12-25-16
By: Meg Meeker M.D.
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The Man I Never Met
- A Memoir
- By: Adam Schefter
- Narrated by: Adam Schefter
- Length: 4 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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On September 11, 2001, Joe Maio went to work in the north tower of the World Trade Center. He never returned, leaving behind a wife, Sharri, and 15-month old son, Devon. Five years later, Sharri remarried, and Devon welcomed a new dad into his life. For thousands, the whole country really, 9/11 is a day of grief. For Adam and Sharri Maio Schefter and their family it’s not just a day of grief, but also hope. This is a story of 9/11, but it’s also the story of 9/12 and all the days after. Life moved on. Pieces were picked up. New dreams were dreamed. The Schefters are the embodiment of that.
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Remembering a fallen father thru a family
- By Bob H on 09-07-18
By: Adam Schefter
What listeners say about Happiness Is a Choice You Make
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- ag
- 10-08-18
Very inspiring and soulful.
I learnt the meaning of living in old age is to continue to live the best that life continues to offer.
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- Tatras
- 11-25-21
Death is what you do, not what happens to you.
We are evolutionarily programmed to see and solve problems, to not be contempt with what we have. Is it genes that make us calmer, happy, and satisfied in old age (even in the face of much more losses) or the experience? Being more in present is mostly a reaction to impending death which was proven in young, but terminally ill patients (they assume the same stand to reality, shift to present moment, as the old ones). Medicine added time to the end, when one is likely sick and unable to enjoy it fully - maybe we should teach and learn how to enjoy the best years (albeit one thing that can be learned is taking things as they are anyhow they are).
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- tim ma
- 02-23-18
Don't judge this book by its cover! So much more.
I would not have picked up this book, if I had only seen the title. But, I heard about it in an article that referred to its life lessons and insight from people who had lived a long and FULL life. There is so much wisdom and perspective in this book! I love autobiographies because men and women summarize their wins, failures, and insight from an entire life lived on this earth. There are common threads that connect the wisdom of the ages, from Ben Franklin to Buddhists to Rosa Parks to George Washington to Seinfeld to your wise grandma. I have enjoyed seeking out those lessons. In this book, you will find many of those insights. ... and the very end of the audio book allows you to hear the actual voices of the elderly subjects of the book. What a treat, from beginning to end.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Carianti
- 05-01-18
How encouraging this was.
I didn't know if I would like this book but at 72 I was curious to know what my elders thought about. I was literally stunned when I listened to them. Such a varied collection of both men and women but also one thing kept their lives going....purpose. I had heard that was important (at any age) but particularly as we age. For what do we continue to live? Beyond family, as individuals, we must find that certain something that lightens our hearts and still creates wonder in this world. I was greatly impressed by each and every story.
John Leland is a wonderful writer. He spoke so sweetly about the things he was learning from the oldest old! True. No matter what our age, we can still learn more.
Robert Petkoff did an amazing job of narrating. Taking both male and female voices was convincing and done perfectly.
I am going to be sharing this book with others I know who I believe will also carry away from it a little brighter light and much love for all the people involved. I certainly did!
Highly recommend!
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- tarun
- 05-20-19
Excellent book to give perspective to life
Great book to have a peek in the life of the elders .
Many lessons to learn and apply in daily life
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- Loni Shepherd
- 02-11-18
Amazing Book!!!
Love this book-especially on audio. Really well written!! Highly recommend this book to all ages and walks of life!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-01-18
moving accounts of life, perspectives to cherish
loved every minute I spent listening to this book. thank you to the author and elders for sharing
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- Paul Randolph
- 05-15-18
An upbeat view of extreme old age
Leland gives us a great gift - a glimpse into the mind of the very old. Too often we ignore the wisdom that comes with living to extreme old age. The wisdom that is shared is amazing. We are given valuable insights for people of all ages from modern day ancients ones.
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- Bart Butell
- 04-17-18
exceptional topic
the authors takes you on a surprising journey through growing old. I for one old man just loved it
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- Stacey S. Harkins
- 07-02-19
Really inspiring!
The novel as a whole was really excellent to listen to, but I especially wanted to highlight the end, when they play clips from conversations with the various "Oldest Old" featured in this novel! That helped give their stories a sort of unique touch that I found really special!
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