The Company You Keep: The Contagiousness of Happiness

In The Company You Keep, Josie Henderson invites you to use the power of your social networks to transform your life for the better. Drawing on cutting-edge research, she demonstrates how moods, values, identities, and behaviors are contagious and how you can harness that contagiousness to live a happier, healthier, and more fulfilling life.

Consider for a moment that much of what you believe about achieving happiness might be only part of the story. What if a crucial element-deeply integrated into our DNA and essential for our happiness-is largely overlooked by our culture and so-called happiness experts? What if other people's moods, values, identities, and behaviors impact us far more powerfully than most of us realize?

With insight, compassion, and hope, Henderson reveals how regulating your susceptibility to other peoples' emotional contagions can change your life. She recommends practical, research-based techniques to build awareness of your emotional makeup and how to craft your social network to optimally support it. If you're struggling to meet people you genuinely connect with or to positively develop the relationships you already have, this book is a road map for how to succeed at both.

Equipped with the tools to build an authentically supportive social network, you can take control of your emotional health and well-being. The Company You Keep is a blueprint for building a social life that supports your best life.