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Michael Yergin

Courtesy of MICHAEL YERGIN Pat Brickhouse with President Barack Obama four years ago at a Sox game.

Heart of the ‘hood
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.

You know how the old song goes.

But if you’re not happy and you know it, check out Mag Mile resident Michael Yergin’s latest book, Megamorphosis: How to Be Happier Right Now (iUniverse, $13.95).

I could definitely relate to Yergin’s personal, poignant and funny stories, his life lessons for success. “Whether we are 18 or 80,” Yergin said, “we could all use a little more happiness in our life.” He’s got that right.

Happiness, Yergin said, is “very fleeting.” But: “The more you work at it, the easier it is.” Megamorphosis, he said, is “the story of a screw-up, finding and holding onto happiness.”

Many people are miserably unhappy, Yergin told me, and he ought to know. As a nationally-renowned happiness guru, relationship expert, and life coach (among other things), the author of four books has been featured in Time, Fortune, and Money magazines, on CNN, and more.

Yergin said his brother’s death and the Sept. 11 attacks prompted him to seek solutions to being unhappy and depressed.

Yergin says we can all be happy, one step at a time, with subtle changes. He hopes people get a laugh out of the book, and after reading it, they’re nicer to each other and to family and friends. He’s also “trying to show the importance of education and reading, it being crucial to growing up and being successful,” and to get people to turn off their TVs and computers.

Would you believe Yergin even mentions me in the book? And he gives a fun anecdote about Lake View resident Pat Brickhouse, the writer of the book’s foreword. Yergin says the pic represents hope, as they’re smiling and giving off energy. (Look for Yergin’s upcoming The Pat and Jack Brickhouse Story as an end-of-summer release).

Brickhouse says Megamorphosis contains “some really solid, useful advice.”

“It’s not just telling a story, but something you can relate to and that helps you in daily life,” she said.

Yergin has started Project Empathy, a non-profit community of people helping people. Someone calls in with a concern or question, and they’re routed to the person best suited to relate to their situation. Yergin says anyone feeling as if they’re sliding into unhappiness can call and talk.

He believes folks should, “read more, learn more and start having the currency of happiness.”

Buy the book and you get an hour’s worth of free advice, via phone.

“You can think of a million reasons to be unhappy,” Yergin said. “If I start thinking about what I don’t have … you have to think about what you do have. Not only during the day, but many times during the day.”

P.S. This book can also be read and enjoyed by already-happy people!

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