Book Review: Wellbeing — The Five Essential Elements, Twenties Girl | Malay Mail Online

Title: Wellbeing - The Five Essential Elements

Author: Tom Rath & Jim Harter

Publisher: Gallup Press

Year of publication: 2010

Rating: 8/10

This is not your regular straighten-me-up self-help book.

Wellbeing - The Five Essential Elements is a conversational guide to holistic wellness that deals with the bigger picture first, before getting to the finer details in life.

Authors Rath and Harter present five ele­ments crucial to the wellness of each individual - career, social, financial, physical and commu­nity wellbeing.

After explaining each aspect in breezy detail, they finish off with the art of mea­suring what makes life worthwhile.

In addition, there are tools and resources - including statistics on wellbeing across the United States and 150 countries, conducted by Gallup to find out how the five elements shape their lives.

Interesting to note is that Malaysia is ranked 52 in the wellness survey, with Denmark and Togo coming in first and last respectively.

Among several interesting points raised in the book is the fact that wellbeing is not just about being happy. Nor is it about wealth, career suc­cess or physical health, but it is a combination of the five elements mentioned.

While most of the content isn't something new, this reviewer found the authors' personal presentation of the five elements refreshing and learnt many small but insightful lessons about the art of being well.

Another interesting aspect of the book is it comes with a unique code that can be used to measure one's wellbeing online and proceed to track your wellbeing over time.

An easy read that will make you re-define one's perception of happiness and wellness. - By Anu Venugopal