Grant Wedel

Be the Dog Grant Wedel

Happiness. Most of the self-help or self-improvement type books out there will tell you that you deserve to be happy. Well, you don't deserve to be happy any more than you deserve to be thin and muscular. Like everything else in life you're going to have to work at it, and even then you might end up with a bit of a gut and smallish biceps. Just like some people have a naturally better build or body, some people have a naturally happier brain. It's the way they're wired. DNA and epigenetics and environmental factors and all those vitamins their biological mother took. Whatever the cause, it's irrelevant. What is relevant is that in a very hubristic moment, I decided that by reflecting on my personal struggle with mental health and observing the common canine, I could give advice on the path to a more ubiquitous state of contentment for my fellow humans. To be clear, I do not pretend to offer unbridled joy or generalized bliss. There are plenty of drugs for that. Rather, I have set myself a more modest and realistic goal, and can promise you the following: If you read this book with the intent of improving both yourself and the world around you, you will end up a little more happy and a little less miserable. In other words, even if you, like me, were dealt a broken brain, working on it will improve it. With enough hard work and dedication, you too, can be the dog. GW.