Do you know what the hamburger theory is?

No, I don’t want to speak about food. No, I don’t want to speak about a new diet. I also don’t want to explain some research that has been carried out about the benefits or side effects of eating hamburgers.

I would like to speak about the book ”Being Happier” by Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, who teaches positive psychology in Harvard. In particular, I was impressed by his hamburger theory. When he was young, he used to play squash at a very high level. A very important squash event was approaching and he decided to go on a strict diet for a month in order to be ready for the event. He decided that his reward after one month would be to have four big hamburgers. So when the D-Day came he went to his favorite restaurant and ordered four big hamburgers. He sat down and ate the first portion but realized that he was not enjoying it as he thought he would. He tried to figure out why and came up with the hamburger model which describes fours kinds of hamburgers. Each burger represents an archetype. Each archetype represents a distinct pattern of attitude which is related to our definition of happiness. The point is not to judge any of these attitudes but to be aware of them.

The genius of Ben-Shahar is his capacity to make his theory comprehensible to everyone by giving very concrete examples and recommendations that we can apply in our daily lives.

By reading his book you’ll find out if you’re more of a hedonist, a rat-racer, or- a nihilist and how to eat a “happy hamburger”!