John Dickerson recently talked with Arthur Brooks, a best-selling author, whose new book "The Happiness Files" provides a different way to think about what makes us happy.

New York

Arthur Brooks, a behavioral scientist and author of 'The Happiness Files,' shared his insights on happiness in an interview with John Dickerson. Brooks emphasized that happiness is not merely a feeling but a combination of enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning, which can be cultivated through intentional habits and self-reflection.

He distinguished happiness from traditional measures of success such as money or fame, arguing that these do not guarantee happiness. Brooks also discussed his teaching methods, including guiding students to explore personal meaning and encouraging young adults to view life as an evolving project. He advocates for a broader societal focus on happiness and personal fulfillment.

What does it mean to be happy?

For tonight's interview, John Dickerson recently talked with Arthur Brooks, a best-selling author whose new book, The Happiness Files, provides a different way to think about what makes us happy. So Arthur, let's start where any good inquiry should start, definition of terms. What does happiness mean? Yeah, well, let's start with what it's not. It's not a feeling. People think of happiness as a feeling and this is where they go wrong. Feelings and happiness are related, like the smell of your turkey is related to your Thanksgiving dinner. Happiness is something more tangible, something real. It's a combination of three things, enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning. Kind of like the protein, carbohydrates, and fat of your Thanksgiving dinner, as a matter of fact. And you can study and get better at all of those things. That's my work. And people need to understand the difference between happiness and success, at least one of the... Help people understand the distinction there. Well, people believe, because Mother Nature, this is not about the economy. This is about how we're wired, that if they're successful in worldly terms, money, power, pleasure, fame, then happiness comes for free and that's quite wrong. The truth of the matter is that if you shoot for happiness in terms of the habits that the happiest people have every day, you will be successful enough. And that's the beautiful truth about life. The trouble is that people don't quite believe that. In your teaching, you use data and science and all of the tools of the enlightenment to make your case. Yeah, for sure. I'm a behavioral scientist. You know, I suffered through a PhD for a reason. And 30% of what I teach is actually neuroscience. So it's very important that people understand that this is not just woo-woo. This is not just happy talk. This stuff is really grounded in randomized treatment control experiments and what we know about how the brain works. It also happens to sync up pretty nicely with Aristotle and all the major world's religions and all that stuff. It turns out to be pretty right, but we know why now. When you're teaching this to students who are going through all of this, how do you start them down the path to meaning? Because this sounds awfully hard. I would like to go have fun, and this sounds like a lot of hard work. Well, they want meaning. They really do. The problem is they don't quite know how to articulate it, and so I ask them a series of two questions, an exam, a happiness exam, but based on meaning. And I'll do that right now. So everybody who's watching us should think about the answers to these questions in their life. Number one, why are you alive? Very hard question. And it might be, who created you or for what reason? Second question is, for what would you give your life happily right now? You fail the exam if the answer is, I don't know, or there are no answers. But that's good news, because now you know what to go in search of. If you feel an emptiness in your life, go searching for the answers to those two questions, and it's going to be amazing what you find out about yourself. As you've been a teacher, what has surprised you the most about your students? Number one is how hungry they are to absorb these particular ideas. When I introduced the class Leadership and Happiness at the Harvard Business School, I didn't know if it would be popular at all. Now I have hundreds on the waiting list, and it's so encouraging to me that people want to treat their own lives as a project. And this is what we can actually do in America today. Do we want a better country? We need to have a happiness movement. And when we do that, then we start to see a real change, and we'll feed this insatiable hunger that people have for more love and happiness. We have seen students graduating from college or in that age range having a difficult time in both the job market and also with these sets of questions. What would your guidance be to somebody of that age? It's tricky. You know, when you're in your early 20s, there's two problems. Number one, you have to prove yourself to somebody who might hire you, and something else, you've got to figure out what you want to do. And those things are both big mysteries. One of the things that I encourage my students to do is to think of their life as having kind of an adventure and serendipity to it. It's actually perfectly fine if you don't work within your major. It's perfectly fine if you're not making as much money as you thought you were going to. Life is long, and then think about the rest of your life as part of this patchwork of interesting ideas and things that you can do. Take your leisure life and your relationships with as much seriousness as you actually take your work and think, look, you've got 24 hours a day. Maybe seven of it is sleeping. The rest of it is going to be made into these different kinds of projects that all fit together into a happier and happier life. And one of the building blocks for anybody trying to take this journey is the Happiness Files, which is a collection of essays. You write a weekly column in the Atlantic. Exactly right. Get it in the book and then keep getting it in the Atlantic. Arthur Brooks, thank you so much.

The Trump administration is planning expanded immigration operations in Chicago next week, two Department of Homeland Security sources tell CBS News. Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports.

Chicago

Trump planning immigration crackdown in Chicago next week: sources

Iran-backed Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi was killed in Israeli airstrikes on Sanaa, according to Yemeni and Israeli reports. The strikes also targeted top military officials, including the group's defence minister.

Sana'a

Iran-backed Houthi PM killed in Israeli airstrikes on Yemen's capital

Thailand's Constitutional Court dismissed 39-year-old Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office on Friday (August 29) on an ethics violation, abruptly ending the term of Thailand's youngest prime minister after just over a year in office.

Bangkok

Thai court ousts PM Paetongtarn for ethics violation

Chinese President Xi Jinping will be flanked by leaders of some of the world's most heavily sanctioned nations at a World War Two military parade in Beijing next week, in a show of solidarity against the West.

Beijing

China to stage massive military parade as Xi hosts sanctioned leaders

The multinational peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL has played a significant role in monitoring the security situation in southern Lebanon for decades, including during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict last year.

Beirut

UN votes to end peacekeeping force in Lebanon after five decades

Russia, set to assume the UN Security Council presidency in October, has proposed extending the resolution that governs the snapback mechanism, potentially intensifying a diplomatic standoff with European powers.

Moscow

Russia slams European push to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran

It's been 13 days since President Trump said he could strike a peace deal in Ukraine, following his meeting with Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin. But Russia shows no signs of backing down, launching an aerial assault on Kyiv.

Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

Russian attack on Kyiv kills more than a dozen people

The shooter in Minneapolis fired more than 100 rounds from a rifle at the church where students at Annunciation Catholic School attended Mass. City and state officials highlighted this fact as they called for stricter gun control.

Minneapolis

Minneapolis officials call for stronger gun laws after school shooting

The shooter who killed 2 kids and injured 17 at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis had ties to the church where he targeted children celebrating a new school year during mass.

Annunciation school shooter had knowledge of church he targeted

The White House is responding to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Susan Monarez's refusal to step down from her role. CBS News' Olivia Rinaldi reports.

Washington

White House reacts to CDC director refusing to step down from role

In Tehran on Thursday, Iran’s currency traded at over 1 million to $1. At the time of the 2015 accord, it traded at 32,000 to $1, showing the currency’s precipitous collapse in the time since.

Tehran

Europe prepares sanctions as Iran's currency falls

Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed in a school shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis. The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics. Warning, this video is difficult to watch.

FBI investigating Minneapolis Catholic school shooting as hate crime

UN officials and aid agencies have warned that famine in Gaza is no longer a looming threat but a present reality, with children increasingly dying of hunger. In a blunt address to the UN Security Council, officials described the famine and widespread hunger in the enclave as “engineered” and “man-made” disasters.

Middle East Conflict

UN Security Council affirms Gaza famine is manmade

Denmark summoned the top U.S. diplomat in the country to protest what Danish officials say is an unprecedented effort by people close to U.S. President Donald Trump to conduct secret influence operations in Greenland.

Copenhagen

Denmark accuses U.S. of covert operations in Greenland

Two young children were killed, and 17 others were injured in a shooting during a Catholic Mass packed with young students in Minneapolis. The gunman is also dead.

Minneapolis Catholic school shooting leaves two children dead

The group is accused of attempting to infiltrate Greenlandic society, including allegedly recruiting locals for a new independence movement from Denmark, according to the Danish public broadcaster, DR, who was first to break the story.

Nuuk

Denmark summons U.S envoy over claimed interference in Greenland

SpaceX on Tuesday launched its Super Heavy-Starship, the most powerful rocket in the world, for a test flight after three other flights failed earlier this year. NASA hired SpaceX to build a lunar lander version of Starship to carry astronauts to the moon.

Starbase

SpaceX launches Super Heavy-Starship in test flight

The United States has doubled tariffs on many imports from India to 50 percent, as U.S. President Donald Trump followed through on his threat to punish New Delhi for buying discounted Russian oil.

New Delhi

Global Tariffs

U.S. raises India tariffs to 50 percent over Russian oil purchases

President Donald Trump said he would seek the death penalty for murders in Washington, as part of a crackdown on what he calls out-of-control crime in the US capital.

Trump endorses death penalty return in Washington D.C.

As the Israeli military gives an initial assessment of deadly strikes on a Gaza hospital, hundreds of thousands of protesters urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire with Hamas in exchange for a hostage deal.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Protesters urge Netanyahu to reach hostage deal

Cracker Barrel says it will go back to its old logo after facing intense backlash and seeing its company value to sink by nearly $100 million after switching to a new design last week. In a statement, Cracker Barrel thanked their guests for sharing their voices.

Cracker Barrel scrapping new logo, returning to old one after backlash

The small West Tennessee town of Mason, just 2 square miles in size, is home to about 1,000 people. But its residents are now divided by what a new immigration detention facility will mean for the area.

Mason

Small Tennessee town divided over new ICE detention facility

A standoff is brewing between President Trump and economist Lisa Cook. Mr. Trump tried to fire her, claiming "there is sufficient cause" to believe that Cook made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.

Trump clashes with Fed board member Lisa Cook, pushing to oust her

Protesters demanding an end to the Gaza war and the return of hostages to their homes took to the streets in Israel on Tuesday ahead of a security cabinet meeting scheduled for the evening.

Israeli protesters demand hostage deal as cabinet set to meet

Australia accused Iran on Tuesday (August 26) of executing two antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne and gave Tehran's ambassador seven days to leave the country, its first such expulsion since World War Two.

Council of the City of Sydney

Australia expels Iranian envoy over antisemitic attacks

President Donald Trump announced the removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, the only Black woman to serve on the board. Critics call it an attack on the Fed's independence, while Cook says no legal cause exists for her firing.

Trump says he fired Lisa Cook from Federal Reserve board

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating new National Guard units, including a rapid-response force to handle what the administration calls civil disturbances.

White House authorizes creation of rapid-response National Guard units

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI sued Apple and ChatGPT maker OpenAI in U.S. federal court in Texas, accusing them of illegally conspiring to thwart competition for artificial intelligence.

Breakdown