Happiness is a multimillion-dollar industry, catering to our deep desire to live a joyful life and to a belief that, as human beings, we deserve to be happy. Gopi Kallayil believes in reversing that equation. He holds that what we truly deserve is to be human, and that the key to happiness lies in being 100 percent who we are, even if - maybe especially if - that means falling on our faces. Which Gopi has done. Many times. But he's also had spectacular success. This book explores the qualities that make us human and have helped to make Gopi successful and happy in both his personal life and his professional career. Full of candor, compassion, and Gopi's signature love of the absurd, The Happy Human spans the period from his first job as a software programmer in South China to his current position as an executive at Google in Silicon Valley. Each chapter captures an event in Gopi's life where he dug deep and found the means to express himself from a place of radical con dence: Singing live at Burning Man, even though he sings off-key. Participating in a triathlon, with an openwater swim, when he had only swum in a pool. (Lifeguards pulled him into their boat to save him.) Speaking at Toastmasters International - and being willing to be awful - before finally, years later, becoming one of their top speakers. He also weaves in accounts of others who have dreamed big and acted on their dreams. Gopi's stories and practices guide us gently toward happiness by embracing not only our own selves but the entire human experience, inspiring us to expect miracles daily, to use every fall as a chance to bounce, to live our lives full-out.

The Internet has become humanity's invisible central nervous system, connecting us at the speed of thought. More people today have access to mobile phones than have access to clean drinking water. Yet the most important technology is still the one within us: our brain, body, and consciousness. A fast-paced career in the high-tech industry combined with a deep yoga and meditation practice has allowed Gopi Kallayil-Google's Chief Evangelist for Brand Marketing and one of the leading voices encouraging yoga and mindfulness in the workplace today-to integrate his inner and outer technologies to a remarkable degree. Wisdom from his yoga mat and meditation cushion guides his professional career, and his work life provides the perfect classroom to deepen his wisdom practice. The Internet to the Inner-Net guides the rest of us to do the same. In some three dozen wide-ranging, sometimes provocative essays, Gopi shares his experiments in conscious living and offers insight, inspiration, and rituals-including yoga, mindful eating, and even napping-to help us access our own inner worlds. If you're looking for grounded practical wisdom that might simultaneously help you become more creative, adaptable, enthusiastic, effective, or resilient, you'll find it in this user's manual for the technology within-along with colorful insight into the successful Google culture. In five sections, from "Log In" (which offers mindful ways of connecting and engaging) to "Clear Out Your In-Box" (shedding what doesn't serve you to make space for what does) to "Thank You for Subscribing" (a reminder to live with gratitude), Gopi lays out practices and perspectives that you can use starting right now to live with more purpose, fulfillment, and joy.