Hank Smith is a natural teacher. That fact is evidenced by the clamber to register for his religion classes at Brigham Young University; by his talks on CD; by his popularity as a speaker at events like Especially for Youth and BYU’s Campus Education Week; and even by Smith himself.
“Teaching comes naturally to me,” he said in an interview. “I really enjoy teaching.”
He has been teaching and speaking about the gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since he was attending college at Dixie State University and worked for EFY programs. One time a friend asked Smith to substitute in his seminary class for a couple of weeks, and Smith did so happily.
“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I had a really good time. And while I was there, one of the teachers said, ‘Have you ever thought about doing this as a career?’ And I said, ‘Nah, not really.’ And he said, ‘Well, you ought to think about it.’”
Smith did think about it, and he was hired on as a part-time seminary teacher while he finished his business degree. Then he decided to stick with it.
“I just really fell in love with teaching and spending time with LDS youth, just really enjoyed it," he said. "So when the time came that I graduated, they offered me a full-time job, and I took it.”
From there, Smith taught seminary in Park City and West Jordan while earning a master’s degree in business administration from Utah State University and starting a family with his wife, Sara. As he taught, he honed his teaching skills, and eventually decided to earn a doctoral degree in educational leadership at BYU. His years studying at BYU led him to where he is now, teaching full-time in the religion department and continuing to speak at events, conferences and firesides.
Those years have also led him to take on a new role that he said has not been as comfortable for him as teaching always has been — author.
Smith’s book, “Be Happy: Simple Secrets to a Happier Life” (Covenant Communications, $10.99), is a study in deliberately incorporating attitudes and practices into your life to increase happiness. It’s written in the conversational, often funny tone he uses in seminars and classes, but Smith said writing a book wasn’t like teaching a class or speaking in front of a large group.
“I knew that I could teach, but writing just does not come naturally to me,” he said. “I knew I wanted to write a book, but it was just so difficult.”
He struggled to put his words onto paper until eventually he and his editor at Covenant Communications came up with a somewhat unorthodox solution.
“I was doing a big seminar on happiness,” he said. “And I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just record it and transcribe that and then take what I’ve transcribed and then I’ve got something to work with. I’ve got something on the paper.'”
This approach seemed to work, and the hours of transcribing and massaging text resulted in “Be Happy.”
“We transcribed all the talks from the seminar, and then after that it seemed to flow,” said Smith. “So yeah, it was difficult, but that was the only way I could get it off the ground.”
In the book, Smith draws from scientific research, scripture stories, prophetic teachings and the experiences of himself and others to teach about happiness and how it can be attained, or at least how it can be cultivated.
“(When) you write a book like this, you’re not telling people, ‘I’m going to make you happy,’” he said. “That’s not going to happen. But you can be happier than you are. And that’s OK for most people.”
The book gives small, practical ways that people can train their bodies and brains to create happiness. Some ideas are as simple as getting enough sleep and eating healthy, while others are less obvious, like spending less time looking at screens and more time outside.
Smith emphasized a chapter on depression and how it changes the brain and traps those who suffer from it in unhappiness. He said that chapter is meant to explain depression in a way that will help both people with depression and people who know someone with depression.
“Depression is so debilitating — the darkness, the discouragement,” Smith said. “If you don’t understand depression and you look at someone who can’t get out of bed, you wonder what’s wrong with them. … I wanted to try to connect those two people.”
All together, the book teaches what people can and cannot control as they seek happiness, and then offers practices that can increase happiness.
“Happiness is an important and very personal topic,” Smith said. “I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t think about this and ponder on it and really want more happiness in their life. It’s something we can’t get away from. We’re kind of wired to want happiness and to pursue it.”
Then, in his characteristic lighthearted tone, he said, “Hopefully (the book) helps someone. Hopefully someone besides my mother.”