When we view happiness as a buildup of happy feelings, seeking such happiness actually leaves us empty.  Alternatively, happiness seen as full life participation is fulfilling.  To be published by Sounds True May 2012, A Unified Theory of Happiness: An East-Meets-West-Approach to Fully Loving Your Life offers a clear understanding on how to go about experiencing full life participation.  It lays out the tools coming from our Western culture to make us actively part of life.  It also presents Eastern paths that foster awareness of our participation in life. 
With the Theory of Elastic Consciousness the author and practicing psychologist Dr. Andrea F. Polard provides a much needed synthesis of Western and Eastern thought.