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Path to true happiness 'revealed'

news.bbc.co.uk

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Re: Path to true happiness 'revealed'

#2

Post by eliot_sykes »

The main thing I took away from this article were the 10 recommendations in the grey box towards the end-right-hand-side of the article:

* Plant something and nurture it

* Count your blessings - at least five - at the end of each day

* Take time to talk - have an hour-long conversation with a loved one each week

* Phone a friend whom you have not spoken to for a while and arrange to meet up

* Give yourself a treat every day and take the time to really enjoy it

* Have a good laugh at least once a day

* Get physical - exercise for half an hour three times a week

* Smile at and/or say hello to a stranger at least once each day

* Cut your TV viewing by half

* Spread some kindness - do a good turn for someone every day

Re: Path to true happiness 'revealed'

#3

Post by flipbrad »

eliot_sykes wrote: post #2

The main thing I took away from this article were the 10 recommendations in the grey box towards the end-right-hand-side of the article: * Plant something and nurture it * Count your blessings - at least five - at the end of each day * Take time to talk - have an hour-long conversation with a loved one each week * Phone a friend whom you have not spoken to for a while and arrange to meet up * Give yourself a treat ev…

there are so many things to add to that list. My favourites would be:

* move away from situations when you don't, on a regular basis, feel like smiling whilst, for example, walking down the road. The world is huge and your spending power relative to many places is vast. Don't be afraid of leaving the rut. * from time to time strip everything away and rebuild. Some of the best forests need wildfires to sprout the seeds cast by trees. Throw junk out. End an overly demanding career. Rebuild things that have been static for a while. * scale your expectations down. Get used to bland, unexotic foods, then reintroduce, gradually, the more exotic treats we have become used to - asian foods, spices, heavy seasoning, etc. Each rediscovery will be amazing * Controlling for everything else, having a bigger house is not normally worth the longer commute, happiness wise. Stay close to work, or find work close to your big house * Live with a large number of people or get to know neighbours * Don't bother with traditional donation-driven charity (pay and forget), which will not make you happy, but do add a social enterprise angle to your work. Take an occasional pay cut to give discounts to needy customers, or even do pro bono work

Re: Path to true happiness 'revealed'

#5

Post by grinich »

flipbrad wrote: post #3
eliot_sykes wrote: post #2

The main thing I took away from this article were the 10 recommendations in the grey box towards the end-right-hand-side of the article: * Plant something and nurture it * Count your blessings - at least five - at the end of each day * Take time to talk - have an hour-long conversation with a loved one each week * Phone a friend whom you have not spoken to for a while and arrange to meet up * Give yourself a treat ev…

there are so many things to add to that list. My favourites would be: * move away from situations when you don't, on a regular basis, feel like smiling whilst, for example, walking down the road. The world is huge and your spending power relative to many places is vast. Don't be afraid of leaving the rut. * from time to time strip everything away and rebuild. Some of the best forests need wildfires to sprout the seed…

Great list.

If you want to break those into new lines, you need to insert a blank line. More info here: http://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc

Re: Path to true happiness 'revealed'

#7

Post by potatolicious »

eliot_sykes wrote: post #2

The main thing I took away from this article were the 10 recommendations in the grey box towards the end-right-hand-side of the article: * Plant something and nurture it * Count your blessings - at least five - at the end of each day * Take time to talk - have an hour-long conversation with a loved one each week * Phone a friend whom you have not spoken to for a while and arrange to meet up * Give yourself a treat ev…

> "Smile at and/or say hello to a stranger at least once each day"

Must emphasize this - I find that a lot of times when I'm feeling very blah a surefire fix is to strike up a conversation with a stranger, or at the very least exchange pleasantries.

It's depressing how socially disconnected modern life has made us - we live in the densest conglomeration of humans history has ever known, yet we've never been more alone. You will shuffle past thousands of fellow human beings during your daily commute without ever having learned the slightest thing about any one of them. You will all sit silently, absorbed in tedium and boredom while a vast treasure trove of experiences and stories goes unheard you - including your own.

I'm not especially social I have to admit - but I think humans are hardwired to desire contact. I cannot overstate the importance of this - it's simply too bad that society has made conversing with strangers a faux pas... even though in my experience most people crave it more than they'd care to admit.

Re: Path to true happiness 'revealed'

#8

Post by failquicker »

I can't speak for anyone else. But for me, I truly started getting happy when I started "Reveling in Simplicity" Not in a superficial way, not in the "minimal is cool" way. But in the I really don't need much to be happy way.

I've moved a LOT. I was in the military. And once I got out, I has a string of businesses I started all over the US. And I use to carry these boxes of "STUFF" with me. My wife too. We had all this crap, that was soooooo important to us. But half the time we never even bothered to unpack it. Finally, we both came to our senses, and sold, gave, or threw most of it away.

I hear people talk about "Golden Handcuffs" I know what you mean. I had them. But you know what, I was able to shake them too. So maybe they're not handcuffs. Just decorations. That we like so much we won't take them off. But we can.

My family is great now. We live on so much less. And our quality of life is through the roof! If my family was a startup, we would have so much runway our competitors would be shaking in their boots. And just like a startup, that gives you a lot of freedom to experiment.

I love to experiment.

Simplicity is the key to happiness. At least that's my opinion. Sorry for the rant in the comments. Didn't mean for it to go on so long.

Re: Path to true happiness 'revealed'

#9

Post by jgrahamc »

potatolicious wrote: post #7
eliot_sykes wrote: post #2

The main thing I took away from this article were the 10 recommendations in the grey box towards the end-right-hand-side of the article: * Plant something and nurture it * Count your blessings - at least five - at the end of each day * Take time to talk - have an hour-long conversation with a loved one each week * Phone a friend whom you have not spoken to for a while and arrange to meet up * Give yourself a treat ev…

> "Smile at and/or say hello to a stranger at least once each day" Must emphasize this - I find that a lot of times when I'm feeling very blah a surefire fix is to strike up a conversation with a stranger, or at the very least exchange pleasantries. It's depressing how socially disconnected modern life has made us - we live in the densest conglomeration of humans history has ever known, yet we've never been more alon…

I agree about this. After I read "The Game" and "Rules of The Game" by Neil Strauss (which are about being a pick-up artist) I took away the lesson that the hardest part (at least for me) was walking up to strangers and talking to them. It was amazingly liberating to do it, however. What I do is ask them some question that they could plausibly answer as a way to starting a conversation. I have had very, very, very few bad reactions.
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