41–50 of 53 posts
Family, friends, health, purpose. Even without the latest gadgets and being a millionaire, if you have the love of family and friends you can find happiness. I guarantee you won’t find happiness by reading the NYT all day and getting worked up.
Being a millionaire won't make you happy. Now a billionaire
Enough to have people around you always to absorb your manic-ness to feel a little better. Works for the president
Anybody ever watch Steve Cutts, especially the animations he did for Moby? They are crazy depressing. I feel like happiness is exactly what Denis Leary explianed it as. It's a brief moment, like a smoke or a beer. But on to the videos: [happiness]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9dZQelULDk [moby are you lost]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VASywEuqFd8
I still like Naval Ravikant’s definition from his extraordinary guest spot on the Farnam Street podcast[1]: “Today, I believe that happiness is, it’s really a default state. It’s what’s there when you remove the sense that something is missing in your life. We are highly judgmental, survival, and replication machines. We are constantly walking around thinking I need this, I need that, trapped in the web of desires. H…
If it were the default state would people find it so hard to attain? It's hard not to want things, to not believe that there's just one more thing that could make things better. If it were simple it wouldn't be the core basis of so many religions.
And based on my experience with Christianity, much of Jesus' teaching, while not exactly the same, also emphasizes practicing not wanting things ("See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?")
I wouldn't be surprised if this thought is a core element of most religions. Of course, religions are messy, so you're not entirely wrong either.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
NYT used to be a really good paper though. I thought it was supposed to be this amazing intellectual, philosophical, humanistic thing spreading the courageous word of the truth to unwoked. These people were supposed to be focusing on what we have in common and building common ground. Fundamentally, the formula of news in 2019 is like this (working on the this): Create a topic that ignores basic human need that everyo…
Remember that news is a failing business. Most reporters and opinion writers are young (people with seniority who would have helped them with topics were laid off), they have massive student loan debt, they live in expensive metropolises (NYC in this case), are helped with rent by their parents, and are working at their first job. Those factors explain what you read on news sites and the distance between it and the c…
It's easy to see the level of desperation behind the words, they're provocateurs deliberately being disingenuous to get clicks, with a big smile of how they're duping everyone.
They're very mean and hurtful and should apologize. If only they just admitted they are in huge debt, in an expensive city, and have lack experience in the world.
Also, one more thing:
> people with seniority who would have helped them with topics were laid off
The management definitely betrayed the ones that made them. You can see it when you click some news articles and instead of a reporter, there is music and text scrolling made by some intern. Behind that, there were once proud people with jobs, and it has to be hell for them.
Maybe I don't get it, but wasn't there a concept a ways back where they had standards, legitimacy (gravitas even) and were good quality? I guess the end of newspapers destroyed that.
By the way, do you ever notice that news in UK, Australia seems a bit more sober and more mature than USA?
What does being happy even mean? What does it get you as a goal? I’m not sure it’s even worth chasing. My favorite view on “happiness” comes from The Oatmeal, How to be perfectly unhappy: https://www.theoatmeal.com/comics/unhappy It boils down to this: stop chasing happiness or joy or whatever marketing departments have decided you need and their product can provide. Focus on meaning.
Unless meaning makes me happy, I don't see the reason to focus on it. This discussion is rather circular, to be honest. Happiness, by my definition, is a state of having achieved a goal or goals. (I wrote this lengthy thing over ten years ago trying to put hard definitions on words like happiness/satisfaction/pleasure etc: http://www.karmatics.com/docs/dictionary.html ) Maybe you define happiness differently than me,…
The pursuit of "happiness" is just about the best way to ensure you remain unhappy. I'm not sure when precisely it happened, but "happiness" got a lot harder to find as soon as humanity hypostatized it and made it into a psuedo-religious concept and the end all-be-all of life--seems like everyone just want's to "be happy". Unfortunately, "happiness" is not concrete--it's a lazy stand-in for the goals you ought to act…
> When he had ended, the holy hermit was a moment silent, then said: "My son, I have attended to thy story, and I know the maiden. I have myself seen her, as have many. Know, then, that her name, which she would not even permit thee to inquire, is Happiness. Thou saidst the truth to her, that she is capricious for she imposeth conditions that man can not fulfill, and delinquency is punished by desertion. She cometh only when unsought, and will not be questioned. One manifestation of curiosity, one sign of doubt, one expression of misgiving, and she is away! How long didst thou have her at any time before she fled?"
> "Only a single instant," answered Haïta, blushing with shame at the confession. "Each time I drove her away in one moment."
> "Unfortunate youth " said the holy hermit, "but for thine indiscretion thou mightst have had her for two."
Ambrose Bierce - Haita the Shepherd.
Happiness, in the fundamental sense, is a choice. That choice can be easier or harder at times, just like it's easier to speak your mind with a good friend then in a room full of strangers. It is however a choice, and it's a choice you can make even when it's really difficult. Happiness shouldn't be conflated with what the article calls "joy". Joy is good and fine, but it's a primarily external phenomenon. I find hap…
You didn't state your circumstances but in my limited experience I rarely meet happy people that don't have a sitaution for happiness. They have a loving partner and/or loving friends and family around and/or a fulfilling job. VS say myself which hasn't had a lover in > 16 years, no family within 7000 miles, and no hangout friends, only a few friends I see once every 1 to 2 months. In my 50s also makes it hard to fin…
I suggest this based on my own life. I've had moments where I was fundamentally unhappy, and despite having a partner and friends on the books, I was effectively alone. Likewise, I've had moments where I was happy but alone, but didn't struggle to build up meaningful connections relatively quickly.
The reason I suggest the feedback loop mechanism isn't because writing in a journal is going to directly bring you happiness anymore than reading a book on finances will make you rich. It's because it gives you the insight into your life so you can make the changes needed.
As a side note, if you want to find friends and companions, you need to engage with others and have shared activities and rituals. Check out meetup, check out your local social groups (Elks, etc). Attend events, talk with other people, etc.
The pursuit of "happiness" is just about the best way to ensure you remain unhappy. I'm not sure when precisely it happened, but "happiness" got a lot harder to find as soon as humanity hypostatized it and made it into a psuedo-religious concept and the end all-be-all of life--seems like everyone just want's to "be happy". Unfortunately, "happiness" is not concrete--it's a lazy stand-in for the goals you ought to act…
I strongly disagree.
We may agree, however, that the route many people take in pursuit may be somewhat... misguided.