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A 70-year-old's secret to a full and happy life

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Re: A 70-year-old's secret to a full and happy life

#131

Post by aurbano »

keyle wrote: post #60
Scapeghost wrote: post #47

The secret to a happy life is ignorance. As in not caring about stuff. There's too much depressing shit in the world, too many injustices happening to other people and lifeforms, to truly be happy with that knowledge even if your own life is perfect.

You might find that stoicism is the better approach rather that pure ignorance. Living in ignorance and seeking to learn nothing is just fueling the dystopian world we're walking into. The most content people in the world are people who know everything there is to know about physics, philosophy, chemistry etc. That deep knowledge opens their eyes to the big picture. Ignore the news, but learn everything there is to k…

You've managed to put my feelings in words really accurately.

I don't know if this is the best way to be, but it works remarkably well!

Re: A 70-year-old's secret to a full and happy life

#132

Post by sedeki »

chillwaves wrote: post #123
Diederich wrote: post #23

I was raised by my grandparents. They were born in the 1910s, and grew up in the midwest during the dust bowl and great depression. My grandfather lost most of his buddies in Guadalcanal and Burma during World War II, and, in his own words, fully expected to become worm food himself. He said little, but one phrase he did repeat more than any other was simple: "Any day you're breathing is a good day." To him, every da…

I find this a cavalier attitude. I'm glad that your grandpa seems to have life a life fulfilled, but that's not the reality for many folks. If his biology allows him to trudge on, to always see the silver lining, how can you call this wisdom? Some people have a lower tolerance for suffering. Some people do not find life worth living, maybe for biological reasons. The reason I don't call this wisdom is because for man…

I understand your sentiment, but I disagree. I think everyone should put their frustrations into perspective every now and then, instead of living to compartmentalized or as on a schedule.

Re: A 70-year-old's secret to a full and happy life

#133

Post by bamboozled »

Supermancho wrote: post #128
honzzz wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to admit that the warning (multiple) for sensitive people bugs me. I believe you mean well but I think this meme should die. If this is not overprotectiveness then I do not know what is. You are not leading people to fire, you are leading them to an article about fire. Everybody reading it should be happy they can just read about it and they do not have to live it.

Indeed, nothing says condescending and self absorbed like a disclosure that is code for "you may be too mentally challenged/fragile to participate in an open exhange of ideas, particularly these, child"

It seems you might be the one who is over sensitive?

I didn’t mean it to be condescending at all, I genuinely found that story super disturbing and I didn’t want to put others through it unless they wanted to be put through it.

The scene the guy is describing real sounds like an apocalyptic hellscape, if you’re not somewhat disturbed by it, then I’m not sure what to say.

Re: A 70-year-old's secret to a full and happy life

#134

Post by GoblinSlayer »

devmunchies wrote: post #32

Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli) said (at around 70 as well), "The notion that one's goal in life is to be happy, that your own happiness is the goal... I just don't buy it" I think as we focus on mastery or craftsmanship, happiness finds us. Not everyone, but I'd say modern society is hedonistic—we seek happiness instead of achievement and get neither.

Yes? Self-actualization is the tip of Maslow pyramid.

Re: A 70-year-old's secret to a full and happy life

#135

Post by honzzz »

bamboozled wrote: post #133
Supermancho wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, nothing says condescending and self absorbed like a disclosure that is code for "you may be too mentally challenged/fragile to participate in an open exhange of ideas, particularly these, child"

It seems you might be the one who is over sensitive? I didn’t mean it to be condescending at all, I genuinely found that story super disturbing and I didn’t want to put others through it unless they wanted to be put through it. The scene the guy is describing real sounds like an apocalyptic hellscape, if you’re not somewhat disturbed by it, then I’m not sure what to say.

I am not the one who finds what you wrote condescending but I would like to ask you a question - you seem to believe that being disturbed by an article is something bad - where does this come from? Is this common where you live?

It is just that this view seems to be gaining popularity and I don't get it. Being disturbed by something is an emotion and emotions serve to orient us. They are useful - both pleasant and unpleasant. Filtering out unpleasant emotions is like wearing glasses that only let you see things you like - why would anyone want that? Do you believe this is a good thing?

And BTW, if you find that article disturbing, I would really like to know what would you think about things like reading The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell... or visiting Auschwitz?

Re: A 70-year-old's secret to a full and happy life

#136

Post by greggman2 »

WalterBright wrote: post #58
Diederich wrote: post #23

I was raised by my grandparents. They were born in the 1910s, and grew up in the midwest during the dust bowl and great depression. My grandfather lost most of his buddies in Guadalcanal and Burma during World War II, and, in his own words, fully expected to become worm food himself. He said little, but one phrase he did repeat more than any other was simple: "Any day you're breathing is a good day." To him, every da…

> He said little, but one phrase he did repeat more than any other was simple: "Any day you're breathing is a good day." To him, every day, every year, every one of the six decades past 1944 was a cherry on top gift. My father, B-17 navigator, said he accepted that he was going to die in combat. The odds at the time of surviving were terrible (about 80% casualties). He did survive (hence my existence), and told me th…

This seems trivally easy to counter. Should the starving homeless person look at every day as a blessing? How about the sex traded slaves? "They were going to live another day, what did they have to be concerned about?"

I'm not trying to discount your point that you should have some gratitude or put things in perspective but happiness requires much more than just not dying. If nothing else your father had a wife and you as other hopefully joys in his life. Some people have no one.

Re: A 70-year-old's secret to a full and happy life

#137

Post by greggman2 »

bamboozled wrote: post #107
trevyn wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really think this is true. I don't know how to extract a prescription from that, though.

Can’t you just read about others stories like this and put yourself in their shoes, I guess it’s enough. There is suffering on an immense scale daily. * Warning - Following is Graphic not for sensitive people * For example I read from the comfort of my bed last night that a beekeeper just lost practically everything in Australia and when fires ripped through his property, to add insult to injury, when he went into th…

Thank you for the warning

Re: A 70-year-old's secret to a full and happy life

#138

Post by close04 »

greggman2 wrote: post #136
WalterBright wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He said little, but one phrase he did repeat more than any other was simple: "Any day you're breathing is a good day." To him, every day, every year, every one of the six decades past 1944 was a cherry on top gift. My father, B-17 navigator, said he accepted that he was going to die in combat. The odds at the time of surviving were terrible (about 80% casualties). He did survive (hence my existence), and told me th…

This seems trivally easy to counter. Should the starving homeless person look at every day as a blessing? How about the sex traded slaves? "They were going to live another day, what did they have to be concerned about?" I'm not trying to discount your point that you should have some gratitude or put things in perspective but happiness requires much more than just not dying. If nothing else your father had a wife and…

Going through any traumatic experience will change you in ways you can't imagine until it happens. It moves the bar to a point from which it will probably never fully come back, something will always be there to serve as a reference. To anybody who went through trauma looking at other people's lesser trauma looks like "trivialities". But it never works the same way the other way around. You can imagine lesser trauma but not really greater trauma.

> happiness requires much more than just not dying

Probably not for the people who don't have just the hypothetical appreciation of being alive but actually "cheated" death when it was all but certain.

Re: A 70-year-old's secret to a full and happy life

#139

Post by sabas123 »

cmdshiftf4 wrote: post #83
devmunchies wrote: post #32

Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli) said (at around 70 as well), "The notion that one's goal in life is to be happy, that your own happiness is the goal... I just don't buy it" I think as we focus on mastery or craftsmanship, happiness finds us. Not everyone, but I'd say modern society is hedonistic—we seek happiness instead of achievement and get neither.

>we seek happiness instead of achievement and get neither. Probably because we've been conditioned (through billions of dollars, spent yearly, on marketing) to believe that happiness comes with the acquisition of certain items, status or experiences. We've conflated happiness with dopamine rushes and short-lived pleasure, and believe the feeling can be elongated by merely emulating the actions which either provided b…

But fuck this world if mastering your craft turns out to be just as stressful and painful as seeking happiness from material wealth.

Re: A 70-year-old's secret to a full and happy life

#140

Post by Tempest1981 »

starpilot wrote: post #103

This is why people make fun of HN. How to be a billionaire: Work hard! How to start a business: Start working, believe in yourself! Now that I've read OP article, I realize what I've been doing wrong all my life. I had disabled my "fun" switch. Glad someone finally pointed it out. Everything is so much better now, wow! Thank you!

Although the discussion here is pretty high quality.
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