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How To Be Happy Anywhere

fastcompany.com

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Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#41

Post by justjimmy »

I wished the author would've made explicit distinction between 'being informed' and 'influenced by mass media'. Being informed to me means being educated and aware of the world around you – how the clothes on your back is made, the resources that are used to make your fancy gadgets – of course anyone would be depressed.

But it's different than to being sucked into a 'lifestyle', the mass media throws at you as stated in the article for obvious reasons. I wished the author made this distinction.

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#43

Post by wr1472 »

spodek wrote: post #28

Information and emotion are orthogonal. If you want to connect them you can, but you don't have to. In other words, you can use more or less information to make yourself happier or unhappier. The ability to manage your emotions is different than the ability to process information, but it can be learned just as well, they just don't teach it in school.

Ignorance is bliss

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#45

Post by forgottenpaswrd »

[deleted] wrote: post #7

[deleted]

So do you believe truth is miserable?

That truth is miserable is just another lie. Yes, every single moment in the world could be 200 people killed, 20 women raped. But there is billions smiling.

People smiling is not news, but people crying is. People building a house is not news, but a fire on one (for every fire there is 1000 new houses) is news.

Movies only show people being killed(5-6 per movie), raped(1average),and disasters.

How many people see 1 murder in all their life?. A rape?. An earthquake? a terrorist attack?

The reality is that this is fairly rare. It is only the media distortion field that makes us believe in a lie.

What this person is telling you is that people with no money is happy, I had experienced it myself in Africa, then going to USA looking at people with SUVs but no friends and working 60h/week and no vacations as slaves for buying the toys TV commercials promise will give them happiness, but do not.

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#46

Post by nate »

This isn't exactly relevant to the article, but somehow shares some of the spirit of what happens to us as we educate/inform ourselves more:

"this very real thing that runs rampant in educated people. It’s called 'impostor syndrome.' The clinical definition is a 'psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments.' It means that you feel like a phony, like you’re just winging it, that you really don’t have any idea what you’re doing."

- Kleon, Austin (2012-02-28). Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#47

Post by forgottenpaswrd »

justjimmy wrote: post #41

I wished the author would've made explicit distinction between 'being informed' and 'influenced by mass media'. Being informed to me means being educated and aware of the world around you – how the clothes on your back is made, the resources that are used to make your fancy gadgets – of course anyone would be depressed. But it's different than to being sucked into a 'lifestyle', the mass media throws at you as stated…

Exactly, it is the difference between "go and see it yourself" and using intermediaries to tell you about the world.

The intermediaries could distort this information for their own profit like "war on terror" to create wars, or to sell more, or to eliminate adversaries(portray only what is bad about them).

I don't think everybody would be depressed if they saw how their gadgets are made, in fact it would be very useful to know to decide and choose those that make your gadgets right, but it cost a little more.

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#48

Post by mvzink »

"I came to realize that the more informed we are, the less happy we become because of our tendency to get caught up in constant comparisons."

This should have been his conclusion, not some made up theory about why the state of the world seems worse than it really is.

This isn't news. Rousseau called it amour propre.[1][2] It is the unhappiness and dissatisfaction peculiar to modern society, wherein constant comparisons with others give us new values, breed competition and the urge for power, and prevent happiness. It also leads to a sort of schadenfreude written about by others: you only enjoy what you have insofar as nobody else has similar enjoyments.

And Rousseau is mostly known as a political theorist; who knows how many others have noticed precisely this phenomenon. Yet nobody seems to know how to overcome this, despite this also being written about. (Sorry, I don't have any more sources off hand, ask me and I'll come up with them when I have time.)

The surest way: ego-death. The longer yet easier way: realize that others are not their belongings, accomplishments, or even their past or their future; these are effects, the person is the cause. Internalize this fact by acting in accordance with it: deliberately try to see others only as themselves, not as a collection of effects. Then realize the same is true of you and start acting like it.

[1] The wikipedia article is useful, but doesn't give a good understanding of amour propre: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_Inequality [2] The SparkNotes glossary puts it plainly: http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/inequality/terms.html

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#49

Post by Mz »

forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #45
[deleted] wrote: post #7

[deleted]

So do you believe truth is miserable? That truth is miserable is just another lie. Yes, every single moment in the world could be 200 people killed, 20 women raped. But there is billions smiling. People smiling is not news, but people crying is. People building a house is not news, but a fire on one (for every fire there is 1000 new houses) is news. Movies only show people being killed(5-6 per movie), raped(1average)…

While I agree with your general sentiment and have said similar things myself, I want to note that I read once that if you ask a room full of women how many have been raped, about half the hands go up. If you ask how many have had sex after saying "no", about 90% of the hands go up. So rape -- I.E. non consenting sex -- appears to be fairly common (and other violent/unfortunate events seem to be plenty common as well). A lot of people just do not talk openly about the experience because it makes them feel ashamed or because of the negative reactions of other people or simply because it is not deemed appropriate for polite conversation. I was molested and raped as a child and I am quite open about that fact, which makes many people very uncomfortable with me. It also causes some people to share their story with me privately, people who do not normally admit to what they have been through.

I think "news" focuses on the negative because it helps the human race to survive. I mean running around announcing a storm is coming can help save lives whereas running around announcing it is a beautiful sunny day does not typically have a protective function.

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#50

Post by jakeonthemove »

"I’ve seen what you can get, and we still don’t have many of the things. So, we need to work harder. Then, I’m sure, one day we will get there." - That's the spirit!

The only reason why they're not happy is that they make the (very common) mistake of delaying the happiness until the end result. With so much to learn and so much to achieve in this world, that end result never comes, that's why we need to learn to enjoy the process of getting there itself.

Enjoy the road, not the destination! Look back at what you've achieved - be proud! Look at what others have achieved - be happy for them! Set your eyes on the next thing you want and go ahead and try to get it - that's the best way to be happy, even in a first world country (that sounds weird :-)).

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