How to Live a Happy Life (2016) • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Live a Happy Life (2016)

#61

Post by archevel » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 10:00 AM UTC

mbrodersen wrote: post #7

It’s actually quite easy: simply lower your expectations until your life is better than you expected. Sounds like a joke. But is it really?

I agree, but I think you need hope in order to be happy. I.e. happiness is the combination of high hopes and low expectations.

Without high hopes you could just be anticipating things to get worse which tends to lead to anxiety and just a general glum outlook on life. Hoping things will be better tomorrow, but expecting things to get worse is a subtle but important mindset shift.

Re: How to Live a Happy Life (2016)

#62

Post by nsomaru » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 10:03 AM UTC

kashyapc wrote: post #58

There's a reason why Kahneman famously gave up[1] on happiness research, because of our muddled thinking about it. Instead, he argues (which I fully agree with) that we should focus on reducing misery . As a society it is far more difficult to agree on "maximizing well-being", but "minimizing suffering" is an objective we can all agree on as a measure of policy. And he says, setting "reduction of misery" as an object…

That’s interesting, Schopenhauer (and, to my knowledge, the Vedantic tradition) define suffering to be the positive aspect (not as in good, but as in known or evident) and what we experience as happiness to be a negation of that.

I’d be interested on exploring this further, is it an active avenue of research?

Re: How to Live a Happy Life (2016)

#63

Post by kashyapc » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 10:19 AM UTC

nsomaru wrote: post #62

kashyapc wrote: post #58

There's a reason why Kahneman famously gave up[1] on happiness research, because of our muddled thinking about it. Instead, he argues (which I fully agree with) that we should focus on reducing misery . As a society it is far more difficult to agree on "maximizing well-being", but "minimizing suffering" is an objective we can all agree on as a measure of policy. And he says, setting "reduction of misery" as an object…

That’s interesting, Schopenhauer (and, to my knowledge, the Vedantic tradition) define suffering to be the positive aspect (not as in good, but as in known or evident) and what we experience as happiness to be a negation of that. I’d be interested on exploring this further, is it an active avenue of research?

For current work, Paul Bloom comes to mind: "The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering ..." Probably there are others too.

From about 50 years ago, I'd also highly recommend "Toward a Psychology of Being" by Abraham Maslow. What a writer!

That said, ideas about "graceful suffering" go back to the Greek and Roman Stoics from more 2000 years ago. Read some Seneca and Epictetus, I'd say. FWIW, I've written a detailed list of high-quality English translations here[1].

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22990579

Re: How to Live a Happy Life (2016)

#64

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 10:26 AM UTC

jmstfv wrote: post #56

How do you define happiness in the first place? Is it a bliss, joy, pleasure, an ecstatic state of mind, the satisfaction of one's desires, or the absence of them? All of the above? Perhaps none of them? Personally, I define happiness as being content with where you are right now - you wouldn't want to be in any other place, in any other time, in any other state of mind. You're happy here, right now. You have your in…

[deleted]

Re: How to Live a Happy Life (2016)

#65

Post by jmiskovic » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 10:49 AM UTC

jmstfv wrote: post #56

How do you define happiness in the first place? Is it a bliss, joy, pleasure, an ecstatic state of mind, the satisfaction of one's desires, or the absence of them? All of the above? Perhaps none of them? Personally, I define happiness as being content with where you are right now - you wouldn't want to be in any other place, in any other time, in any other state of mind. You're happy here, right now. You have your in…

> “Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want”

Poetic, yes, but doesn't agree with my experience. Anticipation brings excitement and a certain taste of happiness. I would say my 'happiness level' rises closer I am to the goal, and drops fairly quickly after obtaining the goal. If I wanted to maximize someone's happiness over time, I'd try to keep them in state where they are almost achieving their set goals for as long as possible.

Re: How to Live a Happy Life (2016)

#66

Post by susodapop » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 10:52 AM UTC

lucjac wrote: post #44

Nice article, highly agree with it! :) i’ve spent the last few years building an app fir your first point: “write down three things you’re grateful for every day” https://mindhappy.page.link/app Its really amazing to see entries from years ago and you can effectively learn what you like from doing this consistently

At $57/year I’m struggling to see the value-add compared to a more-full featured journaling solution.

Re: How to Live a Happy Life (2016)

#67

Post by jmiskovic » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 11:07 AM UTC

lucjac wrote: post #44

Nice article, highly agree with it! :) i’ve spent the last few years building an app fir your first point: “write down three things you’re grateful for every day” https://mindhappy.page.link/app Its really amazing to see entries from years ago and you can effectively learn what you like from doing this consistently

A superficial feedback based on your play-store presence:

Your app icon is aesthetically unappealing. The yellows, reds and greens are too saturated and clash with each other and with blue background. I wouldn't want to keep seeing that icon on my phone app list.

The app itself also has questionable design choices. The light blue background is too saturated and not good for text readability. I understand the brown background is not part of the app, but it still leaves bad impression in the screenshots. Maybe a color selection tool like huemint.com could be used for more pleasant and usable experience.

Text entry box would benefit from more padding.

There is a screenshot ("73 entries") showing two days with no notes in them, with huge and meaningless cards; that seemed strange and unrepresentative.

The app description doesn't make it clear which features require subscription.

I hope this feedback helps. Didn't intend to be insulting in any way.

Re: How to Live a Happy Life (2016)

#68

Post by darepublic » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 11:18 AM UTC

kashyapc wrote: post #58

There's a reason why Kahneman famously gave up[1] on happiness research, because of our muddled thinking about it. Instead, he argues (which I fully agree with) that we should focus on reducing misery . As a society it is far more difficult to agree on "maximizing well-being", but "minimizing suffering" is an objective we can all agree on as a measure of policy. And he says, setting "reduction of misery" as an object…

Reduction of misery may also entail reduction of happiness

Re: How to Live a Happy Life (2016)

#69

Post by bin_bash » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 11:24 AM UTC

kashyapc wrote: post #58

There's a reason why Kahneman famously gave up[1] on happiness research, because of our muddled thinking about it. Instead, he argues (which I fully agree with) that we should focus on reducing misery . As a society it is far more difficult to agree on "maximizing well-being", but "minimizing suffering" is an objective we can all agree on as a measure of policy. And he says, setting "reduction of misery" as an object…

This is the essence of Buddhism as well

Re: How to Live a Happy Life (2016)

#70

Post by Thursday24 » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 12:05 PM UTC

Happiness is a "skill", not simply a "decision". A skill has to be learnt from the very basics, practiced day to day, and ultimately perfected to the point where the behaviour becomes second nature. Playing the mind skillfully is perhaps as difficult as playing multiple musical instruments simultaneously :) Which also means we all have large room for training and improvement throughout our lives.