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How To Be Happy Anywhere

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Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#91
post #7

[deleted]

Sounds like you get an ego trip off your depression.

Some of the worlds greatest artists, inventors, etc did their best work because they confronted the darkness of the world, and the darkness of themselves. And because of their darkness they had a lot to work with.

But to say that only unhappy people see the world for what it is is highly facetious. No, in fact, it's more than that. It's evidence of a clear desire to interpret your own suffering in a way that demonstrates your superiority over others, and as ploy to discredit those who spread hope and positivity.

I think it's very sad if the lenses of your world are so narrow that you can only see the depressed as wise, and the positive as dreamers, and I pity you, but don't try and sell that perverted mindset on to the rest of us.

The fact is, people use Youtube, Farmville, etc as a form of escapism from the challenges of life, which do, as you said, include confronting reality and the many negatives of it. This is an incredibly difficult task, and it's understandable that so many of us shy from it, in small ways almost every day. But it isn't an impossible task, and there are many great (and happy) people who demonstrate this. Off the top of my head Gandhi, Mandela, and the Dalai Lama all embody this truth perfectly.

And as for creative people needing depression to fuel their creativity; go watch 'Bill Cunningham New York', and tell me that creative brilliance and happiness aren't compatible.

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#92
post #7

[deleted]

Sounds like you get an ego trip off your depression. Some of the worlds greatest artists, inventors, etc did their best work because they confronted the darkness of the world, and the darkness of themselves. And because of their darkness they had a lot to work with. But to say that only unhappy people see the world for what it is is highly facetious. No, in fact, it's more than that. It's evidence of a clear desire t…

[deleted]

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#93
post #7

[deleted]

I don't know how to do this without ripping you apart, but here it is. You are not depressed. Do not hijack this word. At this point, in 2012, depression is the debilitating clinical illness with potentially life-threatening implications. Sadness, dissatisfaction, melancholia, and such are all excellent terms that help describe the range of feeling you enjoy so much, and much has been written about how positive these…

"You are not depressed. Do not hijack this word. depression is the debilitating clinical illness with potentially life-threatening implications"

Oh thank God! Thank you doctor for un-diagnosing me! And all online without meeting me in person. Thank you so much. Please go help the others, tell them they're not depressed too.

Look, plain and simple. I'm describing all of this from my point of view. I'm not going to spend 5 paragraphs being politically correct or adding, In my personal opinion in front of all my sentences. FOR ME: It hurts, but I know it'll be over, so I take the time to take advantage of it, and I've grown to like it. I see happiness as a dream, a pleasant one that I enjoy waking up from every now and then. You should have just called me condescending. lol I would have just agreed and moved on.

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#94
post #79
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let's use TV as an example. So yep, if you spend your time on one of those cable channels where you watch rich people all the time, pretty soon it's not that you'll understand how rich people live, it's that pretty soon you'll start believing that it is better to live like they do. In Brazil and India, rich people on soap operas don't have many kids; sure enough, when you correlate the opening of TV stations with b…

I read some speculation that these declining birth rates with the availability of television was due to having a new alternatives to sex after the sun went down. Without TV and electricity (lighting for reading and other activities) there are not as many activities available to compete with baby-making.

A very plausible reason. In Poland, martial law led to baby boom.

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how to do this without ripping you apart, but here it is. You are not depressed. Do not hijack this word. At this point, in 2012, depression is the debilitating clinical illness with potentially life-threatening implications. Sadness, dissatisfaction, melancholia, and such are all excellent terms that help describe the range of feeling you enjoy so much, and much has been written about how positive these…

"You are not depressed. Do not hijack this word. depression is the debilitating clinical illness with potentially life-threatening implications" Oh thank God! Thank you doctor for un-diagnosing me! And all online without meeting me in person. Thank you so much. Please go help the others, tell them they're not depressed too. Look, plain and simple. I'm describing all of this from my point of view. I'm not going to spe…

You're right, I should have said that what you're describing sounds like something that is very much not depression, as you're describing your experience as beneficial, something thats overall positive to your life, not something harmful. And yeah I'm not a doctor, and if you have been diagnosed with depression I'm overstepping my bounds, but we all know that even professionals, especially in the field of mental illness make mistakes. But clearly a something painful is not necessarily the same as something that causes harm, and if the painful emotion you have is something that improves your life, that is the complete opposite of the definition of mental illness.

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#96
I've been to Medellin and that's not their first escalator. Maybe it's their first outdoor escalator. The city is actually modern and a great place to visit. It's 75F/24C all year. You read stories like this and you'd think it's 3rd world. In much of Central/South America, you will find slums, but a lot of people live quite well and you'd think you were in an average European or US city.

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#98
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.

Of course you can. But the unexamined life is not worth living.

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#99
post #13

I'm sure he used randomized blind statistically significant samples in each location to come to the conclusion that there were fewer smiles in the Chinese neighborhood. And he conducted experiments with isolated control groups to come to the conclusion that this was caused by the TV in their living rooms.

Is it necessary to do this before ever reaching any conclusion? Should we never trust our own observations until they've been approved with such vigor?

Only if we care about getting reliablly correct answers.

Re: How To Be Happy Anywhere

#100
post #74
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let's use TV as an example. So yep, if you spend your time on one of those cable channels where you watch rich people all the time, pretty soon it's not that you'll understand how rich people live, it's that pretty soon you'll start believing that it is better to live like they do. In Brazil and India, rich people on soap operas don't have many kids; sure enough, when you correlate the opening of TV stations with b…

It's also possible that there's a co-factor: TV appeared about the same time as reliable birth control.

Reliable birth control penetrated each district or governmental sub-unit at the same time as the TV stations?
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