Happiness is Contentment

Notes

Claim

Happiness is not a destination, it's a journey. If our happiness depends on "when I'll have x I'll be happy", we will never be happy because we either won't achieve it, or by the time we'll do we will have a different goal Deferring happiness to future goals creates present suffering.

Explanation

We are often poor judges about what makes us happy. We can even lack the sufficient Self-awareness reveals mental and emotional states enabling intentional action to even know that we are currently happy. We also have to remember that due to Adaptation returns happiness to baseline regardless of life changes, happiness is not about having more, because we will fall back to the same level of happiness.

Why it matters

Happiness is about mindfulness, about Practicing gratitude shifts perspective toward positive wellbeing, to enjoy what we currently have, to appreciate the good in our lives. It's not about trying to fulfill our endless desires, nor is it trying to do it all.

Happiness will be easier to achieve when we would use things less for their Instrumental value treats things as means rather than ends value, and focus more on their Some things matter for what they are not what they do value.

Examples

A Billionaire that focuses only on getting more money is not rich, while the working class family that enjoys spending time together is.

Supporters

It is to live in Moderation and Minimalism, to see that the less we need, the happier we can be.

Opposers

It is about setting realistic and minimalistic Expectations shape wellbeing through the gap between desires and reality, to set the bar lower so that relatively we would enjoy more what we get, instead of expecting for the "best" and being disappointed when we only have "great".

Open questions

Visual

Overview

🔼Topic:: Happiness (Nature and Sources) Source:: History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps Source:: Aristotle Link:: https://share.snipd.com/episode/575595c0-a956-4d95-b61b-14685aa73745