Love this post. The same phenomenon of restlessness is visible in every walk of life - things as simple as buying a dress, a gadget that provides an ephemeral period of satisfaction and externally driven happiness only to get back into the "happiness seeking" loop ! This is the core behind the science of Yoga as well. Thanks for this !
Having visited the Einstein Museum in Bern Switzerland, there was a lot of unhappiness in his life and perhaps his Nobel prize money helped him to achieve happiness
I did not get a chance to reply to a 7 Other Things yesterday. I never watch the Academy Awards and will not until the goody bags and ridiculous amount of money spent on clothes and jewelry changes. Kids are starving to death around the world and kids here are also going to bed hungry. Why does someone who was just paid millions to do a movie need $125,000 worth of gifts because they won an award? When these egotistical people remember that they are paid millions and a teacher somewhere is working 3 jobs to have a roof over her family's head, and donate this money to charity, I will watch again. I am not sure how one walks our with $125,000 worth of "gifts" and steps over the homeless to get in the limousine without a crisis of conscience.
A few more quotes from Al today. If you don’t mind, Bill.
“Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.”
“We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.”
“Whoever is careless with truth in small matters, cannot be trusted in important affairs.”
"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits."
Happiness is both the spontaneous happiness of being with animals, especially puppies and kittens, and your children at certain times as they grow, and it is satisfaction, as you said, of living a lifetime of small achievements and doing things you have always wanted to do without making anything a lifetime goal. At my age (78), I look back with few regrets (can't so anything about them, can we?), appreciate what I have now (a great family, friends, and still things to look forward to), so I think happiness in living in the present, not fretting about what could have been, and planning new adventures until you can't.
I so very much look forward to my daily emails. I particularly loved this subject on happiness. I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the quotes and details Bill shared. Interestingly enough before I started reading this email my friend and I were just talking about what happiness looks like. And he, it seems, would agree with Bill’s comment, “Each of us needs to define it individually for ourselves.” I take an opposing view however. I believe science in particular, the 80+ year Harvard Happiness Study and Neurology, have proven, once and for all, what real happiness looks like for Everyone. The challenges… Most people don’t have access to this knowledge; these rules of the game of life. Or simply choose to ignore the rules thinking they know better.
What did the other note say?
Love this post. The same phenomenon of restlessness is visible in every walk of life - things as simple as buying a dress, a gadget that provides an ephemeral period of satisfaction and externally driven happiness only to get back into the "happiness seeking" loop ! This is the core behind the science of Yoga as well. Thanks for this !
Happiness: the by-product of doing the right things.
Seeing much of the world certainly broadens your perspective which can make us happy with what we have and where we are at.
For me, happiness is a decision, not a state of achievement based on what I’ve accomplished.
(True, I’m no Elon Musk. Lol)
Having visited the Einstein Museum in Bern Switzerland, there was a lot of unhappiness in his life and perhaps his Nobel prize money helped him to achieve happiness
I did not get a chance to reply to a 7 Other Things yesterday. I never watch the Academy Awards and will not until the goody bags and ridiculous amount of money spent on clothes and jewelry changes. Kids are starving to death around the world and kids here are also going to bed hungry. Why does someone who was just paid millions to do a movie need $125,000 worth of gifts because they won an award? When these egotistical people remember that they are paid millions and a teacher somewhere is working 3 jobs to have a roof over her family's head, and donate this money to charity, I will watch again. I am not sure how one walks our with $125,000 worth of "gifts" and steps over the homeless to get in the limousine without a crisis of conscience.
A few more quotes from Al today. If you don’t mind, Bill.
“Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.”
“We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.”
“Whoever is careless with truth in small matters, cannot be trusted in important affairs.”
"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits."
All his works out to be taught in school.
As we have found that the whole brain reacts to what it has absorbed-wouldn’t happiness be more balanced?
Just a thought
Thank You
For more about happiness see “The Myth of Normal” by Gabor Mate.
Happiness is both the spontaneous happiness of being with animals, especially puppies and kittens, and your children at certain times as they grow, and it is satisfaction, as you said, of living a lifetime of small achievements and doing things you have always wanted to do without making anything a lifetime goal. At my age (78), I look back with few regrets (can't so anything about them, can we?), appreciate what I have now (a great family, friends, and still things to look forward to), so I think happiness in living in the present, not fretting about what could have been, and planning new adventures until you can't.
I so very much look forward to my daily emails. I particularly loved this subject on happiness. I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the quotes and details Bill shared. Interestingly enough before I started reading this email my friend and I were just talking about what happiness looks like. And he, it seems, would agree with Bill’s comment, “Each of us needs to define it individually for ourselves.” I take an opposing view however. I believe science in particular, the 80+ year Harvard Happiness Study and Neurology, have proven, once and for all, what real happiness looks like for Everyone. The challenges… Most people don’t have access to this knowledge; these rules of the game of life. Or simply choose to ignore the rules thinking they know better.