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One key to a good life is low expectations. Most of the people I know who are unhappy thought they were going to be more than they are now, and some of them car
by johnwheeler 6y ago
One key to a good life is low expectations. Most of the people I know who are unhappy thought they were going to be more than they are now, and some of them carried the naive arrogance around with them all their lives until reality smacked them upside the head.
- spzb 6y agoI don't know you but apparently you know me.
- thevirtuoso1973 6y agoThere is a difference between arrogance and dissatisfaction. I will attribute _most_ of my successes to the latter and all of my failures to the former.
- TeeWEE 6y agoThis is key. I would recommend anyone to go to a poorer area in the world and meet the locals... they value things you take for granted so much more. It made me value things I take for granted much more... like running water... or streets that don't stink like trash... family... I took them for granted.
- ISO-morphism 6y agoI really like Happiness = Reality - Expectations. Advocating for low expectations is usually criticized as laziness when targeted at oneself or pessimism when targeted at others. But I think that criticism happens when we conflate expectations and aspirations, when we set our target as our baseline. On that note, exercising gratitude (counting your blessings) is a wonderful tool for teasing apart expectations and aspirations. Acknowledging that something you have is good enough to make you happy implicitly informs you that expectations have already been exceeded even if you aspire for more.
- math_denial 6y agoBut how do you develop this kind of mindset?