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I often contemplate what it is that leads to a "good life". I am very fortunate in so many ways, yet I allow myself to feel envy, call circumstances unfair bec
by devguy01 6y ago
I often contemplate what it is that leads to a "good life". I am very fortunate in so many ways, yet I allow myself to feel envy, call circumstances unfair because I didn't get what I want, or forget to be grateful. I see my kids growing up not knowing what struggling really feels like and realize that I don't have a true perspective of being without. I'm not saying that I would rather experience the feeling of hunger when you haven't eaten in days or the fear of not having access to medical services if my children or I were sick or injured. It seems that often times people don't "wake up" to an understanding of what truly matters, what really makes a good life, until they have faced tragedy. I don't want to wait for that. Instead, like the article states, I hope to be more considerate of the circumstances others have and are experiencing, thankful for opportunities and pitfalls of each day, and open to other perspectives; and I hope to pass that along to my children.
- joelbluminator 6y agoI've read several articles / books on this topic lately. In short: it's not only you that's contemplating on the "good life", plenty is being researched and written about. Our genes make it hard for us to be consistently content and happy. It seems like evolution may have given the slightly paranoid / always needing more genes an advantage for obvious reasons. One research even showed lottery prize winners aren't any happier 1 year after winning than average. So we're very good in experiencing contentment for short bursts and then it's back to our normal mental mode. So a lot of it is genetic. Some you may be able to control with different techniques. Different things work for different people.
- devguy01 6y ago"So we're very good in experiencing contentment for short bursts and then it's back to our normal mental mode." That is exactly what I've observed and experienced. Well said!
- joelbluminator 6y agoAt first I was freaked out by this revelation. But after thinking about it kinda takes the stress out of a lot of things. Doesn't matter that much how much you earn / what you work on / where you live. You get used pretty fast to all those things. So always be suspicious of yourself when you're over-analysing big life decisions. If you're trying to optimise happiness a lot of those decisions won't make much of a difference.
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- mdiesel 6y ago"There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living. " - The Count of Monte Cristo justifying having basically tortured his friend and driven him to suicide.
- ckosidows 6y agoI've read a lot about community, or the sense of being part of a community, as being the most important factor in human happiness. Winning the lottery doesn't automatically put you into any community and I would argue it actually has the potential of separating you from a lot of your current peers. The book has some pretty controversial opinions, but _Sex at Dawn_ has a lot of good insight about how important community and sharing are to a social species such as humans and how we might have lost that strong sense of community with the advent of agriculture and consequent abundance.
- joelbluminator 6y agoIndeed, connection to other human beings is very important.
- x87678r 6y agoYou only have to spend some time with a bunch of sheltered rich kids to realize this is not what you want.