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I'm right there with you. I struggle to make sense of it, but I've found those messages useful as a counterbalance to the messaging or received from a religious

I'm right there with you. I struggle to make sense of it, but I've found those messages useful as a counterbalance to the messaging or received from a religious upbringing, "I don't deserve any good thing," and martyrdom "real, true believers^TM will suffer. " It's also helpful escaping the American bootstraps mentality, "hard work will bring you success," and my personal corolary, "if you're not working hard/struggling/suffering, you aren't doing enough." The thought that success and happiness could just be available to me and that's okay and I don't need to feel shame about it is a pretty radical message that helps to counter my earlier programming.

broscillator 3y ago
This is the correct way of looking at it. It's about how the thought contributes or hinders your own success/happiness. If you were to find, empirically, that believing that you're not deserving of happiness is more likely to lead to happiness, by all means do that. But to pose that it is an objective truth is more likely to be a justification for why you're unhappy.