How to Be Happy

[lpetrich]

I've found some lists of things to do that will make one happy.

Six Unconventional, Scientific Ways to Be Happier

1. Throw Your Negative Thoughts Into the Trash (Literally)
2. Use Your Imagination
3. Stop Buying Possessions, Start Buying Experiences
4. Give
5. Train Your Brain Like a Monk
6. Focus

Ten Simple Things You Can Do to Be Happier, Backed by Science

1. Exercise More
2. Sleep More
3. Move Closer to Work
4. Spend Time with Friends and Family
5. Go Outside
6. Help Others
7. Practice Smiling
8. Plan a Trip
9. Meditate
10. Practice Gratitude

 

[rousseau]

Feed your body what it needs, including exercise, and not literal garbage. Put a heavy focus on the strength and security of your career and relationships. Minimize alcohol and drugs.

I've also found that learning about CBT offers a good way to fight the mental source of negativity.

Granted, eating a healthier diet is trickier than it seems because the large proportion of people are addicted to terrible food and have no idea how to break the addiction.

 

[DolphinDynasty]

I've found some lists of things to do that will make one happy.

Six Unconventional, Scientific Ways to Be Happier

1. Throw Your Negative Thoughts Into the Trash (Literally)
2. Use Your Imagination
3. Stop Buying Possessions, Start Buying Experiences
4. Give
5. Train Your Brain Like a Monk
6. Focus

Ten Simple Things You Can Do to Be Happier, Backed by Science

1. Exercise More
2. Sleep More
3. Move Closer to Work
4. Spend Time with Friends and Family
5. Go Outside
6. Help Others
7. Practice Smiling
8. Plan a Trip
9. Meditate
10. Practice Gratitude

Some of that might be relevant if already healthy and in financial solvency. Mostly it's just idealistic hoo ha that verges close to "fake it till it happens". Speaking as a person who has been through that list numerous times in life an never once felt "happy" afterwards.

Not that, for a short while, I never had it as being around other animals, watching an learning from them, about them, at reality has done this. But this also requires substantial good health and definitely requires substantial wealth to accomplish, or else the work other people that aren't out for themselves, wh8ch is also impossible to find without good health and wealth to tart with but ok, you do you. Happiness is purely subjective to begin with, so if it works for ya, go ahead with it. I wouldn't have posted it as if it will work for all as you seem to intimate, but I understand that it's relative to what works, not to some simplistic, idealistic list I don't for a minute see in any reliable research work.

They inevitably fall back to, if it evidently already works and doesn't cause harm to anybody else, then that's what we'll try first, then if it fails, well move to whatever else works for that individual or that they suggest until we see that it works or again move on, potentially until the whole list is exhausted. Ideally, anyway. Usually it's more along the lines of, "take this pill every day, and this one or two every night and I'll see you in a month without any conversation whatsoever, because there's hundreds more to dole out pills to on the list and we don't know how to ask questions, blah blah, rinse an repeat".

CBT is shit if the focus is on "talk therapy" versus actual instruction on coping mechanisms that are healthy, or you already understand the cognitive an behavioral issues and made efforts to change them ,but again had no real health and finances to begin with, cuz that shit gets expensive even without meds involved.

There are people who fall through the cracks, and those that willingly ump through them, no matter hat is done, even if on offer, which it actually isn't in a lot of cases because it's being more restricted and more of a money driver by insurance companies or getting cut off in areas with high crime and violence by legislatures at the state level that are being overlooked by the federal level, and yeah, much more complex an issue than the hokey fell good slogans y'all are putting up.

But hey, I put a collective 10 years in crisis intervention an mental health advocacy plus residential group home counseling, so I've only got experience in the industry plus educational training in psychology and philosophy.

So obviously, the hokum's right.

 

[lpetrich]

(my quoted lists snipped for brevity)

Some of that might be relevant if already healthy and in financial solvency. Mostly it's just idealistic hoo ha that verges close to "fake it till it happens". Speaking as a person who has been through that list numerous times in life an never once felt "happy" afterwards.

What do you think is the real story?

I will concede that certain material conditions are necessary for happiness, at least in most cases. Study: Money Buys Happiness When Income Is $75,000 - TIME

People say money doesn't buy happiness. Except, according to a new study from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, it sort of does — up to about $75,000 a year. The lower a person's annual income falls below that benchmark, the unhappier he or she feels. But no matter how much more than $75,000 people make, they don't report any greater degree of happiness.

But once one has an upper-middle-class income, then what?

 

[rousseau]

I've found some lists of things to do that will make one happy.

Six Unconventional, Scientific Ways to Be Happier

1. Throw Your Negative Thoughts Into the Trash (Literally)
2. Use Your Imagination
3. Stop Buying Possessions, Start Buying Experiences
4. Give
5. Train Your Brain Like a Monk
6. Focus

Ten Simple Things You Can Do to Be Happier, Backed by Science

1. Exercise More
2. Sleep More
3. Move Closer to Work
4. Spend Time with Friends and Family
5. Go Outside
6. Help Others
7. Practice Smiling
8. Plan a Trip
9. Meditate
10. Practice Gratitude

Some of that might be relevant if already healthy and in financial solvency. Mostly it's just idealistic hoo ha that verges close to "fake it till it happens". Speaking as a person who has been through that list numerous times in life an never once felt "happy" afterwards.

Not that, for a short while, I never had it as being around other animals, watching an learning from them, about them, at reality has done this. But this also requires substantial good health and definitely requires substantial wealth to accomplish, or else the work other people that aren't out for themselves, wh8ch is also impossible to find without good health and wealth to tart with but ok, you do you. Happiness is purely subjective to begin with, so if it works for ya, go ahead with it. I wouldn't have posted it as if it will work for all as you seem to intimate, but I understand that it's relative to what works, not to some simplistic, idealistic list I don't for a minute see in any reliable research work.

They inevitably fall back to, if it evidently already works and doesn't cause harm to anybody else, then that's what we'll try first, then if it fails, well move to whatever else works for that individual or that they suggest until we see that it works or again move on, potentially until the whole list is exhausted. Ideally, anyway. Usually it's more along the lines of, "take this pill every day, and this one or two every night and I'll see you in a month without any conversation whatsoever, because there's hundreds more to dole out pills to on the list and we don't know how to ask questions, blah blah, rinse an repeat".

CBT is shit if the focus is on "talk therapy" versus actual instruction on coping mechanisms that are healthy, or you already understand the cognitive an behavioral issues and made efforts to change them ,but again had no real health and finances to begin with, cuz that shit gets expensive even without meds involved.

There are people who fall through the cracks, and those that willingly ump through them, no matter hat is done, even if on offer, which it actually isn't in a lot of cases because it's being more restricted and more of a money driver by insurance companies or getting cut off in areas with high crime and violence by legislatures at the state level that are being overlooked by the federal level, and yeah, much more complex an issue than the hokey fell good slogans y'all are putting up.

But hey, I put a collective 10 years in crisis intervention an mental health advocacy plus residential group home counseling, so I've only got experience in the industry plus educational training in psychology and philosophy.

So obviously, the hokum's right.

Yea, being financially secure and physically healthy is a big part of it. I'd actually go as far as saying that, roughly, it's about as important as everything on those lists combined. That's not to say some of the things on the list aren't a good idea, regardless: like exercise, healthy habits, and good relationships. A poor person who's healthy is going to be better off than a poor alcoholic, every time.

But, like you, I figure financial health is not a separate thing from physical health. Without financial health everything else suffers, including your stress levels, and there is really no way around it until you rectify the problem.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Being happy requires resources, conventionally speaking. I don't think one can knowingly be filthy poor and be happy. Sometimes happiness involves having a new pair of shoes.

The big missing ingredient in the OP is to have all the knowledge possible given a particular problem. With knowledge one can understand a situation, and however unpleasant still make peace with it, find a kind of acceptance. Being able to do that takes resources to accomplish.

So the word is intellect. As an adult I'd be miserable without an intellect. I can remember being happy as a kid, experiencing Dunning Kreuger happiness, but I think that only works if you have the intellect of a kid as an adult.

 

[PyramidHead]

What to do if one lacks the requisite self-valuing to be motivated enough to bother with any of these strategies? Starting from a place of being trapped in unhealthy routines, unhealthy thought processes, and self-loathing, it's hard to muster up the will to pursue happiness anymore. It's like we forget what it feels like to be happy, and can't imagine how anything could get us to that place again. Lists like these may be helpful for someone teetering on the brink of minor depression or just low on energy, but it's really hard to lead to the well those who sorely need to improve their mental states.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

What to do if one lacks the requisite self-valuing to be motivated enough to bother with any of these strategies? Starting from a place of being trapped in unhealthy routines, unhealthy thought processes, and self-loathing, it's hard to muster up the will to pursue happiness anymore. It's like we forget what it feels like to be happy, and can't imagine how anything could get us to that place again. Lists like these may be helpful for someone teetering on the brink of minor depression or just low on energy, but it's really hard to lead to the well those who sorely need to improve their mental states.

Right. And further, is it possible to be happy if you've never been both happy and unhappy?