Ancient Philosophers Share Their Life Lessons for Happiness
Well I'm going to take it back to a simpler time and see what some of the most renowned philosophers had to say about happiness.
One of the main principles in motion then was stoicism, and specifically negative visualization. This is the idea of thinking about just how bad things could really be. Like when you mom used to say 'think about the starving children in Africa'.
Careful and detailed thinking about how bad things could be for you has the ironic effect of making you realize that things really aren't that bad. You need to realize this about humans - we often over exaggerate our personal situations. So the next time you're in a bad situation think about how bad it could be, this can actually boost our gratitude over the long term and puts our situation into perspective.
Next we have a lesson from Seneca the Younger, a Roman philosopher. He believed in the modern saying of 'fake it till you make it'. He specifically thought that by acting calm and happy we would become calm and happy.
Many of the stoic philosophers did not believe in anger as they thought it was a waste of time. So when they did feel anger boiling within them they put on a smile and took some deep breaths.
And it worked! The simple act of smiling makes us feel happier.
This has been backed up by countless studies but below is a pretty cool video explaining how it works in body language.
Finally we have a lesson in self-discipline. With the attention hungry, interconnected world we live in we want everything immediately. We don't want to have to wait, we just want it now. And I believe this is the wrong way to look at things.
The stoics used to deliberately take a walk in the cold without a coat, or skip a meal to become hungry. Denying themselves these simple things made them appreciate the things they took for granted.
This might sound a bit strange but it actually works.
Harvard proffessor Michael Norton said "...if you love, every day, having the same coffee, don't have it for a few days. Once you have it again, it's going to be way more amazing than all of the ones that you would have had in the meantime... It's not "give it up forever." It's "give it up for short periods of time, and I promise you you're going to love it even more when you come back to it."
Not only that but it helps develop your character as well and builds your self-discipline.
Self control expert Roy Baumeister said "People have said for centuries that you can build character by making yourself do things you don't want to do, that by exerting self-discipline you can make yourself into a stronger person. That does appear to be correct."
Well there we have it. I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and if you learned something new give it a thanks or if you have any questions just leave a comment.
Cheers, Zach.
With my degree in Psychology I've made sure it's packed with all sorts of strategies and studies for increasing human efficiency naturally. Stop getting distracted and Work Smarter, Not Harder.
Lightin' fuses is for blowin' stuff togethah.
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