RE: "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" by Mark Manson - Book Review & Chance to Win
Yes and Manson is not suggesting that we should care about absolutely nothing - in fact he directly addresses this in the book. What he suggests is that we pay too much attention to less meaningful things simply because society has told us that they are important and it is taken as fact.
There is a limit to what we can pay attention to and care about. By refocusing our attention on what truly matters to us we avoid wasting our energy on things that ultimately don't make us happy.
One of the other problems he addresses is the fact that most of are not even sure what we truly want. That is why we are often stuck in pathological behaviours - the hedonic treadmill that psychologists refer to.
We keep pursuing the same pleasures and behaviours expecting a different outcome, when it doesn't come instead of reassessing the situation we just keep doing it expecting the next time will somehow be different.
This could also be seen as part of the basis for many addictive and dependent behaviours.
Exactly, & decide how meaningful or less u want to categorize ur current situation - its just a matter of definition IMO - Like "the glass is half full thingy. "
Absolutely. We don't always have the power to control the external situations in our life but we do have the ability to control how we respond to them.
"By refocusing our attention on what truly matters to us we avoid wasting our energy on things that ultimately don't make us happy."
That right there might be the key to happiness. Not kidding.
why i want to be happy all the day? IMO this would kill all productivity as u don't want to change this happy state - or at least i wouldn't want to change it .. anyway ..
Very true. Struggle makes us stronger. I'm just saying that it is wise to focus on those struggles that will actually lead to happiness. There are some challenges that you must face. But there are others that people focus on that they don't have to. I would say that being productive leads to happiness.
Very true. What Manson suggests is that some amount of discomfort, or unhappiness is productive as it spurs us into progress. If we were able to achieve happiness all the time as you say you quite possibly wouldn't want to do anything - again this is why certain drugs of abuse can be so harmful.
Yes quite possibly - I think in modern life we find all kinds of reasons not to do this though.
I think a lot of people avoid doing this because it is simply uncomfortable. Change is hard for people. They feel comfort in what they know even if it is having a negative impact on them. But all of this seems so simple when you are an outsider looking in on someone who is in crisis. A person in crisis can't see it.
Absolutely - I also think there is that old thing of it being a lot easier to see and analyse problems in others and not ourselves even when it isn't at crisis points!