Summary

Reflecting on past decisions, actions, and accomplishments can be a springboard to future action or a recurring regret for what we didn’t do, impacting our ability to focus on the present.

Takeaways

√ Western society has slowly eliminated or reduced physical challenges to find food, build and take shelter, flee from predators, and avoid overly risky decisions. But that has resulted in us being more out of shape, overweight, anxious, burned out, materially focused, and generally more physically and mentally unhealthy than our predecessors.

√ We attempt to increase our happiness or dampen our dispirited selves through acquiring material possessions, increased wealth, sugar and salt-laden ultra-processed foods, and alcohol and other drugs.

√ Our view of death exacerbates our ability to focus productively on the present.

References

The Comfort Crisis