Episode 8: Happiness, Overrated or just misunderstood?

Happiness, Overrated or just misunderstood?

Music: “Just A Blip” by Andy G. CohenFrom the Free Music ArchiveReleased under a Creative Commons Attribution International License

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-judith-rich/happiness-its-overrated_b_685851.html

- The world puts alot of emphasis on living a "happy" life. There is a huge industry towards "finding happiness" that proposes that if you don’t have ongoing happiness then you need to pursue it. You need to find your purpose, change your job, get a new partner, move locations—do something, anything, to find the happiness that you are missing. - A never-ending happy life is unattainable because it doesn't exist. Happiness is a state of mind that doesn't stay constant. It is an enigma. It means different things to different people. We cannot achieve a state of happiness without understanding what it looks like. - Ironically, it is in the heaviest and most ardent pursuit of happiness that we become depressed and disappointed. Which kind of makes the pursuit of it counter-productive. But why are so many people still so insistent on finding "it"?- It is therefore, in the heaviest pursuit of happiness, that you turn this into a self-fulfilling prophecy. That when you identify with not having enough, you reinforce and create the very unhappiness and/or emptiness that you want to fill up. Thus, creating your unhappiness dillema.- To seek happiness as a permanent state derives from two primitive evolutionary impulses: avoiding pain; which is part of the need to avoid harm and eventually death; and seeking gratification as well as to leave a legacy."The brighter the light, the darker the shadow" - Carl Jung- The height of personal happiness can only be measured by the depth of personal sadness.Happiness is not a stand-alone feeling. Happiness is a comparative emotion. - Happiness is elusive, like some rare and captivating insect that lights up when it lands on your shoulder. It’s there for a moment and then gone. - Instead, refuse to give into the feelings of emptiness and not being good enough. You are who you are, no one else can be you. So embrace yourself instead; and embrace your life. Make the most of the fleeting experience of the roller coaster of life; treasure all the feelings and experiences that only living your life can offer.- The Stockdale Paradox talks about James Stockdale and his words- Let go of the pursuit of happiness. It’s wasting your time and will disappoint you in the end. Express your full range of emotions that you will go through in life.