Normal and abnormal people do not exist. Sane and insane people do not exist. Conformists and nonconformists do not exist. The labels exist, but not the behaviors! So, how useful and reliable are our judgments of who is good and bad, who is moral and immoral, and who is wise and stupid? Labeling is easy. Getting it right is hard. Seneca recommends delaying judgment to find the truth before attributing false labels that are destructive to the individual and society.

What does it mean to live your life as if nothing matters? Nihilism rejects conventional wisdom that everything matters. Nihilism means nothing matters. It doesn’t even matter that nothing matters. Life has no inherited, supernatural purpose or meaning. Life is pointless so our freedom is absolute. There is no one to ask for permission and no one to please but ourselves. Nothing matters in the grand scheme of things, because there isn’t one. You possess perfect freedom to choose how to live. You are the only architect of your fate in this world.

Do you want to feel happy right where you are, right now? Listening to your heartbeats will lead you to three philosophical insights and instant happiness: You got lucky. Your heartbeats are numbered. Some doors must close so others can open. Stop living your life piece by piece. Learn to live your life as a whole.

He was a French philosopher. His philosophy of life is simple yet profound. We would have been better off not being born. Life sucks. We are born for no reason. We exist to do nothing. No one matters. Nothing matters. It doesn’t even matter that nothing matters. What are we to do? Cioran argues that the meaninglessness of life is not only a reason to live, it’s the only one!

Religion is the accidental force behind why we chase endless productivity, why working harder feels morally right and hardly working feels morally wrong, and why our self-worth and self-esteem revolve around our productivity and usefulness. Don’t you feel guilty and ashamed whenever you could have been more productive but chose not to? Wouldn’t you rather chose to fail as a spouse, fail as a parent, or fail as a friend than to fail at work? Why don’t happiness, relationships, or fun count as being productive? We are so bored with our lives and so indifferent to our fate that we’ve become apathetic to our own apathy!

Our first experience of the world is our true self. Concealed behind our outward appearance, a bag of skin, inside ourselves, our unique, subjective consciousness is who we really are. And so, we look for absolute truth behind the natural world of appearances in Plato’s Forms, Schopenhauer’s Will, and Spinoza’s God. You are the blueprint of the gods and the key to unlock the secrets of the universe.

What is a perfect day? Perfection is within our grasp each and every day. One must choose today to be a perfect day by choosing wisely to do three easy and simple things. And to be a perfect day, one must choose wisely not to do three other simple things one would normally do in an ordinary, boring day.

Let us unpack Kierkegaard’s insight that today can only be known by living forwards, but only be understood by looking backwards. Life, at any given moment, is unknowable. When something happens, you instantly experience it as either good or bad. You experience yourself as either happy or sad. You experience your fate as either lucky or unlucky. And yet, what’s happening cannot be understood as you experience it. Moment by moment, why is life a mystery, and how does something really good come out of something really bad?

Aristotle’s wisdom can make you a more likable person with more and better friends. For Aristotle, without friends, no one would want to live. Friendship is the chief cornerstone of living well and doing well. To be more likable and have more friends, don’t do three things: Don’t prove you have nothing of value to say by speaking. Don’t judge the imperfections of others. Don’t believe everything you think.

Romantic relationships are difficult and perilous and no soft affair. They seem to fail as often as they succeed. Five hidden triggers can sabotage even the best relationship. Communication, trust, togetherness, predictability, and submissiveness are beneficial in moderation, but toxic in excess. We suspect it’s true, but are afraid to admit to ourselves, that too much positive behavior will kill a good relationship.