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The fast track to a life well lived is feeling grateful - David DeSteno | Aeon Ideas
Gratitude enhances honesty
In a study published in Psychological Science, participants were presented with temptation. Those who recalled a time when they felt grateful were more likely to act in an honest manner than those who described a time when they felt happy or neutral.
People who feel grateful are more likely to help others, divide their profits and be loyal even at a cost to themselves.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
Defining Eudaimonia
Eudaimonia is a term which comes from Aristotle’s work called ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ and means individual well-being and happiness. It combines the prefix eu (meaning good) and daimon (spirit).
Socrates also delved in goodness and the virtues of knowledge leading us to achieve ultimate good.
Plato And Eudaimonism
- Plato believed that because we feel unhappy internally when we do something wrong, eudaimonia is the highest feeling of moral thought and behaviour where there is real happiness from within. Happiness, according to him, was about living in the pursuit of various virtues, central to flourishing.
- Plato never mentioned the term eudaimonia, but his writings on the concept of courage, justice, wisdom and moderation point towards the same domain of wellbeing.
Aristotle And Eudaimonism
Aristotle in his many works has provided numerous interpretations of eudaimonia, explaining it as something reflecting the pursuit of virtue, excellence and the best within us. According to him, eudaimonia is a rational activity aimed at the pursuit of what is worthwhile in life.
Having an intention to be virtuous was an important factor for eudaimonia.
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Key Ideas
Back to The Simple Life
Due to an increasingly complicated and hyper-connected world, a lot of people are revisiting and paying attention to the concept of a simple life.
From Buddha to Socrates and contemporaries like Oprah, many people throughout ages have advocated the slow, mindful, simple life.
Simple Was Boring
In many prosperous, capitalist societies where consumerism, big pharma and supermarket culture is rampant, leading a quiet, simple life is considered boring.
Big Brands continue to persuade everyone to aspire for more and most people fall for that.
Benefits of Simple Living
- Millennials are showing interest in simple living, in pre-consumerist and pre-industrial ways.
- It seems like a moral way to live and it makes you into a better person.
- The struggle of living simple and frugal builds up new skill-sets, a certain independence and better health of the mind and body, by being close to nature.
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Key Ideas
We All Are Work In Progress
There are always certain gaps in our understanding and with it comes the need of help of others to fill in the vacuum. It might be the blind spots we derive from our upbringing or our social circle, or the way misinformation manipulates or skews our thinking.
Talking to an expert seems to be the go-to method for most of us. But expertise may not be absolutely right for our problem, and can feel inadequate or unreliable to us.
The Five Signs Of Intellectual Dependability
Most mentors or guides show the following signs to help you gauge if they are intellectually dependable:
- Intellectual benevolence.
- Intellectual transparency.
- Communicative clarity.
- Audience sensitivity
- Intellectual guidance.
Finding Trustworthy People For Guidance
To seek the solution to the dilemma of intellectual dependency, we need to find a person having the basic virtue of intellectual benevolence, the added trust and care of the person who is approached by us.