Hypomania is an extreme form of happiness. When it reaches a pathological level of happiness, you're not only feeling on top of the world, but therapists also think it's dysfunctional. Hypomanic means someone has a complete lack of impulse control. You talk without stopping in a way that people can't follow you. You do not need to sleep, so you don't. You are also taking high risks.

History is changed for the better by the hypomanic

Most people have a set range for their resting state of happiness, to which they eventually return regardless of what life events they encounter. However, the centre of gravity can shift.

Center of gravity to mood states

We all know what it's like to feel bad, and we all want to feel good more than we feel bad. For many philosophers and individuals in general, optimism/joy is the ultimate pursuit. However, being always positive does not mean being blind to real concerns. We can experience positive and negative emotions.

Optimism as the ultimate pursuit

The correlation between positive and negative emotions is only -0.3, meaning if being happy was the opposite of being unhappy, you would see a correlation of -1. So it suggests that people are fully capable of feeling some happy emotions, some negative feelings and mixed emotions.  Studies found that  "neurotic" people have rollercoaster emotions. However, you can have a high mood centre of gravity and hover around there stably.

Unhappiness and happiness are not photo negatives of each other

<ul><li>If you seem too happy, it may be an indication to others that you are low on empathy.</li><li> You may be perceived by others as naive and insensitive to people who are not in a very good mood at the time. </li><li>Dispositional optimistic people tend to be biased to only pay attention to the good sides. But this can be manipulated. “Hey, they’re looking over here. While they’re looking at the glass being half-full, we can exploit this blindness that they have. I’m going to sell them a horse.” </li></ul>

Being positive can be exploited

Well into older adulthood, adults are happier than they were when they were younger. Research suggests that's because older adults tend to selectively look at the pretty picture and ignore the ugly picture. This attentional engine that filters out reality and pushes feelings around attention is the gatekeeper for everything.  However, we don't want to ignore inequality, death, sadness, and loss even if we could be 10 out of 10 on happiness because there's something other than happiness, like character.

People get happier on average as they get older

You do not have to be rich to control where you pay attention.  The optimists of the world tend not to be hanging out on their couches, staring at their half-filled glasses. Instead, they're starting non-profits or becoming teachers. They acknowledge that there are objective disadvantages but look at the good side too.

Happiness is a privilege

A 2013 TIME magazine survey found that 90% of people consider themselves optimists. <ul><li>But happiness varies by national culture. For example, Denmark and Finland are considered very happy. In 2015, the least happy country was Togo, but a 2021 report showed that Afghanistan was the least happy country.</li><li>America may be more optimistic because they have a very strong religious belief and a very strong belief in an afterlife. If you want to think about a reason to be optimistic, it would be believing that your ending will be better than now.</li></ul>

The happiest people in the world

The causal influence of happiness goes from happiness to doing better at work. When you're doing better at work, it makes you happier.  Yet, die-hard optimists should understand that there may be occasions where you should tone it down a little for the sake of others. Pessimists should maybe jack it up a little bit because it's a free pass toward improving your outcomes.

The casual influence of happiness on future outcomes

If you diagnose yourself as an optimist, you might want to ensure you are at least noticing when the glass is half-full and for whom the glass is half-full, who doesn't have a glass at all, and who has two glasses.  For pessimists, notice your attention. Consider which part of the picture you are obsessively dwelling on. Yet, both optimists and pessimists would understand the reality of cycles because there are virtuous and vicious cycles: being unhappy, negative and hyper-critical can be a spiral downward. But they can also join virtuous upward spirals.

Ensure you're not neglecting the bigger picture

 In this special episode of No Stupid Questions, Stephen Dubner and Angela Duckworth discuss the consequences of seeing every glass as at least half-full. 

Stashed ideas

489. Is “Toxic Positivity” a Thing?

There are some issues with the modern education system.It has some great aspects to it — everyone should be on a similar page in terms of how we operate as a society.But in terms of living as nature intended?It’s a horrible solution for helping people find, learn about, and make a career out of something they care about.The modern education system works against our psyche that is wired for survival.It pushes us to “learn,” memorize, and get trained into a job that has nothing to do with what we spent learning and memorizing.

Modern Education

mass education will never be able to keep up with the digital economy that continues to evolve at an exponential rate.Only those that know how to pursue their curiosity, learn fast, and become “tool-independent” will end up on top.By leaning into your nature — your survival-wired brain — you will begin to reap the benefits of doing so.

Mass Education In The Digital Age

Learning is how you become more aware, conscious, and skilled in the game of life.When you start playing a game for the first time, you learn and ask questions.Asking questions is how you determine if it is worth adopting this new activity into your life.You have routines, lifestyles, social events, habits, errands, and other things that could be impacted by playing this game on a consistent basis.If playing that specific game isn’t perceived as more “fun” or more “valuable” activity than the other games you are playing, why would you make it a constant in your life?

What Learning Ideally Is

Learning is how you uncover the depth that life has to offer.When you first start learning a game (or trying something new in life) you may not like it.It may not make sense to you just yet.You don’t see it as a game. You fixate your focus on the tip of the iceberg and assume that everything under the water serves no purpose.You aren’t giving yourself a chance to find your “why.”Do this enough and you won’t see past the tip of the iceberg of life itself. A shallow existence.You will find yourself ready to quit before you even leave the tutorial.

The Depth Of Life

Whenever I talk about “doing what you want” I always get the same responses.“You mean if I wanted to jump off a bridge I should???”“You mean if I want to be the next Hitler I should?”“You mean it’s okay if people are mass murderers?!?!” Have some common sense and think critically about what you are saying.This brings up the difference between conscious and unconscious living.If you were conscious of the widespread impact of what “becoming the next Hitler” would lead to, you wouldn’t want to do it.

Conscious Vs Unconscious Living

There are specific ways to manipulate your attention or frame your focus with the result of a more enhanced experience.Chemicals like dopamine, adrenaline, and norepinephrine squirt into your brain to reward your pursuits that stem from your nature.<ul><li>Developing your skill set</li><li>Mastering your craft</li><li>Pursuing your vision</li><li>Working towards your goals</li><li>Living by a code of values</li><li>Living in the moment</li></ul>

Live In Accordance With Nature

The only thing more painful than pursuing the highest version of yourself is not pursuing the highest version of yourself

When you pursue your curiosity, fulfill your basic needs, gain a degree of geographical freedom, and consistently make progress — you are psychologically rewarded.<ul><li>Busting out of the trenches of struggle.</li><li>Conquering the challenge.</li><li>Winning the battle in the ever-unfolding story of life.</li><li>Reaching the peak of the mountain.</li><li>Feeling the energy in the drop of a song.</li><li>It’s all the same.</li></ul>

It Feels Good To Do What You Want

The creation pyramid combines the spiritual, psychological, and philosophical teachings that I’ve found to cross over when it comes to life enjoyment. Not only occasionally, but on demand. That is, once you understand the parts of the system. The aspects of the game.All five “C’s” of enjoyment are both tools and tells.You can use and combine them to increase your enjoyment of day-to-day existence.Or you can become aware of them when you are doing things you genuinely enjoy.

The Five Cs Of Life Enjoyment

What do you feel pulled to do?When you feel the pull, what limiting beliefs arrive?From there, pause and question.Don’t let your monkey brain think that your survival is at stake.The death of a belief is not death itself — even when it feels eerily similar.Questioning is how you open up new mental pathways to explore.Questioning is how you expand your consciousness by diving down the rabbit hole of infinity.Questioning is how you dictate what you need to self-educate on next.

Life Enjoyment 5: Curiosity

The cause of most modern problems is clarity.Anxiety, uncertainty, fixed mindsets, closed-mindedness, and the rest are all due to a lack of clarity.Clarity comes down to structure, information, and surrender.Information is abundant and potentially overwhelming, yet necessary.Structuring that information (or ordering consciousness) is how you start to “outline the puzzle.”Surrender and rest usually piece everything together.

Clarity

What you want (goal)
How to get there (clarity)
Why you want to (intention)
When these 3 things fall into place, your choice to act becomes seamless.

In psychology, there is a phenomenon known as pattern recognition. There is also the “construct aware” stage of ego development along with systems thinking as a whole.Connection stems from the ability to zoom out, see the big picture, and recognize patterns, models, constructs, and connections.This is best illustrated as the “aha!” moment (or a series of these moments).Along with curiosity, connection raises dopamine in the brain.

Connection

Challenge is encoded in the system.Challenge is what kicks you into flow.Challenge is what eliminates boredom.We are so afraid as a society to take on new challenges because they threaten the comfort we’ve been conditioned into.If your work, life, or self isn’t challenging you on a consistent basis, your life won’t be interesting and you aren’t making much progress.The Solution:<ul><li>Set a challenging goal</li><li>Gain clarity by breaking it down into smaller goals</li><li>Act with intention by aligning all aspects of your life (mind, body, spirit, business) with those goals.</li></ul>

Challenge

Consciousness is about depth and appreciation. Love.For now, start seeing beyond the surface.Take on the challenge of becoming curious in understanding all of the connections that any given situation presents (so you can gain clarity).While most people perceive a motorcycle as a purposeless death machine — you can make the conscious choice to see beyond that and break out of your unconscious, conditioned emotional reactions to life.

Consciousness

When you find yourself in a bad mood, use the LE5 to your advantage:<ul><li>Question why you are in a bad mood (curiosity)</li><li>Set a goal to reverse the bad mood (challenge)</li><li>Reverse engineer it so you know what to learn (clarity)</li><li>As you learn, observe the excitement that fills your mind as you make new discoveries (excitement)</li><li>Remain conscious during this entire process.</li></ul>

Using The Five Cs Of Life Enjoyment 

Why You Can't Enjoy Life - Dan Koe

I refuse to accept other people’s ideas of happiness for me. As if there’s a ‘one size fits all’ standard for happiness.

Let’s go on a living free, they say the best things in life are free.

People will have a problem with whatever you do. At the end of the day, nobody can determine what you need to do in order to be successful and why would you listen to someone who is not successful tell you what you need to do?

Having a Rolex or a Benz is not something that actually represents your success because there’s always something more expensive to buy. Success is really being able to do things for others as well as the people around you and yourself.

I was never really good at anything except for the ability to learn.

Success is the best revenge.

These Kanye West quotes will give you a glimpse into the billionaire’s mindset.

Kanye West is an American rapper, music producer, fashion designer and newly minted billionaire, according to Forbes.

Kanye West Quotes on Life, Love & Billionaire Status

Kanye West quotes and lyrics on happiness and success

Cultivating the right intentions leads moral improvement, moral improvement leads to human flourishing.Sometimes we make horrible decisions that, luckily, don’t result in disaster. Sometimes we try to do heroic, loving, or generous deeds but don’t make any difference in the world. Moral improvement is a matter of improving your intentions, developing your character, and better understanding why you are aiming at particular morally important goals. And the good life is one that can be captured in a certain kind of story, one that depicts your own moral development accurately.

The Cause And Effect Of Goodness

The “ultimate good” for human beings will involve satisfying our animal needs while also building up virtuous traits of character, over time and in a rational way.Contemporary philosophers name this state as “flourishing”—the complete state of being a well-developed, accomplished, and happy (in the good-feeling sense) person. Those who achieve this goal will feel and act in ways that represent the best parts of our nature. They will acquire all the virtues—like courage, generosity, and wisdom—and will integrate them seamlessly in an intentional and purposefully lived life.

The Ultimate Good: Flourishing

Asking yourself the right questions, followed by deep contemplation is one way to nurture your virtues.The key to weathering any hardship or difficulty is to continually remind ourselves that what matters is not what happens to us but how we respond to it. Can you respond with kindness to those who offend you, or are you stricken with inner rage?The Stoics believed that once we realize that the only thing that really matters is the state of our soul (or character), we can respond to any external obstacles in life by summoning this truth.

The Only Thing That Matters

<ul><li>The Stoic General gives himself advice on virtue and reflects on what he has discovered about the good life in his own adventures.</li><li>He reflects on nature, change, death—not just for himself but for everything in the universe. When he has a question about reality, he writes that down as well. </li><li>He reflects on the meaning of others’ lives in relation to his own—what he has learned from them and why specifically their lives have been good.</li></ul>

The Three Contemplations Of Marcus Aurelius

The stories we tell ourselves shape our lives, the truth of these stories decide to what extent we live in reality.Storytelling is a skill that requires careful attention to the details of life. It requires developing a “morally thick” vocabulary that brings out the nuance in our intentions. Instead of thinking about our decisions in simple terms like “right,” “permissible,” or “inexcusable,” we need more expressive language to capture our situations and our responses to them. We’re sometimes “cowardly” even when we do the right thing. We can be “selfishly motivated,” or “generous.”

The Story Is The Reality

Think about walking from a very dark room into a brightly lit one. You don’t immediately see more—you probably see less. Your pupils have to contract. Your brain has to process very different information. This everyday visual experience is a guide to the more serious difficulty we face when we try to learn. The hard question is how we can move ourselves to see and love what’s real. Do we want the sun or the puppet show? This is the core drama of any great education.

Desire The Truth

Effective altruism is a philosophical movement dedicated to giving people extremely specific advice about how money should factor into living an ethical life.The effective altruism movement is an ethical system guided by three connected assumptions about the role that money plays in the morally good life

Effective Altruism

<ul><li>Many effective altruists think that our primary moral obligation is to reduce suffering and promote happiness and that we can measure the moral worth of our decisions based on how effective those decisions are at improving net happiness.</li><li>Earn to give:  Earn as much as you can. Then dedicate as much of your money as possible to the most effective causes for reducing suffering and promoting happiness.</li><li>Effective altruists think we should decide who to help and how by using data about which interventions are most effective at promoting happiness and reducing suffering.</li></ul>

Living Generously: The Features Of Effective Altruism

Virtue ethicists are sometimes accused of advocating a self-centred morality, one that overemphasizes how your spending and giving affect you, the giver, and your pursuit of eudaimonia. Shouldn’t morality be about other people—about selflessness? But the effective altruists are selfless in a way that few of us can stomach. Their approach makes it very hard to see where there is any room to grow as a person with moral accomplishments and commitments.

Virtue Ethics

Sometimes we make horrible decisions that, luckily, don’t result in disaster. Sometimes we try to do heroic, loving, or generous deeds but don’t make any difference in the world. Moral improvement is a matter of improving your intentions, developing your character, and better understanding why you are aiming at particular morally important goals.And the good life is one that can be captured in a certain kind of story, one that depicts your own moral development accurately, and incorporates other people and the ways you support them in their pursuit of the good life.

Looking Through A Moral Compass

A thought experiment to understand moral psychology:A trolley is careening out of control down some tracks, on a heading to strike and kill five workers. Do you pull the lever to redirect the train which kills only one person? If it is okay to pull the lever, would it also be okay to push one bystander onto some train tracks to stop the trolley from hitting the five workers (killing him in the process)? If one person dies in every scenario, why should it matter that she was pulled rather than pushed, the manner in which the killing happened?

The Trolley Problem

The surprising discovery is that subjects do have different reactions to these variations. The more “person-to-person” the trolley problem is, the more reluctant someone was to act. So people are more likely to pull a lever to change the tracks, much less likely to push another person to their death!

What The Trolley Example Proves

Emotions and pleasure may be felt both too much and too little, and in both cases not well; but to feel them at the right times, with reference to the right objects, towards the right people, with the right motive, and in the right way, is what is both intermediate and best, and this is characteristic of virtue.

Whereas goal-directed activities get their value from culminating in an achievement—crossing the finish line makes the painful marathon worth running—goalless activities have value apart from how they end.Goalless activities are valuable just because you’re doing them, and they continue to be valuable as long as you do them and aren’t diminished in value because they don’t culminate in some big accomplishment.In this category, we can put things like sitting on a quiet dock to watch the waves come in or playing with our kids until we lose track of time.

Contemplation is Pointless, And That Is The Point

Contemplation is continuous—it doesn’t have a clear beginning or end. If you are absorbed in a thought or a moment, there is no definite point when you have to turn away.And contemplation is leisurely—there is no set pace you should strive to do it at and no such thing as being an “efficient” contemplative. Contemplative activities don’t have bittersweet endings, because they don’t really have endings at all.

Contemplation

Are you not ashamed of your eagerness to possess as much wealth, reputation and honours as possible, while you do not care for nor give thought to wisdom or truth or the best possible state of your soul?

Principles that are mistakenly high and strict are a trap; they may easily lead in the end directly or indirectly to the justification of monstrous things

Two Philosophers Ask and Answer the Big Questions About the Search for Faith and Happiness For seekers of all stripes, philosophy is timeless self-care. Notre Dame philosophy professors Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko have reinvigorated this tradition in their wildly popular and influential undergraduate course “God and the Good Life,” in which they wrestle with the big questions about how to live and what makes life meaningful. Now they invite us into the classroom to work through issues like what justifies our beliefs, whether we should practice a religion and what sacrifices we should make for others—as well as to investigate what figures such as Aristotle, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Iris Murdoch, and W. E. B. Du Bois have to say about how to live well. Sullivan and Blaschko do the timeless work of philosophy using real-world case studies that explore love, finance, truth, and more. In so doing, they push us to escape our own caves, ask stronger questions, explain our deepest goals, and wrestle with suffering, the nature of death, and the existence of God. Philosophers know that our “good life plan” is one that we as individuals need to be constantly and actively writing to achieve some meaningful control and sense of purpose even if the world keeps throwing surprises our way. For at least the past 2,500 years, philosophers have taught that goal-seeking is an essential part of what it is to be human—and crucially that we could find our own good life by asking better questions of ourselves and of one another. This virtue ethics approach resonates profoundly in our own moment. The Good Life Method is a winning guide to tackling the big questions of being human with the wisdom of the ages.

The Good Life Method

Research shows that most people who worry too much have difficulty tolerating uncertainty.Whenever they are not 100% sure about Something, even a small question like whether there will be enough parking space at the doctor's office, they tend to worry.But almost everything in life is uncertain because no one can predict the future. If alot of your worries are caused by insecurity,the best way to deal with it is to be more comfortable and sometimes not know it.

1. Increase Your Tolerance For Uncertainty

You can use deep breathing exercises to control your worry and anxiety.Deep breathing is very effective in managing short-term anxiety. If you feel anxious, try taking 10 or 20 slow, deep breaths to calm yourself down.Inhale as deeply as possible, holding the air in your lungs for a few seconds and exhaling slowly. Other effective relaxation techniques include centring, meditation, and mindfulness.

2. Use Relaxation Techniques:

Contrary to current problem solving,concerns about hypothetical situations can not always be addressed by immediate action.For example, taking action today cannot eliminate the worry that your baby will be sick later.Some things are out of your control. The best way to deal with your fear is to write an anxiety script for a hypothetical problem.

3. Write a Warning Script For Concerns About aHypothetical Sit

Anxiety can spiral out of control when you can't let go of a problem too big or too complicated to solve.Instead, try to focus on the things you can Control. Stick to a routine and maintain your regular maintenance network as much as possible. And strive to do things that have a positive impact and have an endpoint.For example, instead of constantly worrying about your neighbors, check-in, do something practical to help, and then stop worrying for a while.

4. Focus On The Things You Can Control:

Laughter is a great way to increase good feelings and relieve tension.The problem for anxious clients is that they take life so seriously that they stop having fun in their life and stop experiencing life's funny moments.Everything becomes a potential problem, not a way of finding joy or pleasure.

5. Have a Good Time

Do constant worry and anxious thoughts
trouble you?

489. Is “Toxic Positivity” a Thing?

Why You Can't Enjoy Life - Dan Koe

Kanye West quotes and lyrics on happiness and success

The Good Life Method

Managing Worry and Anxiety

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