Category: Happiness
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Death as Equalizer, II
John Derbyshire ends his The Endless Pursuit of Happiness with a de Gaulle anecdote: The de Gaulles had a daughter, Anne, afflicted with Down syndrome. De Gaulle adored her, but as often happens in such cases, Anne died young. At her graveside when the service was over, de Gaulle turned to his wife and said:…
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Who Is Happy?
An answer.
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Happiness
Not all of our happiness is made by thought, but a good deal of it is — a fact to make one happy.
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Lavelle on Living in the Present
Louis Lavelle (1883-1951), The Dilemma of Narcissus, tr. W. T. Gairdner (New York: Humanities Press, 1973), p. 153: Life breaks the surface of reality and emerges at the present moment; we must not hold our gaze fixed on a future which, when it comes, will be merely another present. The unhappy man is he who…
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Middle-Sized Happiness
The best of this blog is hidden in its vast archives, a fact that mitigates 'You're only as good as your last post.' So there is justification for the occasional repost. Think of a repost as a blogospheric rerun. It has been over two years since I ran Middle-Sized Happiness. Having mentioned its topic in the entry immediately preceding, here…
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The Wit and Wisdom of Bertrand Russell
Ludwig Wittgenstein sometimes shot his mouth off in summary judgment of men of very high caliber. He once remarked to M. O'C. Drury, "Russell's books should be bound in two colours: those dealing with mathematical logic in red — and all students of philosophy should read them; those dealing with ethics and politics in blue…
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Is There an Obligation to be Happy?
I once heard Dennis Prager say that there is no correlation between a happy childhood and a happy adulthood. That is certainly confirmed by my experience. An unhappy childhood gave way to a happy adulthood. With others, it is the other way around. Prager also likes to say that we have a moral obligation to…
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Requisites of Happiness
Edward Ockham at Beyond Necessity quotes Flaubert: "To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness; though if stupidity is lacking, the others are useless." Witty, but false. Comparable and less cynical is this saying which I found attributed to Albert Schweitzer on a greeting card: Happiness is…
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Be Positive!
The Cloudview Trailhead is the one nearest to my house. It is a bit hard to get to as one must negotiate a number of turns. One fellow didn't like people driving onto his property in search of it so he posted a sign: Not the Trailhead! Some time ago I notice he had replaced…
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Some Happiness Maxims
These work for me; they may work for you. 1. Avoid unhappy people. Most of them live in hells of their own devising; you cannot help them, but they can harm you. 2. Avoid negativity. Squelch negative and useless thoughts as they arise. Your mind is your domain and you have (limited) control over it.…
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Why Are Lawyers So Unhappy?
An article by Martin P. Seligman. Now there's an aptronym for you. Selig is German for happy, blessed, blissful, although it can also mean late (verstorben) and tipsy (betrunken). So Seligman is the happy man. Nomen est omen?
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Necessary but Not Sufficient
Acceptance of one's lot in life is necessary but not sufficient for happiness.
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Gratitude: A Thanksgiving Homily
Here again my annual Thanksgiving homily: We need spiritual exercises just as we need physical, mental, and moral exercises. A good spiritual exercise, and easy to boot, is daily recollection of just how good one has it, just how rich and full one's life is, just how much is going right despite annoyances and setbacks…
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Attitude, Gratitude, Beatitude
The attitude of gratitude conduces to beatitude. Can it be said in plain Anglo-Saxon? Grateful thoughts lead one to happiness. However you say it, it is true. The miserable make themselves miserable by their bad thinking; the happy happy by their correct mental hygiene. Broad generalizations, these. They admit of exceptions, as goes without saying. …
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Happiness
"You can't make the unhappy happy." I just heard Dennis Prager say this during his Happiness Hour. An important truth. There are people who are bent on being miserable, no matter what their circumstances or endowments. As a general rule, they are best avoided if you want to be happy yourself. Companion post: People Are…