Comments on: How to be the Happiest Person in the Room

By: TheHappyPhilosopher

TheHappyPhilosopher — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 01:49:50 +0000

It’s tough to keep up with my blistering publishing schedule of barely 1 post a week 😉

“Things are almost never as bad or as good as they seem.” Haha, one of my partners loves that quote. It’s a good one.

We can’t be euphoric all the time, but we can mostly be happy and content. That’s where I aim. I drift, but always manage to pull myself back.

By: VagabondMD

VagabondMD — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 20:56:19 +0000

Great post. I am not sure how I missed it the first time around. I might have been on vacation at the time and fell behind. Nonetheless, I plan to exercise my happiness muscles regularly.

I would agree especially with the statement:
“I’ve noticed the vast majority of the bad things in my life never actually happened. I’ve wasted years of my life worrying them, but they never happened. Either that or they did happen, but I wouldn’t have been able to predict or control them anyways.”

I have a similar expression (but different in many ways) that I have coined as The First Rule of Interventional Radiology and Everything Else:
“Things are almost never as bad or as good as they seem.”

It helps me modulate the extremes of emotion that may accompany good or bad circumstances or outcomes, in order to mitigate the euphoria or despair that may accompany them. Why mitigate euphoria, you might ask, in a blog about happiness? Should euphoria not be the ideal?

I think that euphoria (or intense happiness) is often predicated on unrealistic expectations, unsustainable conditions and faulty assumptions that lead to overconfidence, self-centeredness, karmic disturbance, and the high likelihood of overshooting in the other direction when circumstances and fortunes change (and they always do). Better to keep emotions rangebound and with practice and good luck, mostly on the positive side.

By: TheHappyPhilosopher

TheHappyPhilosopher — Sat, 15 Apr 2017 19:30:24 +0000

In reply to RTD, CFP.

A sincere thanks RTD. Each of my posts will have varying effects on depending on when they hit your brain. Sometimes we age just ready to hear or read something. This was an important and meaningful one for me and I’m glad you found such value.
🙂

By: RTD, CFP

RTD, CFP — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 02:47:03 +0000

This might be your best post yet…at least for me. I actually had to bookmark just this post, because I know that I’m going to keep coming back to this, over, and over, and over. Sometimes we just need to be reminded that (a) we’re not the only one that struggles to find this, and (b) it takes hard work and practice.

Thanks for taking the time to write this. It’s effing brilliant.

By: TheHappyPhilosopher

TheHappyPhilosopher — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 13:36:53 +0000

In reply to RocDoc. I'm not sure I'm close to any kind of spiritual enlightenment at that level but I'm trying ;)

By: TheHappyPhilosopher

TheHappyPhilosopher — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 13:34:26 +0000

In reply to Mr. 1500. Haha, you win the award for the most enthusiastic comment. Thanks for letting me share my stuff with your readers. :)

By: RocDoc

RocDoc — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 17:08:25 +0000

A great message! You are becoming the Dalai Lama to the FIRE crowd. I think there is a restlessness in all of us that can be used to do good and elevate life or to cause feelings of envy and unhappiness. I think it’s important to try to use the restlessness for good purposes. Doing good for others can create great happiness as can gratitude.

By: Mr. 1500

Mr. 1500 — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 14:36:35 +0000

Yes, YES! YES!!! No, I’m not having an orgasm. I just really like this:

“Happiness is a skill and has components that can be cultivated and learned.”

I didn’t know that I could improve my happiness until very recently. I thought that I was condemned to my genetics.

Thanks so much for the wonderful post, advice and encouragement!