The Final Problem

There are several people further along the personal-development road than myself. They have their lives handled and are generally content in the way things are going - and they're doing the things they want to do.

This is a note to you, them, and myself in the future. Because, I've discovered something else that's harder to admit (and I'll probably forget it sooner or later). This is that in many cases, all they are doing is their tried-and-true method for happiness. They are productive members of our society, and they're helping the human race. They DESERVE to feel happy. And yet, the battle doesn't really stop there. You shouldn't stop just because you feel happy. The problem is, we do. We just don't try as hard when we're happy.

I probably sound horribly cruel. I'm not saying you don't DESERVE to be happy. I think these happy people could be doing so much more - but don't, because, after all, they've come along way, and gotten to the "top".

I'm getting off-topic.

My point is this. Imagine it's five years from now.* I've turned this website into a huge success, and now I'm happy (I feel I've accomplished something) Next I'll feel I don't need to set my goals as high (not as high globally, they'll still be high personally) This could mean spending a year in silence, in the woods, building a house out of wood. I'll go through extreme physical hardships, I'll cut down all the trees and saw them myself, I'll push myself to the limits. A year later, my wooden house in the woods is complete. I'll go inside, and lie on the floor, feeling the exhilariting rush of completion. What will I have gained? I'll be in better physical strength, I'll be more confident, and perhaps I'll be slightly better of a person (more in tune with nature?)

But it will have been a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. Machines could have done the same thing in only a couple of days! I could have accomplished much more from a global standpoint if only I'd not let my personal happiness get in the way.

Examples of things that give you that happy feeling (that may not be a good thing):
- Mowing the Lawn. This is a big one, and the one I hate most. Don't get stuck in this habbit!
- Fishing. Really. It's nice to try, and definately a skill, but fishing just because it feels good = not good.
- Watching Every Episode of a Television Series Just to Say You Did. Only watch TV if you get something from it mentally, IE it makes you think.
- Playing Video Games. Seriously! Playing video games on a whole isn't bad, but playing "just to level up a character" or "so I'll do good in battles" is a waste of time.
- Listening to Music. Eh... not too sure on this one. I think we benefit from listening to music.
- Counting X (coins, pencils, trees, etc.). It's so trivial!

That last one is the basic embodiement of what I'm talking about. Something that has NO real-world benifit, and only serves to help you (to make you feel better).

From what I understand, people with OCD might be a good example of this.

I think that this is one of the last pitfalls some great people are coming to. They're so close to the finish, and they bog themselves down with work and personal goals. I can only hope that someday I WON'T fall into the same traps.

And by the way, even though I dislike it, we all give respect to people who do this. It's a kind of sacrafice. I guess it's not respect so much as grieving. If I saw someone (someone I knew who was a great guy, and an extremely positive influence on everyone) counting strands of grass for ten years, I would consider it a waste of life. I wouldn't be mad at all - I would grieve.

* = Steve Pavlina once wrote about an exercise involving talking to mental versions of yourself from 5 years in the past and future. While this was unrelated to what I was talking about, it nevertheless is something I'm going to try. You can read about it here: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/08/my-favorite-meditation/

Happiness is Not Objective

Poor, homeless people can be happier than rich, wealthy, expensive people. Why? It's all part of being human. Think about it. We all strive for success in one way or another. We can all experience happiness. When you're at lunch, and you buy an especially nice frozen treat, you are happier. In general, finer things make us happier. Since, in most everyday interactions, more money gives us more happiness, we naturally assume that more money in the long term will mean more happiness. However, in many cases, this is not true. Think about it in terms of genetics. Rich Person A struggles many years of his life and becomes rich. He has all the toys and gadgets he wants. For the rest of his life, he stays at home, happily and contentedly playing with his hi-tech toys until his death. Rich Person B also struggles many years of his life and becomes rich. However, once he reached his goal (of becoming rich), he kept going, working hard and becoming even more successful until the end of his life. For the human race, people who are more like RP (Rich Person) B are a benefactor. They help the human race on a whole. People like RP A, on the other hand, while extremely happy, do not help the human race by living a happy, content life. Most people are somewhere in the middle.

Being too happy is not a good thing for humans on a whole.

Happiness is not universal. It's not even objective. When you experience happiness, that's your head telling you you're on the right track. When you don't feel happy, you try to do something to change the situation (you try to make yourself happy).

If everyone was happy all the time, no-one would ever try to change anything. We would all sit at home feeling happy.

That's why, when we feel unhappy, we try to do something to change it. When we feel sad, we try to prevent what caused us to feel sad from happening again. We're all just playing the roles assigned to us by our genes. Of course, everyone would love it if they could feel happy all the time - but it wouldn't be good for us as humans. We'd die out. People would be so happy they wouldn't eat anything. Sure, they'd feel the gnawing of hunger in their stomach, but they wouldn't feel the need to DO anything about it.

Don't worry, though. There is a solution. Although being eternally happy is not possible (or at least, it shouldn't be), being happy is actually rather easy to achieve. And no, I don't mean eating that bit of chocolate cake (that's for a future article). Just do what feels right. Being aware is half the battle. Force yourself to determine what things will give you long-term happiness, compared to short-term happiness. It's OK to spend your time doing things for short-term happiness, but keep in mind your future as well.

Don't do drugs. Using drugs makes you happy when you shouldn't be. Using drugs gives you very short-term happiness. Not only that, it makes it even more difficult to achieve long-term happiness. Then again, if you do drugs, you probably won't live as long, and your genes (which had a role in making you do drugs in the first place) are less likely to remain in our human gene pool. So, in a way, humanity is weeding out the bad traits, and keeping in the good.

So why are we unhappy? I believe that the only reason humans have so much stress, anxiety, grief, and unhappiness, is because as a human race, we haven't finished evolving yet. We're not perfect - we still make mistakes. Because it's so much easier for bad (genetically) people to continue living these days, where medicine and money virtually secure places for people who value themselves too much, as a whole, humanity is not moving forward as quickly as we used to. So the majority of us are not as happy as people have been at some points in history. Or as people will be in the future.

This is my first blog entry! It's bound to be jumbled and probably grammatically incorrect in places, but I hope that writing enough will help me to settle into my own style. I've found once you read a few articles by the same person, it becomes easier to understand the concepts they write about, because you begin to have a window into their mind. It's even easier if they have a certain style. One can only hope.

Here's a link to an interesting site about something called Sudden Success Syndrome - http://www.mmcinstitute.com/sws.html

Hey All

New blog. Comment.