Back in Anarchapulco with my unruly dogs and talking about how important it is to get control of your mind to find happiness.
My dogs seem to be happy all the time. Yours probably are too.
Why are they happy all the time and we aren't? It's because they don't think too much! And we shouldn't either!
But, it's not just thinking too much. It's what we think about too.
In today's "walk n' talk", I discuss the steps I've taken to get better physically which has allowed me to get more control over my mind... which has led to me losing my depression and feeling happy most of the time. Something I don't remember having felt in at least 20 years.
Here's more of my thoughts:
In the end happiness is actually a choice. You just need to know how to learn to make that choice. And, once you do, why would you choose to be unhappy?
Perhaps there's comfort in misery for some who have been used to it as a loyal companion for a lot of their life?
Yes.....I understand what you are saying here. A belief that being miserable is a strange self preservation. The realistic pessimist?
I like what you are saying but I disagree. As a kid who was bullied I wasn't able to be happy until I got to college. Now, I'm very happy other than the stress of adulthood and being broke I'm very happy. Sometimes, it's not a choice.
Shoulda quit the government indoctrination camps or headed down to the MMA gym. Either would have fixed it.
I don't want to sound desperate because I'm not and I know you have a kind heart since we always see you upvote the sob stories but.....the Tezos ICO is hours away at this point. Is this an opportunity of a lifetime or a cryptocurrency retreat back to centralized authority since the Swiss government has officially approved the coin's foundation?
I think it takes effort to be happy, you need to do something - today I am very lazy, not doing much and I am not so happy.
Yes, to be happy, one must have something to look forward to. Caring for someone or some thing (like plants for example) giving of yourself brings real solid happiness. If you can remember to get up and move...just move...energy begets more energy...then your laziness will fade away. you will not be so depressed and will find happiness just from feeling the sunshine on your face.
Jeff give us your take on Sia Coin and XRP please
This is probably the best piece of anti-bullying advice I've ever come across.
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I agree with you about everyone not having the choice to be happy. Not everyone is as fortunate as others. Some people go through things in theor life, which would make it difficult dor them to just be happy!
I'd say the choice lies within how you view your situation. Money isn't happiness. Would you say the bullying made you stronger perhaps? Temporal happiness and long-term happiness are different things I'd say.
I like the definition of happiness Aristotle proposed..'eudamonia'...which is essentially fulfilling our purpose; one of fulfillment. To him, if we practice virtuos activities each day rather than let the doldrums of socialization weigh down on us...we were in a good place.
I stuttered throughout Middle School and High School and took on a whole bunch of 'bullying' and was looked down upon by some who didn't know my true capabilities. When I realized I was in-control of it, for the most part, and became mostly fluent...I reached a level where I'm glad I went through that hardship.
[More on Aristotle here if you're interested: http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_eudaimonism.html]
I know being broke can be a stressor, but the best I can say is try to take things relatively; as hard as it might seem sometimes....at least you have your life. Many who wanted theirs have lost it without wanting too...at young ages...in tragic accidents, etc.. I know it's easier said that done....but giving it a shot is worth it isnt it?
Bulling made me a sarcastic asshole haha but I am very happy with life now. Money is not everything but it is needed.
Thats a hood thought
Shoulda' punched that bully right in the fuckin' mouth. You'd have been a lot happier a lot sooner. Worked for me.
I agree with you @jpinka
I think there's a limit to really being happy with whatever you have
When I was in high school, I literally hated my life (because I hated high school and felt I didn't belong). So I remember they were one of the worst years of my life
Damn Skippy. You should add more tags to this post like blog and writing. I only see life
I agree, it isn't a choice. Being happy or not happy is the effect of a cause. The method is what makes you happy or unhappy. You can chose to do actions that will make you feel happy or sad, but you cannot chose to be sad or happy.
For example, saying someone should just be happy when their Mom dies is extremely naive. Keeping yourself locked in your room won't help with you being happy overtime, but talking to family members and going out will good company will make you happier than sitting in your room.
That's one way to look at it. 🙃
I DISAGREE Completely.
It's ONLY a choice if you already well off. All you basic Needs are met (you'll need enough money) and family/friends have no Health issues.
After and ONLY after that. You can choose to be happy or not.
I grew up dirt poor in roach infested dumps. My parents moved me 16 times from K-12. It was my choice to either use those things as excuses to fail or to overcome them. I overcame them and was successful. Success is not easy for me either. I have to work harder than lots of people. The key to my success though is that I do not give up.
It doesn't matter what hand you've been dealt in life. If you are tenacious enough and willing to work hard enough, you will succeed. There is no good excuse.
It was my choice to either use those things as excuses to fail or to overcome them. It doesn't matter what hand you've been dealt in life. If you are tenacious enough and willing to work hard enough, you will succeed. There is no good excuse.
this is a really good message. Thank you.
Even if you work hard and are successful doesn't mean you will be happy... maybe being too focused on success can have the opposite effect.
Well, we should always be improving ourselves, but by work I mean working on something you are passionate about.
I have done IT work for 20 years and hate it. It still didn't make me unhappy with life though.
The best solution is making your work something you love to do with or without pay. A good example is a friend of mine who snowboards. He found a way to live off doing what he loves to do.
Yeah and income isn't always a measure of happiness or success either. You see people living in the worst conditions and they still manage to be very happy people. I think surroundings are a big part of it.
I have been homeless and living outside before and the memories were some of the best and worst of my life. I am now a mother and home owner and am having the best and worst memories as well. But it is true that when being homeless those happy times were when my basic needs were met...
Money can buy happiness, too.
And, there is people with millions that cant buy himself happiness.
I agree. Happiness is a choice once your basic needs have been met. The question is how much money do you need to be happy? There are some people who party until they run out of money
And there are billionaires who are happy to just play bridge and happy to give all away when they die
Money is not every thing. It can fulfill our needs not bring happiness. Many rich people are stressed. and poor are happy because they had not much targets. They are contented . It is up to a person how he feels happiness in less resources. It is whole success of life.
Same here, LOVE
No I disagree, even the rich sometimes have periods of sadness. Being unhappy doesn't change the situation and remember happiness has an atmosphere for positivity and productivity.
Why would an emotion ever be a choice? You cant choose to love, or hate, or feel hungry or thirsty or jeolous. Why do you believe you could choose happiness?
Happiness chooses you. And you can be happy even though your basic needs arent fulfilled.
Thats what I'm talking about man!
Totally agree - it is state of mind. Something reminded me of this earlier in the year which I now try to hold on to. Great post.
hangout.
Agreed
Althought this is true for most, some people just don't get a choice.
The conditions they are born on (place, family, wealth) sometimes just don't allow a person to simply choose a happy life.
Great post :)
You are totally right.
Things tend to develop into feedback loops so once you are in a negative one it's really hard to dig yourself out.
When you are standing from that place of negativity, it's so hard to really trust in ideas like ours....but all we can is keep looking for ways to show others that it really is all up to you, and continue to believe it ourselves, even when it's damn hard
Jeff may be right...
Couldn't agree more! Great post. Too many times we are in a hurry to make a quick buck and become fixated on what everyone else thinks. Be around positive people, think positive, worry about only what you CAN CHANGE and leave everything else alone. Find time to spend with people and things you love and you will become a much much happier you! This post lines up perfectly with what I have been striving to achieve over the past few months. Thanks for posting this.
You're absolutely right. Happiness is a choice and often time I forget that. It's so easy to get upset about nothing and once you put that negative energy in the universe it has a domino affect. Each morning I wake up, I tell the universe what I am grateful for and ask that my path be positive. Continue to stay positive and happy brother. 👍🏾👍🏾
Awesome stuff man. I just wrote a post similar to this mindset.
Well done post You deserve for getting Upvote from me. I appreciate on it and like it so much . Waiting for your latest post. Keep your good work and steeming on. Let's walk to my blog. I have a latest post. Your upvote is high motivation for me. Almost all Steemians do their best on this site. Keep steeming and earning.
This comment has received a 0.07 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @hamzaoui.
Yes! Be free and live to the max.
My motto by "makeithappen", every day!
Wrong. Read my separate Reply below.
Thrown great light on a great topic, well done
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Followed you now. 👍🏻
It's better to take the option of being happy or keeping yourself happy.
It will make you look younger.
Actually it's all in my vitamin D levels
My pet piggies teach me it's okay to play in the mud, lay in the sun and enjoy good food. They inspire me!
..you re right..
"it needs a decision for everything, even for being happy"
I like ur name enjoy karma
..big pleasure, thank you..at the end we live easier or more happy enjoying it..i m still trying to..
I watched the entire video and i really enjoyed your insights at the end of video. An how you overcame your shi.tty situation... Awesome and helpful, thanks.
I'll be happy when Steemit is $10 worth (:
Hell yeah! Me too! ;)
Happiness and sadness are all in the brain, and most of us fail to control the brain itself and fall in the trap of emotion. But to be happy, the best way is to accept life events as it is and be easy going with everything.
We are what we choose, choose to be happy, and we have to learn to value ourselves.
Wow! I love this.
This is Refreshing.
You have my UPVOTE!
Good post and video, lesson learned, thanks for sharing.
Dont forget to check out my post for a linck to collect free crypto..a once in a life time opportunity
This simple quote has done a lot more for me than I would have ever thought it would :) I think most things in life are quite easy, until you choose to make them difficult.
Hahah, I love this.
An ethic based on happiness alone is an ethic destined to fail because it can't sustain the devastating blow that life send our way from time to time.
If you get into it more deeply, a few conclusions would arise:
Yes! Even if bad things happen to us, it is still our choice to focus on them or overcome them.
Interesting. There's truth in these words.................... I likes it!
5 +))
Yup. You need to have an ethic motivated by a bigger picture. That's why sticking to your life's vision is so important. It gives you meaning beyond yourself.
really susinct and neat point! kind of how a busines pkanned JUST based on profit and ONLy worried about Money will always Fail and peopel can SEE when your JUST abot money like people whp just shamlessly promote their steemit links, in unrelated posts, people who ave no substance who just set up some sort of Money turn key system that dooesnt actaly create value but just tries to "make oney" is always going to faiL!
yes a ethos basedd on just happpniess is like an anto depressent! u cant just try and "be happpy" its to intangible! u CAN make good lifestye investments to increaese chances of being happy and have ur needs met.....Its why growing food and saving up for a solar panel is so important!
Food electricity and Internet, what else do we need?
Here is the new Maslows Hierarchy of Need with Battery and Internet
Electricity and Internet are now more of a basic immediate need than food or even water! Information can teach you wree he water is or whre the wels or roverrs are! and like i said before on operation upgrade africa post, we can teach people how to make money on steemit and give em robot farm rtools to save ppeople the effort and work of farming to fre up affricans to use steemit al day on smartphones we can loan them and allow the too pay us off uwing thei future steemit money....
happy for u jeff, ur rite on mindset . new toy works well. enjoyed walk.
So true Jeff! If you eat junk food all the time and wash it down with alcohol you are not likely to feel very happy. You have shown from your own life that exercise and healthy eating can really contribute to an improved mood! Ok, now you know me Jeff, now that I have your attention I always try to slip in a timely question about cryptocurrency. The onegram (OGC) ICO is going on right now and the Royal Mint Gold (RMG) coin will come to market later this year. What about these gold backed cryptocurrencies? Are these the Holy Grail or just another way for a centralized authority to screw up the miracle of blockchain technology.
Just a quick addendum Jeff, to note that I am a complete idiot. I just checked and you just did a post here on Steemit under the Dollar Vigilante account three days ago titled, "Can Gold & Silver Be Put on the Blockchain?" It sounds like the great Ed Bugos has all the details on onegram and Royal Mint Gold in the Dollar Vigilante newsletter so I will have to subscribe!
https://steemit.com/philosophy/@llange/is-the-dollar-vigilante-wrong-about-the-etymology-of-the-word-government
true, dont think about bad moments, its useless
sweet content bro :)
We can choose what we think and this determines how we feel. Our feelings and emotions are our guidance system, telling us if we are thinking thoughts pointed toward the things we want, or away from them.
We do what we think about and become what we do is the way I look at it. I think about my goals. I may not achieve them when I first want them done, but I will eventually achieve them. The main thing that makes me different from so many around me is that I ignore the negative energy around me.
So many don't realize that this IS a Choice. Even one of the replies to this post above yours and mine says "we have no choice." It's too bad in a way, but I also know every person learns at the perfect pace for themselves. Yes, our emotions are our guidance system, and as much as I knew lots for many years, I never really realized this until a few years ago. It's one of the things we are not taught in school - emotions. In fact, the general teaching of the world mind is not to know about emotions. But once acknowledged as the keys they are to understanding the life journey, all kinds of doors have opened up for me.
YES! I often think about when I started thinking about my emotions, and when I started meditating and doing exercises like the Sedona Method - it feels like I didn't actually have emotions, I had a haze of unconsciousness that came from somewhere. Now, when I understand that how I feel is merely an indicator of what I am thinking, I feel my emotions more clearly and more deeply. And I do have a choice!!
It's as you said, we all learn at our own perfect pace, so it's ok.
Wow - It's being fun to be on Steemit. Thanks for your reply. I get it. I was wondering if there would be any people on here that were interested in expanded consciousness. I also meditate. Perhaps we will share again.
Definitely!
Your thoughts dont make you happy. What you accomplish with your actions do. Emotions are there to guide as how to act. Not how to think. Thinking is more of a by product.
Could you give me an example of how accomplishment through action makes you happy?
You accomplish your goal and that makes you happy. You get the girl and that makes you happy. You make money and that makes you happy. You have a healthy child and that makes you happy.
You really couldnt come up with one yourself?
What if you get the girl and that doesn't make you happy? What if you make the money and that doesn't make you happy? I know plenty of super successful people who aren't happy.
Then those werent the actions that made you happy. Are you an idiot or are you trolling? Not every action makes you happy, idiot.
Is it really a choice?
If it is a choice then who does not want to be happy?
Yeah, it is a choice only in a limited way. But before it is a choice, it is a chance.
Do you have a choice when you are born in some remote part of Africa or India where you have no access even to something like clean water?
Was it your choice to have been born in the US or UK?
It becomes a choice only once you have been favoured by chance.
Congratulations @jeffberwick!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following categories:
I told a man in Mexico once that I was depressed.... and asked him if he ever struggled with depression.... He didn't understand what "depression" meant... when I explained to him what I meant he said, "Ohhhhhh, that's a rich man disease..... I work hard and make just enough to feed my family so I'm happy." Wise man....
Don't get me wrong I know clinical depression all too well.... but there are a lot of Americans especially that really throw around the word depression..... and they might mean it in a way where everything isn't going right so they're depressed.....
well... not really a choice when you have depression
Its not a choice even when you are happy.
1st comment! already saw the video on my YT subs! you're the MAN! inspiring as always! thx!
up up + resteemed!
He is really the men
always love reading and watching what jeff talks about
A great point too duo.
Hw did u inscribe dis comment on the pic?
POWERFULL!!!
Jeff you are so right...it's in our minds. Why go with what society says and instead be our true selves. Everyone is different and that's what makes it so exiciting.
If all else fails - just dance ;)
And then dance some more :)
There's important work to be done for the improvement of humanity. If all else fails, maintain your course. Fight. Be a warrior and do your duty regardless of the personal price.
Try dancing when your child dies. We express happiness with dance. Dance doesnt make us happy.
One theory in psychology research suggests that we all have a happiness “set-point” that largely determines our overall well-being. We oscillate around this set point, becoming happier when something positive happens or the opposite, afterwards returning to equilibrium.
But this set-point, to a certain extent, can be reset. Although our general mood levels and well-being are partially determined by factors like genetics and upbringing, roughly 40 percent of our happiness is within our control, according to some experts, and a large body of research in the field of positive psychology has shown that happiness is a choice that anyone can make. As psychologist William James put it, “The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human can alter his life by altering his attitude.”
A little effort can go a long way in increasing happiness. Two small experimental studies, published this year in the Journal of Positive Psychology, found that simply trying to be happier could actually elevate mood and well-being. In one study, two groups of students listened to “happy” music — one group was instructed to make a concerted effort to feel happier, while the other group was instructed not to actively try to lift their mood. The group that tried to feel happy experienced the most elevated moods after listening to the music.
People who are happy choose to make happiness among their top goals in life, according to psychologist Tom G. Stevens, Ph.D. , author of You Can Choose to Be Happy.
The secret to happiness could be as simple (and difficult) as becoming more mindful. Meditation — a practice that anyone can do, anywhere, so long as they’re willing to sit and try to silence the mind — is thought to be a happiness-booster. And people who meditate daily report feeling at ease with themselves.
University of Wisconsin psychology professor Richard Davidson found in his research that a meditation practice might help to shift brain activity from the right frontal area of the brain (associated with depression, anxiety and worry) to the left, which has been found to correlate with feelings of happiness, excitement, joy and alertness.
Conventional thinking has it that pursuing success will lead to happiness, but research has shown that it may be just the opposite. Pursuing happiness leads not only to happiness itself, but also to success, according to Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage.
In his 12 years researching happiness at Harvard, Achor found that cultivating a positive mindset could boost well-being and improve workers’ performance on many levels, from productivity to creativity and engagement.
“People who cultivate a positive mind-set perform better in the face of challenge,” he wrote in Harvard Business Review in 2012. “I call this the ‘happiness advantage’ — every business outcome shows improvement when the brain is positive.”
So yeah it is a choice, but depression is also, and people sometimes chose to be depressed because that connects them with other people. Think about that.
"one group was instructed to make a concerted effort to feel happier, while the other group was instructed not to actively try to lift their mood. The group that tried to feel happy experienced the most elevated moods after listening to the music."
Maybe they just tried to please the authority.
“People who cultivate a positive mind-set perform better in the face of challenge,”
Or maybe the better you face challenges the happier you are.
Thanks Jeff,
This is an epidemic, these people depress themselves subconsciously. They are stuck in the rabbit hole and have no clue where the exit is, much less know it exists.
This does not apply to people with real actual problems. Usually these unhappy people have no problems whatsoever which they cannot solve somehow. They usually don't listen and can't focus which is step one to shaking this off. It's a fine line for some and can be changed very quickly, but a few have no cure.
Most importantly, we need to love and care for each other if this world is to continue. We need to work hard to find out what that love and care actually is.
Most of these people are our family and friends, which makes it it extremely difficult to approach. And when engaged we cannot alienate or separate, it will make it worst. If you want to help you must set the scene for them, so they can see the light themselves.