Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy
by Mo Gawdat
So here’s the $50 million question: If events remain as they are, but changing the way we think about them changes our experience of them, could we become happy simply by changing our thoughts? But as we obsessively compare, we set ourselves up for disappointment because there will always be someone who’s gone farther or done better.
So here’s the $50 million question: If events remain as they are, but changing the way we think about them changes our experience of them, could we become happy simply by changing our thoughts?
But as we obsessively compare, we set ourselves up for disappointment because there will always be someone who’s gone farther or done better.
Studies show that only 4 percent of all women in Western societies believe they are beautiful, and more than 60 percent believe they need to be thinner to deserve to be loved! Sadly, this shouldn’t be surprising.
Through it all, arm yourself with the right attitude. As Oscar Wilde said: “It is all going to be fine in the end. If it is not yet fine, then it is not yet the end.”
So much of your happiness depends not on the conditions of the world around you but on the thoughts you create about them.
"So here’s the $50 million question: If events remain as they are, but changing the way we think about them changes our experience of them, could we become happy simply by changing our thoughts?"
"But as we obsessively compare, we set ourselves up for disappointment because there will always be someone who’s gone farther or done better."
"Studies show that only 4 percent of all women in Western societies believe they are beautiful, and more than 60 percent believe they need to be thinner to deserve to be loved! Sadly, this shouldn’t be surprising."
"Through it all, arm yourself with the right attitude. As Oscar Wilde said: “It is all going to be fine in the end. If it is not yet fine, then it is not yet the end.”"
"So much of your happiness depends not on the conditions of the world around you but on the thoughts you create about them."
"They constantly try to push themselves out of their “comfort zones,” and they try to “move the needle.” They even try to run their personal lives like machines. Their evenings are reserved for networking dinners and business events. Their kids are driven from tennis practice to music lessons. Every minute is planned and is expected to tick by precisely like a clock. On the rare occasion these power executives allow themselves a short break, they find another extreme, perhaps exercising like Iron Men and Women or running marathons. They push beyond the balance it takes to stay healthy and fit. They"
"Shockingly, the accuracy of most knowledge—even scientific knowledge—suffers because we ignore unknown unknowns. Take physics, for example. Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity and published his laws of motion in 1687, forming the foundation of what we now know as classical mechanics. Those laws were fiercely debated until they were undisputedly proven and accepted. Once proven, scientists embraced them as facts that govern everything from the falling of an apple to the orbiting of the moon and planets."
- →But as we obsessively compare, we set ourselves up for disappointment because there will always be someone who’s gone farther or done better.
- →Taking the best possible action, regardless of the result, is an obvious way to disrupt the cycle. Once an action is taken, our minds focus on the executional elements of what needs to be done, a different part of our brains is engaged, and our thoughts shift to monitor the result of the action rather than incessantly focusing on the same thought.
- →take yourself to a quiet spot where you have no access to any time instruments. Go to the ocean or to the woods—or just stay in a quiet room. Make sure you have no connections to time—no clocks, no phones, and no external events keyed to the current time.
- →If fun suspends your thoughts, and happiness arises when your brain agrees with the events of your life, then joy is when thoughts are no longer even needed because the analysis has ended, and the equation has permanently been solved.
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