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Flinn

The Dude's thoughts - The pursue of happiness...

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Flinn
, February 26, 2020 at 04:22 AM (4440 Views)
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Generally speaking I'm a happy dude.. in the past I had long moments of depression, due to RL hitting me hard and a bit of being totally unprepared to deal with bad events (I had a terrible year for instance, during which I was totally scared by death, to the point that I could barely sleep), but today I'm definitely someone who can withstand much of usual life's crap and that can find the good perspective in most of the things and events.

A lot of people ask me how do I manage to be so constantly happy... my usual response is that I've been lucky because I'm a stupid man, and that ignorance is a blessing for happiness .. jokes aside, from a certain point of view it is so, in the sense that simplicity is at the base of happiness; it's not about success (in general), not about power or money (they just create addiction like drugs or sex, the more you have the more you want) and certainly not about luck.

Happiness is a mental state, mark my words.

No one else other than you can gift you with happiness.. no other person, no event, no property, all these elements are just accessories.. you can think that winning the lottery will make you happy, and it certainly will, for the next few moments.. you can think that catching that girl will make you happy, and it will certainly will until your Ego is satisfied... you can think that becoming the King of the World will make you happy.. the true happiness is somewhere else, it's inside us.. and it's a very simple thing, that I call "recognition" (I'm not totally sure this term defines exactly what I mean, but still..)

Recognition of what life actually is, of it's fundamental elements (basically, acceptance of death, as I also hinted in the previous post of this blog).. of the fact that we are alone, no matter how hard we believe that we are not.. of the fact that there are Powers (call them God, Karma, Luck, Fate, whatever) that influences our lives out of our own will.. of the fact that we are meaningless in a universe composed by infinite elements and possibilities.

Simplicity is the key, you simply have to want to be happy, to be so.. you simply have to accept the truth you arrive to via the recognition, in order to be happy... stop bothering about your place in the great scheme, stop bothering about how you could be better, how you "should have behaved", or how you could change the people or the world.. just be yourself, do the things without a second goal, give all that you can and forget about it, love without the need of being loved in return, forgive and forget, keep looking forward and always be optimistic..

Remind my words: you won't bring anything with you in the grave.. no success, no failure, no problems, no money, no love, no hate, not even the remembrance.. nothing.. so just stop bothering and be happy, you'll find it surprisingly easy if you'll only try to.

Updated May 08, 2020 at 09:41 AM by Flinn

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Comments

  1. Flinn's Avatar
    When I started to post these "thoughts" I didn't have in mind to make a specific series of blog posts out of them, but here we are now..

    in case you missed them

    - The Dude's thoughts - To fall in love vs to love...
    - The Dude's thoughts - Memento Mori
  2. Turkafinwë's Avatar
    A very relatable way of thinking, at least from my perspective and experience. The difficult part, I find, is breaking free of those "illusionary walls" (I can't describe it any better, those earthly desires you described are among the things that I mean with those walls) that keep you trapped in a downward spiral. Healing, primarily, comes from within and I too do believe, that to be happy you first need to want to be happy and choose to be happy. That does not make you happy instantaniously of course and you need a lot of willpower to start feeling happy after a long period of unhappiness. It is hard work to change how your mind works but the possibility is there if you want to use it.

    Ultimately only you have the power to make yourself happy and satisfied in life, if you have the will to be happy. Finding that power is something entirely else of course.
  3. King Athelstan's Avatar
    That's a good way of putting it mate - you yourself is wholly responsible for yourself, and expecting everything to just happen won't cut it
  4. Flinn's Avatar
    @ Turka & KA; thanks for reading and commenting, the both of you

    @ Turkafinwe.. I totally got what you mean with "illusionary walls" believe me.. anyways, wisemen have been discussing and considering about such things for ages, literally.. I'm not telling anything new of course, but I also believe that modern times are those with the highest level of stress ever, stress that requires us a lot of efforts to contain it.. then so, why not putting those efforts in being happy, rather than trying to not to be unhappy?

    @ KA, definitely bro, though always remember one thing.. it has to be an easy thing, otherwise if you have to stress yourself on it, it won't work in any case.. just be happy, that's the secret
  5. Turkafinwë's Avatar
    It would be strange if we were the first generations of people to think about such things. In my opinion it's mostly beneficial to return to the viewings of the past and see if it still apllies or applies but in a slightly different way, which it often does. At the least it's interesting to explore these things.

    Just be happy is indeed, in my opinion, the essence of it. Simple in its premise, difficult in practice for those who have not achieved it but once achieved it will be very easy to be maintained (mainly because there is no maintenace if you have achieved true happiness, you just are).

    Glad to be part of the conversation Flinn.
  6. Flinn's Avatar
    Just be happy is indeed, in my opinion, the essence of it. Simple in its premise, difficult in practice for those who have not achieved it but once achieved it will be very easy to be maintained (mainly because there is no maintenace if you have achieved true happiness, you just are).
    precisely, that's why I say that it's that easy

    Glad to be part of the conversation Flinn.
    And I'm glad you are mate, your input is totally appreciated and always feel free to jump in and add yours in my blogs