Why be happy at all? Life is pointless anyway

You have probably heard some variation of negative life philosophies. They often focus on criticizing life and things you shouldn’t, won’t and can’t obtain. Lacking and terrible; you’ll never be good enough, they say. Then there is also a part about our existence being mere coincidence which can be erased by number of likely scenarios. If humanity doesn’t destroy itself that is. We almost destroyed ourselves in the recent past and as news tells us, some tough times are ahead.

So, looking from that perspective – why even bother? We all will die anyway. Even if we spend every waking hour of our life working and trying and giving our best and struggling against adversity and fighting disappointments, we will essentially end up in the same state as those who decided not to bother at all and went on with distracting themselves.

The core problem with negative life philosophies is not whether or not they are *correct*. The core problem is that they are built as an excuse. People who end up embracing negativity always first acknowledged that it is easier to give up than try. It obviously is. And once that easy choice was made, all that was left is finding excuses to justify the decision.

Don’t let yourself fall into this trap. The same way others pick pessimism you can pick optimism. Will making that choice be harder? Sure – but only for start. After someone truly makes positive outlook part of his character he is unable to let it go. For all those unhappy who need one small reason to get depressed, you have those who you can’t knock off happiness no matter what you try. Throw obstacles, frustrations and problems toward someone who is positively-focused, and he’ll keep evading and crushing them while laughing like a maniac.

It’s inspiring, really. Knowing that a persistent shift to the right state of mind is all we need to become unstoppable. That those unhappy ones laying around and saying “I don’t care” to everything offered are using exactly the same phrase that happy ones utter while facing challenges. So, decide to try and stay positive for your own sake. Ignore or deal with negativity of environment the best you can, depending on situation. And just keep going!

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. -Viktor E. Frankl

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way -Viktor E. Frankl


Note:
This post was inspired by life and work of Dr Viktor E. Frankl. Kind human being who survived Auschwitz and bore no ill will toward anyone. Not even to the neighborhoods who reported him and his family to Nazis. The same ones he treated as a doctor – both before and after the World War 2.

More yet, he wrote a great book – Men’s Search for Meaning. I highly recommend that you read it. Learn more about this great human being.

Let focus and persistence guide you toward your goals

It’s incredible how much human beings can achieve when they have a clear plan that they relentlessly follow. When you look at any great achievement there is always sense of awe when you consider the time and effort. It is easy to think that you would never be able to do that. Yet, people whose work you admire are not much unlike you.

We often fool ourselves by saying that we are not good enough. The problem is that we focus too much on the result and not on the process. Nobody is a genius all the time. It is the daily grind over years, millions of seconds spent focusing and doing the work… that results in something that someone at some time may look up to.

And I get it – it is scary to acknowledge the amount of work ahead of you. But you know what is scarier? The possibility that you’ll end up not even trying. That you’ll spend lifetime hiding from everything you should be facing head on. That you’ll be left in a cloud of misery simply because you decided to do what needs to be done – tomorrow.

The best lives belong to those who take challenge head on, the first time it comes. By each action train yourself to perform, the same way someone else trains themselves to procrastinate. Bring habit and momentum on your side by making the right choices.

Embrace your focus and hold it against all doubts. Persistently and relentlessly attack. And stop only once you see that your goal is lying ahead of you, ready for the taking.

Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself. -Abraham Joshua Heschel focus

Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself. -Abraham Joshua Heschel

Spreading the message of positivity from blogs

Thanks to Community Pool and feedback from my fellow bloggers I’m finally on weekly posting schedule. It doesn’t feel like I’ve already spent last 6 weeks writing and posting every Monday. But results are definitely showing! My last post “Set yourself in happy state of mind, simply because you can” has 30+ comments. And number of visitors on my blog has drastically increased.

So, I want to expand on the experience. As a self professed improvement tryhard – I am now aiming to post twice a week. And while I still don’t have exact time scheduled, I’ll try to come up with one (likely Wednesday, Thursday or Friday @ 8:00).

As for the theme of the posts – I want to write about other people’s blogs. Share my impressions of them and lessons learned. Participating in Community Pool allows you to experience how much effort bloggers put in daily. We definitely live in the world of abundance. And it is my hope that trough the series of posts I’ll be able to point out overlooked and under-appreciated.

You have your own blog? Your life must be all kinds of fascinating!

My Instruction Manual by Keith McArthur

Keith is another author that you can often see hanging out on Community Pool. And for the good reason – his posts are inspiring, especially if you take into account his life story. I most enjoy reading his step-by-step posts like this one: Five Ways to Beat Procrastination Today.

If you like my motivational posts, Keith has more great content on the subject. I haven’t found if he separates those posts under certain tag on the site… but I try to follow “Inspired” category:

To Cut a Short Story Short by Simon J Wood

Talk about wordsmith hero. I’ve always admired people with discipline to consistently perform certain task with quality. Simon has been linking his short fiction stories ever since I’ve joined Community Pool. And he shows no signs of stopping.

So, it was kinda weird when I loved a post of his that’s not a short story. It’s detailed article on self-publishing your book on Amazon. I’m sure lots of bloggers are wondering what it takes to publish your writings as a book. Well, as Simon Says: Publishing the ‘Best of Your Blog’ is as Easy as 1-2-3!

Here are also some of his recent short stories:

Way of the Wise by Layvi Litton

It is my firm belief that reading good content preceeds good writing. Thus, while I do spend considerable time writing my motivational posts, I also reading a lot on the subject. Books are great for when I have time… but for quick 5 minute relaxing read I enjoy blogs like Way of the Wise.

Layvi is participating in Daily Prompt so there is almost always a new piece on the site for reading:

Don’t be shy, leave a Reply on blogs you’ve liked

When you have visited blogs I’ve linked, feel free to comment and share your impressions. That is the point – to kickstart conversation of content that bloggers are producing. For now, I do not have exact criteria by which I will be picking blogs to link each week. But comment on my own posts or partake in Community Pool, and I’ll likely visit your blog.

In that sense – feel free to also link to your related blog posts in comments. Obviously, I will not approve comments that are link only or one liners. Same goes for “Cheap NBA 2K17 MT for Sale” and “Work from home for $9999” – my spam folder is full of those ;). But if you wrote a post that you are particularly proud of – comment to present and link it. I for sure want to cheer you on!

Set yourself in happy state of mind, simply because you can

Sometimes it seems as if everyone around us is so blessed and happy. How is it that while we are struggling with our life others are enjoying theirs? What is the secret that separates those who are happy from those who are not?

The answer is simple – it’s the state of mind.

In today’s world everything is attainable. Look around and you’ll find people who go from poverty to being millionaires before they turn 30. Kids without parents that become stars in professional sports. People who lose 100s of pounds in a few months after spending most of their life being obese.

Scratch the surface and you’ll see that the most important thing these people did was: setting the right state of mind. They replaced depressive, negative, busy thoughts with ones that are supportive, positive and focused. They chose to hold themselves accountable. They chose performing over criticizing. They chose being happy over being unhappy.

You can do exactly the same thing. Understand that happiness is not a goal, happiness is a state. You can’t obtain happiness the way you obtain 4 year higher education diploma. Feelings inside you can’t be stored and owned like a piece of paper. They can however be retrieved and reignited over and over until certain feelings become identifying part of you. Relearn your brain to power positive thoughts instead of negative ones. Make happiness your identifying trait, a habit, and you will find yourself unable to be unhappy even in the darkest hours.

Ignite the flame of joy in you. Not tomorrow, the next year or the year after. Now! Seize the realization that your happiness belongs and is controlled by you. And that there is not a single reason to delay being in the happy state of mind.

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions -Dalai Lama happy

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions -Dalai Lama

Choose to belong and fight for others. Depression targets those with no one around them.

One of the most impactful things in life is the group of people you share your time with. We humans climbed to the top of the food chain by organizing into tribes and standing united against stronger, faster and meaner enemies. What we couldn’t even imagine as individuals, we achieved as a part of a group. Tens of thousands of years we spent roaming and evolving together left the imprint of social animal all over us.

However, in this era of distractions and shallow entertainment many of us seem to have forgotten how important real relationships are. There is no surer way to box yourself into depression then to cut ties with everyone around you. At first it may seem like a great idea, but as time passes you’ll start to realize that you need someone, anyone to share your thoughts with.

So, choose to belong for sake of your own sanity. Understand that everything becomes easier when you truly invest yourself and share time with people you care about. Find those who share your values and goals. Stay away from those who don’t. But be prepared to give – the best relationships are those where you can help others with their need and have them satisfy yours.

Now, will you be burned more often than not by giving and not receiving? Of course. In the rapidly changing world of today, everyone needs so much, and tomorrow they will need even more. Know your limits but do not let those limits hold you. If you are able to give – give freely. Rejoice that you were able to provide and contribute to the social network we all depend on.

The more you give, the more you will develop yourself. We all end up getting pulled toward our own group. Leeches always end up with leeches. Givers always end up with givers. Don’t let adversity and disappointment knock you off your path and drive you toward group you don’t belong. Choose to give and be foundation for people around you and help them develop. Make your group a giver’s group and start carrying each other on the path of happiness.

Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes. -William Gibson

Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes -William Gibson