cope is a helluva drug

It's been so simple the entire time...

Happy people's minds are primarily occupied by happy, positive thoughts. On the flipside, unhappy people spend most of their time having unhappy, negative thoughts. I mean, can anything be more obvious??

So if everyone truly wanted to be happy, then why isn't everyone prioritizing the training of their mind to think mostly happy thoughts???

I think the reason for this is because most people miss the fact that it's a feedback loop. Not only do you have happy thoughts when you feel happy but you also feel happy when you have happy thoughts. Both are causes and effects of each other at the same time. When people only focus on the loop in one direction, they think they need to rely on external factors to get the happy wheel to start spinning. Unsurprisingly however, the happiness from external factors never lasts long for people whose thoughts are quick to default back to negative and thus, turn the entire feedback loop negative.

See, there's only two kinds of thoughts you can have. Statements. Or questions. Each of these can then either be negative, neutral, or positive. So be honest with yourself...what kind of statements or questions do you spend most of your time practicing? Whatever answer you give...well that's who you are because you know what they say about practice...

So if you want to feel differently, then start practicing thinking differently. It won't be easy but it is simple. Make it a habit to replace negative thoughts with positive ones (or even neutral ones if you have a hard time being positive at first). For example, if you're an anxious person like me, then you probably spend a lot of time asking too many questions and doubting things. If you have low self-esteem, then you probably spend a lot of time thinking bad things about yourself. The list goes on but at the end of the day, you are what you practice. And while we can't control emerging thoughts from the get-go, we CAN interrupt them and replace them with a different thought. In psychology i think it's called redirection. "The sky is blue." "I love my dog." "I'm excited for dinner". Anything that is more positive or less negative than your initial negative thought...is better. As time goes on, I believe the redirective thoughts will become more refined and more powerfully positive.

That's it. If you got through the whole thing, thanks for reading. I know there are some of you like me who had already achieved everything they thought they wanted and still didn't feel happy. Well now i know that i can't expect that to ever change if I continue to let my brain run too many negative scripts. I've only just started my attempt at retraining my brain and I already feel a huge difference. I hope this helps someone.

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
– Marcus Aurelius

Welll while we're getting pretentious...

"The mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n."
- John Milton, Paradise Lost

What you are talking about is the basic needs within Maslow's Hirearchy. From reading the thread, the assumption is that these basic needs are being met. However its the psychological and self fulfilment needs which are most peoples gap.

What Marcus Aurelius is actually hinting at with his quote is that thought is suffering. By becoming self aware of thought or as OP is suggesting to focus more on positive thoughts, we can overcome suffering.

negs for life you dumb whore, you seem to completely miss out the part about following your logos, huh?

marcus aurelius is exalted

on r/c - negs for life, congrats


edit: tbh shouldn't be surprised because women just cannot grasp any philosophy, philosophy is made from men for men, it contains a level of depth that women can not and will not ever be able to understand due to their nature.. women have no space in that topic
even though i understand where this subhuman trash whore is coming from, negs for life are still warranted for having the audacity to THINK her very narrow interpretation of such a topic is not only valid, but warrants her bashing on not only the dead, but also one of the highest exalted men ever lived and the - i quote - "the last good emperor" of a time and place where humanity and society was at one of its peaks

I'm just saying no amount of positive thinking will take away the pain of real oppression. What it does is create flocks of arrogant miscers who think that if anyone speaks out against pain that they are "trolls" who don't have mental discipline. I can't stand Marcus Aurelius.

Also, your post illustrates an important characteristic of philosophy in general: it's the domain of those with very little that actually needs to be done. You allude to this when you state that the basic needs must already be met for the ideas to take on significance. Yeah, I can get on board with that. Wishing away fake problems with solutions that are literally nothing more than thoughts is entirely possible, but what about real problems? Brick, mortar, bags of food and medicine, soldiers with guns and training. Those to me are solutions. Not some cot damn dead guy telling starving kids and old folks who are dying in their own excrement to man up. If the audience has to be well fed rich guys, then who gives a damn. btw I fukin hated school.

yeah it's good advice with good intentions

but it's kind of like telling someone: just be good looking bro


There is a reason people have 'negative thoughts', they don't wake up one day with them. Examples:

- Traumatic upbringing
- Constant disappointment, specially early in life
- lack of a support network
- abusive parents
- diseases, financial issues, mental issues
- Loss of loved ones

etc.

you get the point.

Like, duh bro

I know a lady who's happy all the time. Always smiling, very charming. People love her. Even when she's dealing with a negative situations it still seems like her happiness level is high. Just one it two people have told me they were annoyed with how happy she always seemed. Like who is always that positive and bubbly? Something must be wrong with her right?

But years later, thinking back on her, I think maybe it's us that are fukked up and she's the normal one. She's maxing out the potential of and enjoying each day. She's truly grateful to be alive. I wish I could be like her tbh.

It's been so simple the entire time...

Happy people's minds are primarily occupied by happy, positive thoughts. On the flipside, unhappy people spend most of their time having unhappy, negative thoughts. I mean, can anything be more obvious??

So if everyone truly wanted to be happy, then why isn't everyone prioritizing the training of their mind to think mostly happy thoughts???

I think the reason for this is because most people miss the fact that it's a feedback loop. Not only do you have happy thoughts when you feel happy but you also feel happy when you have happy thoughts. Both are causes and effects of each other at the same time. When people only focus on the loop in one direction, they think they need to rely on external factors to get the happy wheel to start spinning. Unsurprisingly however, the happiness from external factors never lasts long for people whose thoughts are quick to default back to negative and thus, turn the entire feedback loop negative.

See, there's only two kinds of thoughts you can have. Statements. Or questions. Each of these can then either be negative, neutral, or positive. So be honest with yourself...what kind of statements or questions do you spend most of your time practicing? Whatever answer you give...well that's who you are because you know what they say about practice...

So if you want to feel differently, then start practicing thinking differently. It won't be easy but it is simple. Make it a habit to replace negative thoughts with positive ones (or even neutral ones if you have a hard time being positive at first). For example, if you're an anxious person like me, then you probably spend a lot of time asking too many questions and doubting things. If you have low self-esteem, then you probably spend a lot of time thinking bad things about yourself. The list goes on but at the end of the day, you are what you practice. And while we can't control emerging thoughts from the get-go, we CAN interrupt them and replace them with a different thought. In psychology i think it's called redirection. "The sky is blue." "I love my dog." "I'm excited for dinner". Anything that is more positive or less negative than your initial negative thought...is better. As time goes on, I believe the redirective thoughts will become more refined and more powerfully positive.

That's it. If you got through the whole thing, thanks for reading. I know there are some of you like me who had already achieved everything they thought they wanted and still didn't feel happy. Well now i know that i can't expect that to ever change if I continue to let my brain run too many negative scripts. I've only just started my attempt at retraining my brain and I already feel a huge difference. I hope this helps someone.

Mirin. I am wishing the same and hope i will get there or at least something close to it.

I've experienced being around only a handful of people like her. What's crazy is not only that their own spirits are so high, but also that it's infectious and they brighten everyone's day. Like unless you have major issues, coming across someone like that instantly makes your day better. Imagine if most or even just half of people were like this...the world would be a much better place that's for sure.

I know a lady who's happy all the time. Always smiling, very charming. People love her. Even when she's dealing with a negative situations it still seems like her happiness level is high. Just one it two people have told me they were annoyed with how happy she always seemed. Like who is always that positive and bubbly? Something must be wrong with her right?

But years later, thinking back on her, I think maybe it's us that are fukked up and she's the normal one. She's maxing out the potential of and enjoying each day. She's truly grateful to be alive. I wish I could be like her tbh.