I would say…
‘‘Animals are happy as long as they have health and enough to eat. Human beings, one feels, ought to be, but . . . are not’’
Have you ever wondered how happiness is created?
Ok, Everybody, raise your hands and say…”I’m the happiest person in the world!”
Do it!
How does it feel? Did it make you question yourself?
:D
Book: The Conquest Of Happiness, Bertrand Russell.
On my way in the search for this assignment, an Old book which has Happiness written in the title of the book captivated me. As the days are passing, not getting excited about anything and feeling emotionally numb, I thought this book could be a medicine for my numbness.
The first thing that made me happy is smelling the (Old) book.
Bertrand Russell, gives practical advice by giving the causes of unHAPPINESS and then giving causes of HAPPINESS. Here are some phrases that made me think, smile, question, realize of what happiness is!
WHAT MAKES PEOPLE UNHAPPY?
“Self-absorption is of various kinds. We may take the sinner, the narcissist, and the megalomaniac as three very common types. Usually the megalomaniac, whether insane or normally sane, is the product of some excessive humiliation.”
BYRONIC UNHAPPINESS
“True love is a durable fire,
In the mind ever burning,
Never sick, never dead, never cold,
From itself never turning.”
COMPETITION
“The struggle for life is really the struggle for success. What people fear when they engage in the struggle is not that they will fail to get their breakfast next morning, but that they will fail to outshine their neighbours.”
BOREDOM AND EXCITEMENT
“All great books contain boring portions, and all great lives have contained uninteresting streches.”
FATIGUE
“The important kind of fatigue is always emotional in modern life.”
ENVY
“ What is the good of telling me that the cure for envy is happiness? I cannot find happiness while I continue to feel envy, and you tell me that I cannot cease to be envious until I find happiness.”
FEAR OF PUBLIC OPINION
“In general, apart from the expert opinion, there is too much respect paid to the opinions of others, both in great matters and in small ones. One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways.”
IS HAPPINESS STILL POSSIBLE?
“Happiness is of two sorts, though, of course, there are intermediate degrees. The two sorts I mean might be distinguishes as plain and fancy, or animal and spiritual, or of the heart and of the head.”
ZEST
“What hunger is in relation to food, Zest is in relation to life.”
AFFECTION
“The best type of affection is reciprocally life giving; each receives affection with joy and gives it without effort and each finds the whole world more interesting in consequence of the existence of this reciprocal happiness.”
WORK
“The chief elements make work interesting: first, the exercise of skill, and second, construction.”
IMPERSONAL INTERESTS
“One of the sources of unhappiness, fatigue, and nervous strain is inability to be interested in anything that is not of practical importance in one’s own life.”
EFFORT AND RECOGNITION
“Even in the pursuit of really important objects it is unwise to become so deeply involved emotionally that the thought of possible failure becomes a constant manance to peace of mind.”
THE HAPPY MAN
“Happiness, as is evident, depends partly upon external circumstances and partly upon oneself.”
In every nook and cranny of the book you can find some practical advice. Going through this book has refreshed my mind about how people perceive things. “I’m glad I found this book” , thats all I would say…
