Here are 20 things that your brain believes …that are wrong.
- If I eat more I’ll be happy.
- If I lose weight I’ll be happy
- If I get drunk frequently I’ll be happy (in fact anything that’s good in small amounts will be eve better in large amounts)
- I can get away with missing out on sleep
- Money will make me happy, e.g. if I earned twice as much I definitely would be happy
- If I can just buy that thing it’ll make me happy for more than 5 minutes
- Laziness is more enjoyable than exercise
- Hard work generally is bad for me
- Worrying will make my life better
- It’s better to be planning for the future than living in the present moment
- Dwelling on the good things in the past will make me happy
- Harking back to mistakes in the past, wishing I could change the past, will make me feel better about the past
- Internal talking and mind wandering is better for me than savouring the present
- Meditation is too much like hard work
- Negative emotions like anger and hate will make me happier
- Guilt will make me change my behaviour in the future and therefore make me happier in the end
- Doing things for myself will make me happy, while helping other people won’t
- I don’t need to thank other people – they already know, and anyway, it’ll be cheesy and embarrassing
- Comparing myself with other people, and competing with them, is a good idea
- It’s better to avoid contact with people I don’t know, in case it goes badly.
Conclusion – don’t leave it to chance and hope to be happy, because your brain, your natural reactions and habits, will tend to lead you awayfrom happiness rather than towards it. It needs a conscious effort to make your life happier. Work out what makes you happy, find out what makes people generally happy, and deliberately consciously work towards those.
For example
- Work on getting rid of negative emotions like anger and guilt
- Work on living in the present rather than the past or the future
- Help other people
- Forget chasing after money in the hope that it’ll make you happy
- Force yourself to get enough exercise and sleep
- Make an effort to connect with strangers and new people
…… even if you don’t feel like it
onwards and upwards!
CC
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