The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

by Mark Manson

The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience.

I once heard an artist say that when a person has no problems, the mind automatically finds a way to invent some.

And this is what’s so dangerous about a society that coddles itself more and more from the inevitable discomforts of life: we lose the benefits of experiencing healthy doses of pain, a loss that disconnects us from the reality of the world around us.

“Don’t hope for a life without problems,” the panda said. “There’s no such thing. Instead, hope for a life full of good problems.”

True happiness occurs only when you find the problems you enjoy having and enjoy solving.

Emotions are simply biological signals designed to nudge you in the direction of beneficial change.

Just because something feels good doesn’t mean it is good. Just because something feels bad doesn’t mean it is bad.

What most people don’t correctly identify as entitlement are those people who perpetually feel as though they’re inferior and unworthy of the world.

I see life in the same terms. We all get dealt cards. Some of us get better cards than others. And while it’s easy to get hung up on our cards, and feel we got screwed over, the real game lies in the choices we make with those cards, the risks we decide to take, and the consequences we choose to live with.

“I used to think the human brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.”

That would actually be a demonstration of love: taking responsibility for your own problems and not holding your partner responsible for them.