How to Be Miserable: 40 Strategies You Already Use

by Randy J. Paterson

As the data on life satisfaction, depression, and suicide all attest, no amount of wealth or good fortune can entirely prevent misery. Our species has a talent for it.

human beings are remarkably poor at guessing what will make them happy in the future.

We exist in a fog of messaging designed explicitly to influence our behavior.

As the mood darkens, the natural tendency is to withdraw and self-protect, conserving energy as we retreat into the depths of the cave to recover.

To walk the path of misery, it turns out that walking isn’t required at all. One must merely sit, spellbound, before a flickering screen that feels so important, so encompassing, that you simply do not have space in your life for anything else.

Our emotions and our behavior depend not on the events of our lives, but on our perception and evaluation of those events.

Your emotions are governed not by the circumstances of your life, but by the circumstances to which you pay attention.

people with good self-esteem are not constantly evaluating themselves. It’s the ones without it who do this.

Self-esteem, in other words, does not exist. Self-loathing, however, is very real.

When you are feeling down, the majority of temptations you experience will lead you even lower.