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May 26 - June 4, 2024
“the happiness of always being busy,”
“treat everyone like a brother, even if you’ve never met them before.”
For many, helping others might be an ikigai strong enough to keep them alive.
The Okinawan diet is rich in tofu, sweet potatoes, fish (three times per week), and vegetables (roughly 11 ounces per day).
maintaining an active, adaptable mind is one of the key factors in staying young.
most health problems are caused by stress.
the greater the stress, the greater the degenerative effect on cells.
the people who live the longest have two dispositional traits in common: a positive attitude and a high degree of emotional awareness.
A stoic attitude—serenity in the face of a setback—can also help keep you young, as it lowers anxiety and stress levels and stabilizes behavior.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
“He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.”
our health depends on that natural tension that comes from comparing what we’ve accomplished so far with what we’d like to achieve in the future. What we need, then, is not a peaceful existence, but a challenge we can strive to meet by applying all the skills at our disposal.
We don’t create the meaning of our life, as Sartre claimed—we discover it.
We can’t control our emotions, but we can take charge of our actions every day.
“If you are angry and want to fight, think about it for three days before coming to blows. After three days, the intense desire to fight will pass on its own.”
you have to accept that the world—like the people who live in it—is imperfect, but that it is still full of opportunities for growth and achievement.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. —Aristotle
“a happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell on the future.”
Concentrating on one thing at a time may be the single most important factor in achieving flow.
Can someone really retire if he is passionate about what he does?
Happiness is in the doing, not in the result.
The happiest people are not the ones who achieve the most. They are the ones who spend more time than others in a state of flow.
There is only one thing for it then—to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.”
“The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”
“The secret to a long life is not to worry. And to keep your heart young—don’t let it grow old. Open your heart to people with a nice smile on your face. If you smile and open your heart, your grandchildren and everyone else will want to see you.”
“To live a long time you need to do three things: exercise to stay healthy, eat well, and spend time with people.”
“My secret to a long life is always saying to myself, ‘Slow down,’ and ‘Relax.’ You live much longer if you’re not in a hurry.”
An active body leads to a calm mind.
Fall seven times, rise eight.
there is nothing wrong with enjoying life’s pleasures as long as they do not take control of your life as you enjoy them.
Worrying about things that are beyond our control accomplishes nothing.
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react that matters.”
The key is to accept that there are certain things over which we have no control, like the passage of time and the ephemeral nature of the world around us.
“Happiness is always determined by your heart.”
Follow those things you enjoy, and get away from or change those you dislike. Be led by your curiosity, and keep busy by doing things that fill you with meaning and happiness. It doesn’t need to be a big thing: we might find meaning in being good parents or in helping our neighbors.
Life is not a problem to be solved. Just remember to have something that keeps you busy doing what you love while being surrounded by the people who love you.
It’s good to recognize the things that aren’t so great, but we should never forget what a privilege it is to be in the here and now in a world so full of possibilities.
