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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Meik Wiking
Read between
July 21 - August 18, 2019
The first lesson in happiness research is to distinguish between being happy right now and being happy overall. We call these two states, respectively, the affective dimension and the cognitive dimension.
Aristotle’s perception of happiness. To him, the good life was a meaningful and purposeful life.
that the happiest countries have a strong sense of community, and the happiest people have someone they can rely on in times of need.
It’s all about knowing that happiness does not come from owning a bigger car but from knowing that everybody you know and love will be supported in their time of need. What works well in the Nordic countries is an understanding of the link between the good life and the common good. We are not paying taxes; we are purchasing quality of life. We are investing in our community.
The more people we have with whom we can talk about personal matters, the happier we are.
the Dutch have celebrated National Neighbors’ Day on May 26.
we find that people who reduce their consumption of social media are happier and connect more in the real world.
healthiest people in the world, where many live to more than a hundred years old. Some suggest it has to do with moai, which means to “come together in a common purpose.”
Like most things, the more we have of something, the less happiness we derive from it. The first slice of cake: awesome. The fifth slice: not so good. Economists call this the law of diminishing marginal utility.
hedonic treadmill spins faster with ambition. In other words, the downside to being ambitious is a constant sense of dissatisfaction with our achievements.
Take time to enjoy the journey toward your goal while also being mindful that achieving your goal will not fulfill you completely.
People on a quest for something they find meaningful—whether that is building a boat or growing the perfect tomato—tend to be happier; they know that happiness is the by-product of the process and not a pot of gold at the finish line.
Thorstein Veblen coined the term “conspicuous consumption,” which describes the phenomenon of buying luxury goods in order to publicly display your wealth to attain status.
While the US has achieved economic progress and an accumulation of wealth over the past half century, this has not resulted in an increase in happiness for the people. One of the reasons for this is inequality. If a country doubles in wealth but 90 percent of that wealth goes to the richest 10 percent, that is not growth. That is greed.
Michelle McGagh, who went a year without spending a single pound. Michelle is a freelance journalist from north London and the woman behind the book The No Spend Year: How I Spent Less and Lived More.
The ancient Greek stoic and philosopher Epictetus once said that wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants.
Bibliotherapy, the art of using books to aid people in solving the issues they are facing, has been around for decades, and the belief in the healing power of books is said to go as far back as ancient Egypt and Greece, where signs above libraries would let readers know that they were entering a healing place for the soul.
found that fiction books improve our ability to register and read others’ emotions and, according to an article in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, research also shows that literary fiction enhances our ability to reflect on our problems through reading about characters who are facing similar issues and problems. Basically, reading is free therapy.
Shinrin-yoku literally translates to “forest bathing,” or taking in the atmosphere of the forest, and refers to soaking up the sights, smells, and sounds of a natural setting to promote physiological and psychological health. The term was first coined in 1982 but, today, millions of Japanese walk along forty-eight “forest therapy” trails, to get their dose of what I guess could be labeled “outdoorphins.”
Despite the link between mental and physical health, the importance of mental health is still being overlooked and, unfortunately, mental illness is still often seen as a taboo subject.
To fight the stigma that surrounds mental illness, we need to listen more and learn more. We need to end the misunderstanding and the prejudice. We need to end whispering about mental illnesses behind closed doors. We need to say the scary words out loud, so they lose their power, and so no one has to struggle on in silence.
On mentalhealth.gov (you’ll find it under the US Department of Health and Human Services), there is a lot of advice if you need to start a conversation with a friend or family member about mental health. It suggests ways to bring up the subject, such as “I’ve been worried about you. Can we talk about what you are experiencing? If not, who are you comfortable talking to? It seems like you are going through a difficult time. How can I help you to find help?” Or “I am someone who cares and wants to listen. What do you want me to know about how you are feeling?”
“You are going to spend a huge part of your life working—it should be something you enjoy.”
Jason Fried, serial entrepreneur and author of Remote: Office Not Required, meetings and managers undermine our productivity.
benefits of the path of elephant moms and dads: parents who nurture and encourage their children, and believe that, if children know that they are loved—and not because of their marks in school—that love will give them the strength to find and follow their own way toward happiness.
A high level of inequality reduces empathy, trust, and both physical and mental health and leads to more violence, higher crime rates, more obesity, and more teenage births.
His book Chimpanzee Politics argues that the roots of politics are older than humanity (although it seems that, in recent years, human politicians have become more likely to throw feces at each other). However, his work also argues that we might be physically wired to react strongly to inequality.
Østerskov, Denmark: Østerskov efterskole use live action role-playing to teach the kids; perhaps pupils spend a week in ancient Rome or on Wall Street. The teachers find that, for instance, children with Asperger’s learn social skills and how to handle social situations by playing different characters in the games.
Remember, big things often have small beginnings.
sometimes, there is no reason to ask if someone needs help—so just help.
Fucking Flink: Can the Happiest People in the World Also Become the Fucking Friendliest? It is a sort of “friendliness manifesto” intended to provoke Danes into being friendlier in their daily lives.
Weltschmerz (literal meaning, “world pain”; sadness caused by the state of the world)
we may also be hardwired to zoom in on negative or bad events for reasons of evolution. Species that are better at remembering incidents that have led to danger would be more likely to survive.
