Hello!
I've been reading Happiness by Design: Finding Pleasure and Purpose in Everyday Life, by Paul Dolan.
This book was recommended to me by a coworker and has started some interesting questions for me, in essence; what is happiness? How can happiness be measured? How can I improve my own happiness over time?
Dolan's definition of happiness is that of 'experiences of pleasure and purpose over time.' This sets up an interesting proposition, if happiness can be measured in two simple ways, how can I improve my happiness in both quantitative and qualitative ways?
Reviewing the potential pleasure and purpose happiness dichotomy I have realised that recently I have focussed primarily on purpose as opposed to pleasure and this has in effect had a potentially negative impact on me.
I constantly strive to do all I can and be as productive as possible, getting all work done that I can, prioritising my minutes based on what I value as productive/purposeful as opposed to what is pleasurable. I need to take more time to look at pleasure more, to take the time to just relax and take pleasure from life as opposed to trying to find purpose in everything, justifying my actions.
As I continue to read this book I hope to develop a framework for happiness and how I can improve my general wellbeing. 'But AT,' you cry, 'in the paragraph above, you tell yourself to not be a paranoid overly obsessive idiot and to take time enjoying yourself with mindless fun'. And to that I say, 'Yeah, but this isn't going to happen overnight'.
Dolan argues that we are guided by the conscious and the unconscious, with many actions planned by the unconscious mind, essentially you're on a conditioned autopilot. So many things in life we do become second nature to us, that the the individual consciousness no longer pays attention. Think about when you move something in your house, say you decide instead of just leaving your keys on the table next to the door, you decide to store them in a cupboard for safety, how many times do you imagine you'll check the table for your keys before heading out?
Behaviours becomes automatic and must be changed through processes. With this in mind I am planning to actively take a greater effort in structuring my happiness.
Details to come soon!
Thanks for reading!
AT
Dolan's definition of happiness is that of 'experiences of pleasure and purpose over time.' This sets up an interesting proposition, if happiness can be measured in two simple ways, how can I improve my happiness in both quantitative and qualitative ways?
Reviewing the potential pleasure and purpose happiness dichotomy I have realised that recently I have focussed primarily on purpose as opposed to pleasure and this has in effect had a potentially negative impact on me.
I constantly strive to do all I can and be as productive as possible, getting all work done that I can, prioritising my minutes based on what I value as productive/purposeful as opposed to what is pleasurable. I need to take more time to look at pleasure more, to take the time to just relax and take pleasure from life as opposed to trying to find purpose in everything, justifying my actions.
As I continue to read this book I hope to develop a framework for happiness and how I can improve my general wellbeing. 'But AT,' you cry, 'in the paragraph above, you tell yourself to not be a paranoid overly obsessive idiot and to take time enjoying yourself with mindless fun'. And to that I say, 'Yeah, but this isn't going to happen overnight'.
Dolan argues that we are guided by the conscious and the unconscious, with many actions planned by the unconscious mind, essentially you're on a conditioned autopilot. So many things in life we do become second nature to us, that the the individual consciousness no longer pays attention. Think about when you move something in your house, say you decide instead of just leaving your keys on the table next to the door, you decide to store them in a cupboard for safety, how many times do you imagine you'll check the table for your keys before heading out?
Behaviours becomes automatic and must be changed through processes. With this in mind I am planning to actively take a greater effort in structuring my happiness.
Details to come soon!
Thanks for reading!
AT
No comments:
Post a Comment