How to be Happy (1) & (2), Episode 60
Here's Episode 60 of Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by thirdspace coaching in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living.
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This week we talk about how the suffering that comes from comparison (with others, with imagined future selves), and we examine together ways in which it might be possible to live with an alternative orientation of acceptance of our wonderful, messy humanity. Along the way we have a laugh together about this crazy being-a-person we all find ourselves in the middle of, and we consider the role of others in helping each of us find a way to be in life that's less punishing and more dignified.
Our source this week is from 'Notes on a Nervous Planet' by Matt Haig.
How to be Happy
1. Do not compare yourself to other people.
2. Do not compare yourself to other people.
3. Do not compare yourself to other people.
4. Do not compare yourself to other people.
5. Do not compare yourself to other people.
6. Do not compare yourself to other people.
7. Do not compare yourself to other people.
How to be Happy (2)
DON’T COMPARE YOUR actual self to a hypothetical self.
Don’t drown in a sea of ‘what if’s.
Don’t clutter your mind by imagining other versions of you, in parallel universes, where you made different decisions. The internet age encourages choice and comparison, but don’t do this to yourself. ‘Comparison is the thief of joy,’ said Theodore Roosevelt.
You are you. The past is the past. The only way to make a better life is from inside the present. To focus on regret does nothing but turn that very present into another thing you will wish you did differently.
Accept your own reality.
Be human enough to make mistakes.
Be human enough not to dread the future.
Be human enough to be, well, enough.
Accepting where you are in life makes it so much easier to be happy for other people without feeling terrible about yourself.