happy in spite of vs happy if only

Eric Barker's blog is the only one I read every week, and here's another insightful article about what we can learn from old (and happy) people. Enjoy.

This Is How To Find Joy: 4 Simple Secrets To The Good Life

Click here to read the post on the blog.


"Older and wiser." You're on board with that, right? Sure. But what if I said "older and more joyful?"

That probably doesn't click in the same way. Physically, getting old sucks.

From Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old:

At ages eighty-five and up, one in three people say they have trouble hearing; 31 percent have trouble caring for themselves; half have trouble walking and living independently; and 28 percent say they have cognitive difficulty… Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer's and other dementias-all increase dramatically by age seventy and accelerate with each additional year.

Youth is all smiles and hope; old age is aches and pains while you count down the days to the end, right?

Wrong.

They did a study at Stanford University tracking the emotions of a group of people ages 18-94. Guess what? Older people are happier.

tips for being a grown up

via

The late John Perry Barlow's 25 principles of adult behavior are good reminders for us all. Enjoy.

1. Be patient. No matter what.
2. Don’t badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn’t say to him.
3. Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.
4. Expand your sense of the possible.
5. Don’t trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.
6. Expect no more of anyone than you can deliver yourself.
7. Tolerate ambiguity.
8. Laugh at yourself frequently.
9. Concern yourself with what is right rather than who is right.
10. Never forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.
11. Give up blood sports.
12. Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Don’t risk it frivolously.
13. Never lie to anyone for any reason. (Lies of omission are sometimes exempt.)
14. Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.
15. Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.
16. Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.
17. Praise at least as often as you disparage.d
18. Admit your errors freely and soon.
19. Become less suspicious of joy.
20. Understand humility.
21. Remember that love forgives everything.
22. Foster dignity.
23. Live memorably.
24. Love yourself.
25. Endure.

And if salty language doesn't bother you, here is another article by Mark Manson on how to be an adult.