I recently wrote an article on How to Live a Good Life by Doing Your True Will, and you might have noticed that nothing in that post refers to thoughts, beliefs, or the power of mind. This is because these concepts are hugely overrated and commonly misused. What makes thoughts useful is that they can be structured by reason to make plans and solve problems. Likewise, beliefs are useful if they map on to reality. And the power of mind? Well, there are psychological mechanisms like placebo … [Read more...]
What Is Well-Being? And Is It All We Care About?
If we want to know what's good for us as individuals and as a society, we must know what personal actions and public policies maximize our subjective well-being. But before that, we must know what it means to be well in the first place. Is well-being a feeling? Something more lasting? Or maybe something deeper altogether? As scientists have found, well-being is all these things—and they are less different than we think. Economists have also investigated whether maximizing well-being truly … [Read more...]
Do You Have Meaning in Life? (Take This Quiz!)
Eudaemonic Well-Being There are two types of happiness: Pleasure is short-term happiness: the hedonic feeling we enjoy while we're present to the moment. Meaning is long-term happiness: the eudaemonic sense we enjoy while we're aware of our purpose and belonging in life. In this blog post, I want to introduce some recent research on meaning in life, which rests on one key conceptual distinction. But before I expand on the distinction, I want you to take a little quiz that shows you … [Read more...]
Is Progress an Illusion? (5 Cognitive Biases)
Nobody can deny the progress humans have made in science and technology. But when it comes to moral and political progress, doubts start to rise. Why is that? How can we figure out the truth? Is progress an illusion? Why Are We Critical of Progress? 1. The Illusion of Profundity Pessimism sounds more profound than optimism. "It's all bad" sounds more trustable than "It's all good," if one had to choose. "Harsh truth" sounds more believable than "encouraging fact." This intellectual bias makes … [Read more...]
How to Relieve Emotional Tension in the Face
Let's talk about your face. What's the state of your face right now? The muscular state of your face, that is. Don't look in the mirror. Don't touch your face. Just experience it from within, proprioceptively. Is your face smooth and impressionable like a child's, ready to spontaneously express whatever emotional impulse comes up? Or is your face tense and rigid, stricken by past emotions imprinted in its musculature, perpetuating old memories like reminiscent scars? Emotional distress is … [Read more...]
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