2 things that prevent us from being happy

Arthur Schopenhauer was one of the first major Western thinkers privnosshih in their work the elements of eastern philosophy. Usually, he came to a rather pessimistic conclusion, but in his treatise "Aphorisms of worldly wisdom"Deviated from the negative view. Describing what you need for a happy life in this world, Schopenhauer points to one of the main problems of our existence:

"Even a cursory observation is impossible not to notice the two enemies of human happiness: pain and boredom. It should be added that, since we are able to move away from one of them, so far as we are approaching the other, and vice versa, so that our whole life is in more or less frequent fluctuations between these two troubles.

This is due to the fact that both the evil consists in a double antagonism with each other in the external, objective and in the inner, subjective. From the outside, need and deprivation give rise to sorrow, and the abundance and security - boredom. Consistent with these lower classes are in constant struggle with the necessity, that is, with the grief, and the class of the rich, "decent" people - in a continuous, often truly desperate struggle with boredom. "

Zet blogger Rana (Zat Rana) considered these two causes of unhappiness from the point of view of psychology and shared its findings.

We are caught between pleasure and pain

Traditional psychology and neuroscience suggests that people in the course of evolution have evolved neural pathways responsible for the expression of anger and joy. And since they are from birth "embedded" in the human brain. Confirming argued that emotions are universal, they can be identified in the study of the human body. And they are the same in different cultures and in different environments.

This view is firmly entrenched. Most of us probably agree that there are specific phenomena such as anger and joy, and that you can see them in the surrounding in one time or another. However, there is another opinion - the theory design emotions.

According to her, even though we are experiencing something about defined as the anger, it does not exist in the specific sense in which we used to think about it. It is a complex combination of all the processes that occur in the body at some point to help us navigate. And they are constantly changing.

The brain reads the information from our body and from the environment, to give us a rough idea of ​​what to do. Since we are constantly changing reality.

Everything else, especially emotions and consciousness exists only because we ourselves create the linguistic differences between them. Anger - is anger, because we collectively call it anger.

Let us return to the misery and boredom. Misery signals that something is wrong, you need to fix something. In one form or another it continues until the problem is solved. Fun - its opposite, which is perceived as a reward. But when you get everything you want, it leads to boredom. In fact, we are stuck between these two phenomena. Get rid of one, we move to the next.

To break the vicious circle and be happier, develop links between the mind and body

To solve the problem, Schopenhauer proposes to leave the experience of the outside world and immerse yourself in the inner world of thoughts. But if the theory of the construction of emotions is correct, then the mind will not escape. Often in the case of boredom or misery they only aggravate the resentment. And an option to think about something else, to forget about unpleasant, does not work.

Another solution - develop a more coherent relationship between mind and body. That is to pay as much attention to body sensations, thoughts how much we pay.

Watching the body sensations and not clinging to them, you will notice the ever-changing nature of the test of emotional processes.

Few people consciously focused on bodily sensations, observing their movements and the emergence of feelings. Tracking the bodily sensations of the mind it is so automated that we cease to notice them. But if you do so intentionallyIt can be curative. Conscious approach will notice that your daily experiences - more than what you see on the surface.

Try to pay more attention to it. But remember that the problem of suffering and boredom can not be resolved by referring only to one thing: the thoughts (subjective, internal) or bodily sensations (objective, external). Important relationship between them.

conclusions

Regardless of Schopenhauer was right in everything or not, it is impossible not to respect his bold attempt to see reality for what it is, and not be satisfied with unfounded idealism. His whole philosophy is based clearly and coherently, and much of it is understandable and applicable to modern life.

Based on it, we can draw the following conclusion. In order to balance the shifting emotional processes, it is necessary to develop the connection between mind and body, taking into account both links. Paying attention to body sensations and without explaining their thoughts, can bring to the fore the feelings and sensations that usually remain masked.

Do not forget that the mind and body work together, they are bound by a feedback loop. Stop ignoring this relationship.

Yes, in any case of dissatisfaction will arise, but only on you depends on how to respond to them.