Lead a richer life
But this isn't about money. There are other paths to richness. This is the first of my new weekly series: Optimise
Hey you,
If your life is anything like mine, you crave some excitement of the old days: Going to concerts, mingling in bars, carefree cafe visits. Without this in our lives, it can feel just so monotonous.
When we choose anything but boredom, there will be thrills. But expect spills too.
As we emerge out of one stage of the pandemic and into another, perhaps we are looking at how we live our lives with fresh eyes.
What exactly do we do with our time?
Can we put our finger on what we missed in those times of restriction?
What were we happy to give up?
Did we desperately miss anything or anyone?
And what do want to add back?
How can we get back to a good life again?
We have traditionally thought of a good life in two ways.
The happy life: full of stability, pleasure, enjoyment, and positive emotions. Psychologists and philosophers sometimes refer to this to as hedonic well-being. I've always found this a weird term. To me, it brings to mind over-the-top hedonic indulgence of banquets and orgies. But maybe that's just me.
A meaningful life: full of purpose, meaning, virtue, devotion, service and sacrifice - this is eudaimonic well-being (I like this term even less than the hedonic one).
This seems like a bit of a black and white choice to make. Must you choose between Roman-type over-indulgence and a hair-shirt existence to lead a good life?
These can't be the only ways to an ideal life, surely?
Before I go on, a brief word of explanation. This is a new section for paid members called Optimise. It’s a little play on words not only on how an optimistic mindset can help us to thrive, but also all the little tweaks we can make to make life better. You know, to optimise.
Each ‘letter’ will summarise a recent research paper looking at lifestyle tweaks and their influence on our physical and / or psychological wellbeing, and how we might use those results in our own lives. And sometimes I’ll include a little note on how I’m using that research in my own life too.
Does that sound good to you? Sign up below for a special offer for the next few days only: 20% off your first year of membership to our community.
Thanks you all paid members that have supported me so far.
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