Member-only story
Your Life Can Be Better
Almost everyone I know is unhappy about one or more aspects of their lives. In the USA most people are fat, most are unhealthy, most live with a constant background of noise, and a great many people are afraid of a great many things, most of which will never happen to them. Meanwhile constant financial insecurity coupled to the idea that ever-more possessions is the route to personal fulfillment means that nearly everyone, even the very wealthy, is perpetually dissatisfied.
Frankly, if you wanted to design a mode of living that ensured the maximum discontent for the greatest number of people you’d have a hard time improving on normal life in the USA.
The good news is that because the causes of unhappiness are so obvious we can quickly analyze the sources and arrive at credible actions to move towards better ways of living.
If you’re sitting comfortably, we can begin.
Let’s identify some of the most harmful inputs. Consider mass entertainment. All those rape-murder procedurals, all those end-of-the-world shows, all the violence, all the weapons. The stock components of tedious Hollywood trash that induce fear and fill the mind with impressions of vulnerability and harm. Our brains respond to what we experience, and by filling our minds with negative experiences we harm ourselves.
