Poll: Does thinking prevent you from being Happy?

[heyheysg]

Case in point: Dogs/Children and their instinctive 'joy'

Longer Case:

Existentialism - Thinking why am I here, why am I doing this, so what if I get a big house, a lot of money and several lovers in my mansion?

Self Actualisation - You have a good job, family and everything is rosy in Average Citizen Life. But you want to do something great, write the great next novel and frustrate yourself again.

Political freedom - You're just an average person living a normal life, not really caring about politics, then you read about what your government is doing and it doesn't really agree with your worldview, you feel angry and helpless

 

[BlindMessiah94]

No. Thinking does not make you less happy. Circumstances make you less happy. Those same dogs, when hurt or hungry will be unhappy.

 

[Rainbowloid]

Yes. I know from personal experience. When I think, I get severely depressed. When I do mindless stuff, I feel much better about life. You could argue that that's not really happiness, but I honestly don't care.

 

[brumby]

children leave a lot to imagination. And we can imagine some wonderful things. Bloc party have a song about this topic; I can't remember what its called.

 

[Sleekgiant]

You can think yourself unhappy if you're a good enough pessimist. Going around all day thinking how bad everything is will make you quite depressed.

 

[DoctorNick]

No, thinking does not make me unhappy in the slightest.

Thinking and designing things is my head is probably the most constant source of joy in my life.

If someone can't help but feel depressed when they think about x, y or z then I consider that a lack of imagination and a failure on their own part to not look at the more positive side of things.

Case in point, do I sit around and think about global warming and all of the depressing doom-n-gloom that surrounds it?

No! Instead I think about the possibilities of fourth-generation thorium fueled reactor designs [http://energyfromthorium.com/essay3rs/] that if widely deployed would provide cheap, clean, safe, abundant energy and kick any sort of 'climate change' problems in the ass.

Take that Al Gore!

It all comes down to the classic 'Glass Half Full or Half Empty' dichotomy.

As I said before, if you can only dwell on some sort of dark hopeless existence that's so deep you can't even think of any ways to improve it, well, that's your problem and I can't help you.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I'm thinking of something in particular that makes me very happy, at the moment.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Thinking is extremely depressing to me. Whenever I put existence into perspective it disgusts me. We're born into this commercialistic world to live a depressing imprisoned life serving no purpose but death. Even the most important of men are doomed to revert to nothing more than text in the history books. Take Hitler for example. He's accountable of the deaths of over 6 million people. Pretty significant, or you may think, but has he ever physically influenced your life?

I can accept that though. I don't care about having a purpose or making a difference. I just want too live my life. Easy right? Wrong. I'm forever fated to be oppressed by the value of the dollar. Barring unforseen illness or conditions, the human body needs food, water, air, and debatably shelter to live. If I could set up a fucking log cabin in the middle of nowhere and live my life without a care in the world other than how to get food I would do it in a heartbeat. However man inhabits everything. Even if I where to find a place to do this in some third world country it would only be a matter of time before armed guerilla soldiers or government officials showed up to ruin it.

So whatever, I have to make money to live. But at least that's mine right? Wrong. With April 15th coming up I soon get the joy of giving about a third of what I made this year to the government. I know that taxes are much worse in other countries, but that doesn't make them justified in the first place. Let's say in my lifetime I pay $300,000 dollars in taxes (which is probably a huge understatement) Now, let's think about how much better my life would be if I had 300,000 more dollars and compare it to where that money actually fucking WENT and how much THAT benefited me. I get no say in where my money goes, and we all know how efficient the government is with money... or in general for that matter.

These are the people that dictate what I can and can't do as well. So what if I want to smoke pot? Why can't I kill myself? And if I fuck up why am I put on watch and prevented from trying again? When it harms another person, then it's a problem, but if I want to willingly fuck up or end my own life who the hell is to say I can't? We take these things for granted because we live our lives like this, but put into perspective how free we actually ARE and it's quite sad.

Urgh. I'm going to stop there. Yes. It definitely does.

 

[Doctor VonSexMachine]

No, empathy and desire make you unhappy. If the suffering of others does not move you, nor do you want for anything you could sit around all day thinking about whatever and I can't imagine you being unhappy.

Thinking is extremely depressing to me. Whenever I put existence into perspective it disgusts me. We're born into this commercialistic world to live a depressing imprisoned life serving no purpose but death. Even the most important of men are doomed to revert to nothing more than text in the history books. Take Hitler for example. He's accountable of the deaths of over 6 million people. Pretty significant, or you may think, but has he ever physically influenced your life?

I can accept that though. I don't care about having a purpose or making a difference. I just want too live my life. Easy right? Wrong. I'm forever fated to be oppressed by the value of the dollar. Barring unforseen illness or conditions, the human body needs food, water, air, and debatably shelter to live. If I could set up a fucking log cabin in the middle of nowhere and live my life without a care in the world other than how to get food I would do it in a heartbeat. However man inhabits everything. Even if I where to find a place to do this in some third world country it would only be a matter of time before armed guerilla soldiers or government officials showed up to ruin it.

So whatever, I have to make money to live. But at least that's mine right? Wrong. With April 15th coming up I soon get the joy of giving about a third of what I made this year to the government. I know that taxes are much worse in other countries, but that doesn't make them justified in the first place. Let's say in my lifetime I pay $300,000 dollars in taxes (which is probably a huge understatement) Now, let's think about how much better my life would be if I had 300,000 more dollars and compare it to where that money actually fucking WENT and how much THAT benefited me. I get no say in where my money goes, and we all know how efficient the government is with money... or in general for that matter.

These are the people that dictate what I can and can't do as well. So what if I want to smoke pot? Why can't I kill myself? And if I fuck up why am I put on watch and prevented from trying again? When it harms another person, then it's a problem, but if I want to willingly fuck up or end my own life who the hell is to say I can't? We take these things for granted because we live our lives like this, but put into perspective how free we actually ARE and it's quite sad.

Urgh. I'm going to stop there. Yes. It definitely does.

Dear Teenager,

I know this is a difficult time in your life, but I urge you to tone down the anger for the sake of the health of your stomach lining. You might do well to look up the concept of the Social Contract. And if that doesn't explain it to you, go make friends with some existentialists, although I'm not sure friend is the right word. No one is physically stopping you from smoking dope or killing yourself. You choose not to because you deem the consequences to not be worth the actions.

Hugs and Kisses,
A former Angst Queen.

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

I'll be having fun then something comes from the back of my mind and its an instant buzz kill. Whether its work, homework, or social bullshit.

 

[notyouraveragejoe]

No. Thinking does not make you less happy. Circumstances make you less happy. Those same dogs, when hurt or hungry will be unhappy.

Exactly. I would never equate thinking with less happiness. Hell I tend to cheer myself up if I think about things. I am quite happy when I think.

 

[Jim From Accounting]

depends on what im thinking about

 

[Kollega]

Sometimes. For me it goes more in reverse, i think. If my mood is good, no amounts of contemplation about how life sucks or whatever can really change that. Conversely, if i'm sad, then my thoughts on good side of life can't really do anything to improve the situation. Then there's that issue:

It really depends on the kind of thinking and whether or not you're OVER thinking.

Overthinking can lead to stress, which isn't exactly something that makes people 'happy'.

And then there's imagination...

In the end, thinking does not make you unhappy. It does, however, make you go "WTF?" on regular basis.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

You might do well to look up the concept of the Social Contract.

By the Social Contract, individual freedom is a worthy exchange for social order. I value social order about as much as I value nipples on men. As I said, I would gladly live somewhere with no society, or people for that matter, at all. Unfortunately, finding said place isn't easy.

No one is physically stopping you from smoking dope or killing yourself. You choose not to because you deem the consequences to not be worth the actions.

First of all, if I was found in possession of drugs by the police, they would definitely stop me from doing them, (at least the drugs they found, specifically) and killing yourself sort of is its own consequence and I have no urge to, but last time I was in the hospital I was in a room with a guy who was on suicide watch. He tried to kill himself by jumping off a building and in the process broke his leg and shattered his ribcage. He certainly was prevented from killing himself, at least for the time being, and he said that there was a possibility that he could end up in a psychiatric ward, which I'm pretty sure would be very diligent at that as well.
Second, my problem with this is that there ARE consequences. Purposeless consequences. If I get high and hit someone with my car or something, then the problem isn't really that I was high, it's that I hit someone with my car. There's no way me simply being high and sitting on my couch is a negative thing towards anyone else.

And I really wouldn't consider myself an existentialist. more of a nihilist.

 

[arsenicCatnip]

It all comes down to the classic 'Glass Half Full or Half Empty' dichotomy.

The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty. You simply have twice as much glass as you need.

OT: Thinking about things that stress me out makes me unhappy. Thinking about things I like makes me happy. Therefore, thinking itself does not make me less happy, the things I think about are what determine that happiness level.

 

[tzimize]

I guess it depends on what conclusions you draw while thinking. I personally get very depressed when thinking.

I do not believe in a god, and not an afterlife. I know the only certainty in life is death, and I know that whatever joy I have, and whatever friends I have will be taken from me in time.
I find no lasting value in anything in life, I do not have ambition, I do not like to work, I do not like to contribute to society. The only things I find joy in is escaping reality in a variety of ways (games, movies etc.).

The point of my existence is to forget about the point of my existence. Not very comforting.

 

[iLikeHippos]

On the contrary, sometimes I can think while eating and laugh very hard.
The bad part about it, is that the family members around the table often gives you a funny look for thinking that eating pasta or w/e is really hilarious.

When I think, it's often about things that makes me laugh or... think. It's always fun to imagine how I would act if I got superpowers with wings and be the God of this world, or whatever...

Aaaah, one can think / day dream.

 

[erbkaiser]

Thinking too much about things is very depressing.

 

[Skinny Razor]

It all comes down to the classic 'Glass Half Full or Half Empty' dichotomy.

If some one just poured the water, it's half full. If someone just drank out of it, it's half empty.

I do not believe in a god, and not an afterlife. I know the only certainty in life is death, and I know that whatever joy I have, and whatever friends I have will be taken from me in time.
I find no lasting value in anything in life, I do not have ambition, I do not like to work, I do not like to contribute to society. The only things I find joy in is escaping reality in a variety of ways (games, movies etc.).

The point of my existence is to forget about the point of my existence. Not very comforting.

The perfect example. Think of what you have, in the present, those friends, those moments of joy. What happens in the future, happens in the future. Brooding upon the one thing we can't change (yet), death, is surely going to depress you.