Advice for a human. 81. You can't find happiness looking for the meaning of life. Meaning is only the third most important thing. It comes after loving and being. 82. If you think something is ugly, look harder. Ugliness is just a failure of seeing.
Interpretation
Happiness cannot be found by searching for life's meaning; it comes from love and existence.
This quote by Matt Haig emphasizes that the pursuit of happiness should not be centered around understanding the meaning of life, which can often be elusive and overwhelming. Instead, true contentment arises from the experience of love and simply being present in the moment, suggesting that our focus should shift from existential questions to appreciating our connections and existence.
In practice
This quote can inspire discussions in a mental health awareness seminar.
Being a depressive should not imply danger any more than being a man or even a human should. Mental illness isn't a them/us issue; we are all on the scale somewhere. So we must be very careful to resist ignorance and combat the stigma that leads to dangerous silence.
It can be difficult for people to talk about it, because there still is that stigma around mental illness. But I would encourage people to do that, because they'll be surprised once they do 'come out' how many other people have had similar experiences.
Understand that thoughts are thoughts. If they are unreasonable, reason with them, even if you have no reason left. You are the observer of your mind, not its victim.
We need, ultimately, to be able to view mental health with the same clear-headedness we show when talking about physical health.
You are no less or more of a man or a woman or a human for having depression than you would be for having cancer or cardiovascular disease or a car accident.
You don't have to be a creative maverick to have a troubled mind. You just have to be human. There is no 'us' and 'them.' No one is one hundred per cent healthy, physically or mentally.
In order to be truly happy, you must live along with, and you must stand for something larger than yourself.
People keep saying, 'Oh, you're getting all these great reviews, that must make you really happy.' I guess it does, but mostly it's just a relief.
If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.
To laugh often and much ... this is to have succeeded. Probably not from Emerson: here's the full quotation and the story.
Be happy now. It's a great Western disease that we'll be happy in the future - when we get higher status or that BMW or that promotion or this project finished. Instead, be happy now.
Thus happiness depends, as nature shows, less on exterior things than most suppose.
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