Epicureans & Stoics

… Anyone seduced by the recent fashion for Stoicism should read Emily Austin's book to see why their biggest contemporary rival offers a better model for living. The Stoics tell us that the only thing that matters is virtue, we should be indifferent when loved ones die, and that the universe works providentially, so ultimately nothing in it is bad. Epicurus was realistic enough to accept that external circumstances can make life intolerable, grief is natural and real, and shit happens...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/26/living-for-pleasure-by-emily-a-austin-an-epicurean-guide-to-happiness

Can’t buy love (or a flourishing life)

I notice that more students these days seem to aspire to wealth and celebrity as prerequisite to a good life they'll love. We'll address that tomorrow in CoPhi with Aristotle. Today's stoic meditation addresses it too. And so did the Beatles.

""Let's pass over to the really rich—how often the occasions they look just like the poor! When they travel abroad they must restrict their baggage, and when haste is necessary, they dismiss their entourage. And those who are in the army, how few of their possessions they get to keep . . ."—SENECA, ON CONSOLATION TO HELVIA, 12. 1. b–2

Hemingway rightly pricked Fitzgerald's infatuation with the rich by writing, "Yes, they have more money." They do not have demonstrably more virtue, integrity, or happiness. They do tend, these days, to have more indictments and legal fees, and a great deal more to answer for in their conduct.

It's true, money can't buy you love and it can't buy eudaimonia. It won't make you rich in spirit, it won't create the web of mutually sustaining relationships that studies (like that decades-long Harvard project) show to be the real source of human satisfaction with life.

— The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
https://a.co/bePh37k

Awe

Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life https://a.co/d/hRBXq5W

Awe is mysterious. How do we begin to quantify the goose bumps we feel when we see the Grand Canyon, or the utter amazement when we watch a child walk for the first time? How do you put into words the collective effervescence of standing in a crowd and singing in unison, or the wonder you feel while gazing at centuries-old works of art? Up until fifteen years ago, there was no science of awe, the feeling we experience when we encounter vast mysteries that transcend our understanding of the world. Scientists were studying emotions like fear and disgust, emotions that seemed essential to human survival. Revolutionary thinking, though, has brought into focus how, through the span of evolution, we've met our most basic needs socially. We've survived thanks to our capacities to cooperate, form communities, and create culture that strengthens our sense of shared identity—actions that are sparked and spurred by awe.

In Awe, Dacher Keltner presents a radical investigation and deeply personal inquiry into this elusive emotion. Revealing new research into how awe transforms our brains and bodies, alongside an examination of awe across history, culture, and within his own life during a period of grief, Keltner shows us how cultivating awe in our everyday life leads us to appreciate what is most humane in our human nature. And during a moment in which our world feels more divided than ever before, and more imperiled by crises of different kinds, we are greatly in need of awe. If we open our minds, it is awe that sharpens our reasoning and orients us toward big ideas and new insights, that cools our immune system's inflammation response and strengthens our bodies. It is awe that activates our inclination to share and create strong networks, to take actions that are good for the natural and social world around us. It is awe that transforms who we are, that inspires the creation of art, music, and religion. At turns radical and profound, brimming with enlightening and practical insights, Awe is our field guide, from not only one of the leading voices on the subject but a fellow seeker of awe in his own right, for how to place awe as a vital force within our lives.

The Good Life - possible text?

The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness https://a.co/d/6mjwToT

What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? According to the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, the answer to these questions may be closer than you realize.

What makes a life fulfilling and meaningful? The simple but surprising answer is: relationships. The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying, and overall healthier lives. In fact, the Harvard Study of Adult Development reveals that the strength of our connections with others can predict the health of both our bodies and our brains as we go through life.

The invaluable insights in this book emerge from the revealing personal stories of hundreds of participants in the Harvard Study as they were followed year after year for their entire adult lives, and this wisdom is bolstered by research findings from this and many other studies. Relationships in all their forms—friendships, romantic partnerships, families, coworkers, tennis partners, book club members, Bible study groups—all contribute to a happier, healthier life. And as The Good Life shows us, it’s never too late to strengthen the relationships you have, and never too late to build new ones.

Dr. Waldinger’s TED Talk about the Harvard Study, “What Makes a Good Life,” has been viewed more than 42 million times and is one of the ten most-watched TED talks ever. The Good Life has been praised by bestselling authors Jay Shetty (“Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz lead us on an empowering quest towards our greatest need: meaningful human connection”), Angela Duckworth (“In a crowded field of life advice and even life advice based on scientific research, Schulz and Waldinger stand apart”), and happiness expert Laurie Santos (“Waldinger and Schulz are world experts on the counterintuitive things that make life meaningful”).

With warmth, wisdom, and compelling life stories, The Good Life shows us how we can make our lives happier and more meaningful through our connections to others.

Remember the gulls

Excellent selection to lead off your WJ anthology, John Kaag: that wise 1868 letter to his depressive friend, written at just age 24. He was already a stoic pragmatist. Always remember the sun, the waves, the gulls…

"Remember when old December's darkness is everywhere about you, that the world is really in every minutest point as full of life as in the most joyous morning you ever lived through; that the sun is whanging down, and the waves dancing, and the gulls skimming down at the mouth of the Amazon, for instance, as freshly as in the first morning of creation; and the hour is just as fit as any hour that ever was for a new gospel of cheer to be preached. I am sure that one can, by merely thinking of these matters of fact, limit the power of one's evil moods over one's way of looking at the Kosmos.…"

— Be Not Afraid of Life: In the Words of William James by William James
https://a.co/f9voDVX

The Daily Habits of Happiness Experts

If anyone knows the secret to happiness, it’s surely the people who have dedicated their careers to studying it. The first thing they’ll tell you? Being happy all the time isn’t a feasible—or even desirable—goal.

“It’s not a yellow smiley face,” says positive psychology expert Stella Grizont, founder and CEO of Woopaah, which focuses on workplace wellbeing. “It’s being true to yourself and all the emotions that come up.” Instead of trying to force that frown upside down, true happiness stems from surrounding yourself with lots of love, being of service, and having a good time, she says.

Grizont was among 18 leading happiness experts surveyed by TIME about their daily habits, and the professional insights they’re most likely to apply to their personal lives. The results are illuminating—and could help all of us boost our mood and wellbeing... (TIME Happiness Revival Guide, continues)

Awesome

…Awe is "the absence of self-preoccupation."

This is especially critical in the age of social media. "We are at this cultural moment of narcissism and self-shame and criticism and entitlement; awe gets us out of that," Dr. Keltner said. It does this by helping us get out of our own heads and "realize our place in the larger context, our communities," he explained.

The good news? Awe is something you can develop, with practice. Here's how…

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/well/live/awe-wonder-dacher-keltner.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
How a Bit of Awe Can Improve Your Health

7 days to happiness?

"simple steps for a joyful, more connected 2023"

 https://www.nytimes.com/explain/2023/01/01/well/happiness-challenge?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

How Henri Matisse (and I) Got a ‘Beautiful Body’

…there is a limit to the happiness we can find in maintaining what is generally accepted as a healthy or beautiful body: If you are fortunate enough to live a long life, your body will break down. And it is not only age that can have its way with our bodies. Illness, accident or disability can quickly put an end to that bodily source of happiness. What then?

As a professor of philosophy exploring important life questions with my students — most of them young people whose conception of the world is more likely to be shaped by social media and corporate messaging than by the occasional course in philosophy — this is one I return to often: How can we come to understand the full range of the body's aesthetic potential and power? 

…

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/25/opinion/matisse-disability-beauty-body.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
How Henri Matisse (and I) Got a 'Beautiful Body'