Up@dawn 2.0

Sunday, May 27, 2012

We're expected to be happy when GNP grows, but are we?

"The crux of the question is what is it that we wish to achieve? Measures like Gross National Product (GNP) claim to answer this. We’re expected to be happy when it grows, and worried when it falls. But GNP is actually a very strange measure of anything. It only counts the velocity of the flow of money and stuff through the economy as they change hands in economic transactions. The more money that gets spent, conventional wisdom says, the better off we are.

But are we? If you volunteer at a home for the elderly, you’ve done nothing to increase the GNP. A divorcing cancer patient who gets in a car wreck adds handsomely to the GNP as money goes for insurance, repairs, and medical bills. But is she any better off? Clearly not."

Reframing The Global Economy To Include Happiness – on the effort to shift our measure of social well-being.
Companion read: "The Happiness of Pursuit."

Explore – The crux of the question is what is it that we...

Hitchcock on the Secret of Happiness

"A clear horizon — nothing to worry about on your plate, only things that are creative and not destructive… I can’t bear quarreling, I can’t bear feelings between people — I think hatred is wasted energy, and it’s all non-productive. I’m very sensitive — a sharp word, said by a person, say, who has a temper, if they’re close for me, hurts me for days. I know we’re only human, we do go in for these various emotions, call them negative emotions, but when all these are removed and you can look forward and the road is clear ahead, and now you’re going to create something — I think that’s as happy as I’ll ever want to be.”

Alfred Hitchcock on the Secret of Happiness | Brain Pickings:

Schopenhauer's Porcupines

"Gilbert relays the porcupine dilemma made famous by German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer — a beautiful metaphor for how we choose to go through the world and relate to others, in a quest to master the intricate balance of protective self-containment and the vulnerability necessary for the warmth of true intimacy."

Elizabeth Gilbert on What the Porcupine Dilemma Can Teach Us About the Secret of Happiness | Brain Pickings

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Tali Sharot: The optimism bias | Video on TED.com

Are we born to be optimistic, rather than realistic? Tali Sharot shares new research that suggests our brains are wired to look on the bright side -- and how that can be both dangerous and beneficial.

Tali Sharot: The optimism bias | Video on TED.com

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Happiness of Pursuit: What Science and Philosophy Can Teach Us About the Holy Grail of Existence | Brain Pickings

The Happiness of Pursuit: What Neuroscience Can Teach Us About the Good Life by Cornell University psychology professor Shimon Edelman  is "an attempt to understand, in a deeper sense than merely metaphorical, what it means to be human and how humans are shaped by the journey thorough this world, which the poet John Keats called ‘the vale of soul-making’ — in particular, how it puts within the soul’s reach ‘a bliss peculiar to each one’s individual existence.’"
The Happiness of Pursuit: What Science and Philosophy Can Teach Us About the Holy Grail of Existence | Brain Pickings
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Thursday, May 3, 2012

Four Ways Happiness Can Hurt You | Greater Good

"...the more people pursue happiness the less they seem able to obtain it. Mauss shows that the more people strive for happiness, the more likely they will be to set a high standard for happiness—then be disappointed when that standard is not met.  This is especially true when people were in positive contexts, such as listening to an upbeat song or watching a positive film clip. It is as if the harder one tries to experience happiness, the more difficult it is to actually feel happy, even in otherwise pleasant situations." Four Ways Happiness Can Hurt You | Greater Good
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