Schopenhauer’s rules for being happy were born from the theories of the German philosopher, known for his pessimism. His ideas revolved around the theory that people live in a world where happiness is nothing more than an artificial illusion.
In fact, after the philosopher’s death, a manuscript entitled “Die Kunst, gl’cklich zu sein” was found among his notes and personal effects. Translated into Portuguese, the title would be “The Art of Being Happy”. Interestingly, despite the pessimistic ideas the German defended during his lifetime, he had developed in these notes and listed a series of rules to avoid unnecessary suffering and thus achieve a state of happiness.
- The first of Schopenhauer’s rules to be happy is to avoid the feeling of envy.
- According to Schopenhauer.
- Envy is a very negative emotion and experiencing it puts us in a state of constant dissatisfaction.
In this way, when we make comparisons with others that place us at a lower level, we move away from happiness, so to avoid this suffering we must avoid comparisons, because each person is different and we must accept the situation of each person. .
Another of Schopenhauer’s rules to be happy teaches us to accept failure because of the possible bad choices we make in the development of any project, so the German philosopher encourages us to do our best at all times, so that we do not feel sad. about a bad outcome, because we will have done everything we can to achieve it.
Schopenhauer was aware that there were very creative people and also very logical people, this means that some people are more dedicated to action and others to contemplation, in short, this rule of happiness shows us that we must let ourselves be carried away by intuition in order to be oneself and get to know each other better.
The fourth of Schopenhauer’s rules to be happy teaches us that happiness depends on us, so we cannot be disappointed with others and will not allow decisions that escape our control to affect our mood.
Being aware of your limitations and not getting carried away with dissatisfied desires will allow you not to be overwhelmed by not being able to satisfy them, so let’s think about the situation we find ourselves in and what goals are within our reach. but it is the objectives adapted to our possibilities that will do us good.
Among schopenhauer’s rules of happiness we can learn to adjust both our expectations and our desires; in this sense, we can prevent exaggerated expectations about a project or person from being a possible cause of misfortune. a more realistic view of our lives and being able to face obstacles more appropriately.
When it comes to being happy it will be essential to know how to look beyond our material possessions, this will not only prevent us from being jealous, as we mentioned at the beginning, but will also help us to appreciate more what it really is. it matters in our lives, in this sense we can have a better relationship with our friends or family, giving them the importance they really have.
The last of Schopenhauer’s rules of happiness is related to the time we spend thinking about the past and the future, the fact that we get wasted thinking about the problems of the past will not bring us any advantage, because we have to accept that the choices we make cannot be changed.
On the other hand, spending too much time dreaming about the future can lead us to unhappiness when we realize that our expectations and desires have not been fulfilled. So, let’s take advantage of the present? That brings us the present itself.