Philosophy of Enjoyment

Leo Tolstoy wrote, “If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you” (Essays, Letters and Miscellanies). Have you ever been so absorbed in a landscape, driving a car, doing a chore, or seeing a sunset that you forgot…

We dream of having things and doing things. A new house. A condo. A cool car. A cottage. A log cabin. A beautiful partner who finally gets us. Muscular abs. An amazing vacation that changes everything. We dream of having a life where everything is just right. Why is that? Why are we so often dissatisfied? Is it because of our culture? After all, you can see how our culture conditions us to…

This is a six minute read. Not much time for total transformation, so please… Boredom, laziness, addiction and depression are interconnected. They form “vicious cycles” (or “circles”) or “feedback loops” that exacerbate, self-perpetuate and trigger one another. The result: less enjoyment of life, poorer mental health and self-inflicted emotional harm to your well-being.  An example of a…

Row boat philosophy: “Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat,” Jean-Paul Sartre. As we approach a New Year with its challenges, hopes and aspirations, it’s time for people who want to better themselves and their situation to make well-meaning declarations. It’s time for New Year’s Resolutions—to lose weight, get fit, be a better person and live happily ever after. It’s time for…

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) said, “The secret to happiness is a good sense of humour and a bad memory.” Sometimes it’s phrased as “good health and a bad memory;” nevertheless, the takeaway is that a key to well-being is to forget troubles and find joy in simple things (source).  Today we look at mistakes and solutions. First, we look at how to deal with mistakes and live happily-ever-after…

“The path to enlightenment? Mostly just well-lit sidewalks.” Imagine you’re a tourist and you board a train. You’re in one of the most desolate places in the world and you’re headed for the mountains. You settle in, eat a snack, and forget your troubles. As the train climbs, you see further and the scenery gets more and more breathtaking. An example of a desolate place: Looks like Mars, except…

If everything is going great, you don’t need help. The world is good. The last thing you want is advice. You’re set. Good for you. Godspeed! But, if you have a problem—emotional, financial, physical or what have you—you’ll appreciate a solution, won’t you? Once you understand the issue and practice a solution, you can feel good. Why do people feel what they feel? Surely there’s a reason? Some…

“To live well is to move, to think, and to flourish.” When I first encountered Aristotle’s Peripatetic school, I was struck by its simplicity. It’s a philosophy that doesn’t ask me to run away from the world, but to walk through it consciously, to understand it, and enjoy it. For a life devoted to enjoyment, Aristotle’s way offers a way of living perfectly, but not overly-perfectly; reasonably,…

And now, for something completely different. Something unusual: not economical, logical, political, critical or egotistical; not religious, spiritus nor scientistic. Just you and this. Let’s deviate direction and feel fantastic! Dan Piraro from bizarro.com. Is it possible, this very moment—as you read the following words, “I am reading the following words“—that a feeling like lyrics that…

Hello stranger. Let’s talk. Let’s talk about the mind. Yes. That. If you hadn’t noticed, the mind is the chatterbox upstairs. It narrates your life like an AI podcast nobody asked for. The “mind” is a you talking to yourself; and “thoughts” are what comes out of that conversation. Sometimes thoughts are deep. Sometimes thoughts are shallow. Sometimes thoughts are repetitive and get you into…

I was sitting outside and a flock of Canadians (geese that is) honked their way by in the sky and poop-bombed me. What looked like melted chocolate rained down in splatters. “What a mess,” I thought. “But at least it’s from a goose and not a Russian!” When the goose bombs hit, I was thinking, “What’s with those Russians? Why are they self-destructive and murderous?” Talk about misguided…

Over the next few minutes (I hope you have time) I will explore with you the interconnected notions of (a) Contentment, (b) Connection, and (c) Consciousness. By the end I hope to show how all three are attained without much effort because it’s based on enjoying what is already there. Let us begin. Cue music (first enjoyment, then contentment): Everybody’s talkin’ at meI can’t hear a word…

“A Birch Grove” (1889) by Isaac Levitan (1860-1900) This blog (“web log”) is for self help. It is written by me to help me enjoy my life and because you are a me too and you have a self too, maybe the ideas I present can help us both enjoy life better, together. It might have been better as a YouTube channel because fewer people read than watch videos but I’m better as a writer than as a…

NOTE: No portion of this blog is written by Artificial Intelligence. Grammarly is not used to “authentically” express myself and there are no images fashioned by AI. Everything herein is composed by the biological intelligence of one person (such as it is). Let us begin. Imagine it’s sunrise…. “Busy old fool, unruly sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows, and through curtains call on us?”…

Clarity: What is it? Why does it matter? How do I get it? These are the questions we ask ourselves today. First: What is clarity? “Clarity means clearness. Clean water running down a mountain has clarity. So does a lovely singing voice: it’s clear and pure. If you bring clarity to a situation, you help people see what really happened by clearing up misunderstandings or giving explanations.…

People are like Peeps: crusty on the outside and gooey on the inside. Does it ever feel to you like the world is falling apart? The list of issues caused by human activity is horrendous, isn’t it? We’ve got biodiversity loss, environmental disaster, potential nuclear holocaust, destructive artificial intelligence and societal collapse, just to name a few (List of Global Issues). Given the…