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A review by nrfaris
The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman
5.0
Stoicism teaches us that how we feel about a thing is not the same as the thing itself. Traffic may be bad but I don’t have to feel bad about traffic. I can choose how I feel about a thing, a decision which can foster peace or chaos, depending on the choice. But acceptance does not mean resignation.
From the Buddhists, “I” and my thoughts are not the same. Observing my thoughts can lead to a healthy detachment from them, leading to greater clarity of action - I do not have to feel like doing a thing to do that thing.
Slow down.
Safety, comfort, control, security are impermanent. Life includes risk, discomfort, chaos, vulnerability, failure, and eventually death. The negative capacity is a skill that doesn’t avoid the difficult aspects of life, neither does it seek them out. But when they come, it embraces them for what they are.
Happiness is not measured by one’s success in the relentless pursuit of the positive; it is a clear eyed, curious (awe and wonder), open embrace of all the mysteries of life.
From the Buddhists, “I” and my thoughts are not the same. Observing my thoughts can lead to a healthy detachment from them, leading to greater clarity of action - I do not have to feel like doing a thing to do that thing.
Slow down.
Safety, comfort, control, security are impermanent. Life includes risk, discomfort, chaos, vulnerability, failure, and eventually death. The negative capacity is a skill that doesn’t avoid the difficult aspects of life, neither does it seek them out. But when they come, it embraces them for what they are.
Happiness is not measured by one’s success in the relentless pursuit of the positive; it is a clear eyed, curious (awe and wonder), open embrace of all the mysteries of life.