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- Never Fully Heard #07 - Michael Scott, Daily Stoic & Happiness
Never Fully Heard #07 - Michael Scott, Daily Stoic & Happiness
Michael Scott, Daily Stoic & Happiness
Nick Horton
September 18, 2022
The 5-minute mental health newsletter.
Never Fully Heard is a space for men to listen to and engage in open, vulnerable & uncomfortable conversations to help improve their mental health being.
In today's edition 📝
Meme of the week: Michael Scott
Self-reflection question of the week: How many of your obligations are self-imposed?
Article of the week: The happiness lottery
Twitter thread of the week: 8 habits to feel more creative
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It's Sunday, let's go!
Before reading I want you to do four box breaths.
Exhale to a count of four, holding your lungs empty for a four-count, inhaling at the same pace, and holding air in your lungs for a count of four before exhaling.
Repeat 4 times.
🖼 Meme of the week:
❓Self-reflection question ❓
Awareness is freedom - The Daily Stoic (link to book)
Take an inventory of your obligations.
How many of these are self imposed?
How many of them are truly necessary?
Are you as free as you think?
"The person is free who lives as they wish, neither compelled, nor hindered, nor limited - whose choices aren't hampered, whose desires succeed, and who don't fall into what repels them.
Who wishes to live in deception - tripped up, mistaken, undisciplined, complaining, in a rut? No one. These are base people who don't live as they wish; and so, no base person is free" - Epictetus, Discourses, 4.1-3a
"It's sad to consider to consider how much time many people spend in the course of a day doing things they "have" to do - not necessary obligations like work or family, but the obligations we needlessly accept out of vanity or ignorance.
Consider the actions we take in order to impress other people or the lengths we'll go to fulfil urges or sate desires we don't even question.
In one of his famous letters Seneca observes how often people are slaves to their money, and life positions.
"No slavery is more disgraceful," he quipped, "than one which is self-imposed". We see this slavery all the time, a codependent person who can't help but clean up after a dysfunctional friend, a boss who micromanages employees and sweats every penny.
Snippet from article ⬇️
"The renowned behavioural economist Daniel Kahneman has written:
“Income is an important determinant of people's satisfaction with their lives, but it is far less important than most people think. If everyone had the same income, the differences among people in life satisfaction would be reduced by less than 5%.
”Giving people a bunch of money isn’t suddenly going to improve their lives. But since highly-educated people primarily understand value in terms of dollars, it’s worth noting the following:
-In terms of the effect on happiness, having a friend you see regularly is worth $100,000 a year
-Being married is also worth $100,000-Seeing your neighbour regularly is worth $60,000
Other research suggests that income doesn’t have a lasting increase on happiness because people usually adapt to money.
In contrast, marriage, family, and health have lasting increases on happiness and are immune to hedonic adaptation.
Compared with not attending any religious service, attending a religious service once a week has the same effect on happiness as moving from the bottom to the top quartile of the income distribution"
Writing and sharing 200+ words
Recording and sharing a video
Reading a few pages
"Ideation walks"
Having conversation calls
Taking photos and sharing them online
Making short films and posting them on Instagram
Sketching, making art, designs or drawing a picture
🚀 Share Never Fully Heard 🚀
If you know someone who would enjoy being a part of this community please forward them this email or send them this link below.