Life is full of unpredictable challenges, and suffering is often a natural consequence of those challenges. However, resilience is essential for overcoming difficult experiences and accomplishing one’s goals.
The idea of “antifragility” suggests that some systems, like the immune system or the banking system, become stronger when pushed to their limits.
Happiness, on the other hand, is not something that can be forced or pursued as a goal. Instead, it is important to accept and learn from difficult thoughts and emotions without struggling against them.
In this article, we will explore these themes in greater detail and consider how they can help us lead happier, more fulfilling lives.
Accepting Suffering as a Pathway to Change
We all want to maximize pleasure and minimize pain, but suffering is often a natural consequence of life. Difficult experiences are simply part of our contract with the world, and we can’t control everything that happens to us.
However, collective suffering can also be an earmark that real change is happening. It is important to develop resilience in order to overcome difficult experiences and accomplish one’s mission.
The principle of antifragility explains that some systems become stronger when they are pushed around or knocked around. While fragile systems, like a wine glass, break when pushed, resilient systems, like a plastic cup, don’t break but don’t benefit from the challenge either.
Antifragile systems, on the other hand, actually become stronger when challenged. Examples include the immune system, which needs to face challenges to learn, and bones, which must be used or else they become weak.
Life’s Fragility and Beauty
Life is both beautiful and fragile. We are healthy until we’re not, with loved ones until we’re not, and in a job we love until it no longer works out. It is essential to develop our capacity to deal with our thoughts and emotions in a way that embraces them and is able to learn from them.
The old Stoic idea of happiness was a sort of tranquility, which involves avoiding unnecessary disturbance and anxiety by accepting that we can only control our thoughts and actions. Everything outside of our thoughts and actions are fine as they are.
The Paradox of Happiness
The American obsession with positive thinking and optimism suggests that we can crank the world into line with our aims by believing in ourselves and setting our goals. However, this is not always the case.
The societal messaging that we should focus on being happier and think positively paradoxically sets people up for greater levels of unhappiness.
When people focus repeatedly on being happier, valuing that idea as a goal, and setting it as a goal, research shows that they become less happy over time.
When we overvalue the idea of being happy as a goal, we set ourselves up to perceive every slight or disappointment as proof that we are not achieving that goal effectively.
The Key to Happiness: Learning to Say Yes to What Is
Instead of trying to control our emotions or resist what’s happening, it is important to learn to say yes to what is. When we resist what’s happening, we suffer because of our attachment to how things should be.
However, when we learn to accept what is and watch ourselves construct a story, we can witness the suffering without participating in it.
Happiness is a fundamental principle of this thought prism, as we learn to say yes to what is and resist nothing.
Conclusion
In conclusion, embracing suffering, accepting life’s fragility, and building resilience are critical to achieving our goals and living a happy and fulfilling life.
By recognizing that difficult experiences are part of life, building resilience, and accepting what we cannot control, we can avoid unnecessary stress and anxiety and find peace in our lives.
Remember, life is both beautiful and fragile, and it is up to us to learn how to embrace both.
