Stoicism - Happiness in the age of instant gratification
A navigation guide to a world full of quick-release pressures and infinite miserly.
Evolution of Happiness
Human beings have evolved to chase happiness. Happiness is derived from the neurotransmitter Dopamine which is secreted in the brain when an event related to higher survival probability occurs.
In the olden days, that meant eating the rare high fat or high sugar foods (at a time where starvation could very well kill you), having as much sex as possible (Reproduction) and working hard at the task at hand (goal completion).
The conclusion? The secretion of dopamine was inherently linked to prosperous Outcomes.
The maladaptation of happiness
"So What is the problem?" you might ask. It's Simple. wheres what felt good in the past also led to advantageous outcomes, nowadays, happiness and achievement are completely decoupled.
The Monkey part of your brain fails to grasp the difference between you spending 6 hours playing video games and 6 hours working on your goals.High fat and high sugar food is tasty. porn is stimulating.
The result? the average person, led by the "monkey" brain and societal encouragement, keeps indulging in instant gratification while his frontal cortex makes his existence miserable when sobriety kicks in. What is even worse is the natural response to minimize "sober" (no overstimulation of any means) time, in order to avoid the pain of self reflection.
Fulfillment vs Happiness
Does that mean happiness is bad? no. Happiness is a cornerstone of the human existence. the modern ways of achieving it are the problem.
In my-and a lot of stoics- experience, happiness should be derived through fulfilment. fulfillment comes by Doing the hard things today for your future self to enjoy tomorrow. regardless of how you feel.
That's when you come to find out real happiness. real happiness derived through the feeling of self love. the love your past self sowed you today, by doing the hard thing so you don't have to.
What you can expect
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