James Montier - If it makes you happy: The Psychology of Happiness

I'll start with already done research.

James Montier is an investment analyst working for Société Générale and he has written numerous articles about the stock market and behavioral finance. But he also wrote an article on what his idea of happiness involves and it breaks down to 10 rules to follow. His complete article can be found here.

• Don’t equate happiness with money. People adapt to income shifts relatively quickly, the long lasting benefits are essentially zero.
• Exercise regularly. Taking regular exercise generates further energy, and stimulates the mind and the body.
• Have sex (preferably with someone you love). Sex is consistently rated as amongst the highest generators of happiness. So what are you  waiting for?
• Devote time and effort to close relationships. Close relationships require work and effort, but pay vast rewards in terms of happiness.
• Pause for reflection, meditate on the good things in life. Simple reflection on the good aspects of life helps prevent hedonic adaptation.
• Seek work that engages your skills, look to enjoy your job. It makes sense to do something you enjoy. This in turn is likely to allow you to flourish at your job, creating a pleasant feedback loop.
• Give your body the sleep it needs.
• Don’t pursue happiness for its own sake, enjoy the moment. Faulty perceptions of what makes you happy, may lead to the wrong pursuits. Additionally, activities may become a means to an end, rather than something to be enjoyed, defeating the purpose in the first place.
• Take control of your life, set yourself achievable goals.
• Remember to follow all the rules.

Flirting With Red Balloons project

Yesterday I was talking about perfection and how it could be counter productive to the pursuit of happiness. And this morning I remembered an article I read a couple of weeks ago by James Mortier called "If it makes you happy: The Psychology of Happiness" where he gives 10 rules to follow for a happy life. And though I don't think that one article has all the answers to this very thorny question (not to mention that we are all different and we don't all have the same recipe for happiness), it might hold part of the equation.

Whether you're religious or not, whether you're young or old, whether you have a Ph.D. or you can't even read, no matter who you are and what you do, pursuing happiness is in a sense your life's quest. Sartre said that as human beings we are responsible for our own lives. And because, when we come into this world, the universe doesn't hand us any script or particular purpose, it is our job to find a purpose and a place in the world for ourselves. Pursuing happiness seems like as good a purpose as any to me. Plus, when you break it down, every life goal comes down to an honest shot at happiness. Whether you're trying to save the world or just doing a 9 to 5 job and then coming home to your cat. The only problem is that sometimes we get sidetracked and lost in the nitty gritty details and we forget to look at the big picture.

So here's the thing. Right now, I need a hobby other than watching stupid TV series (wretched habit... almost like letting someone else live your life for you). And since I'm constantly doing research about the stock market, might as well throw in some research on how to be happy. Therefore, I had this brilliant (or insane depending on how you look at it) idea. We have exactly 12 weeks left until the end of the year. So every week, I'll post a theory or philosophy about happiness. And to complete the loop on the scientific method, starting next year, I'll test each one of them during one month and then post my evaluation of it. I do realize that this methodology is inherently flawed from inception as some theories might take more than 30 days of experimentation in order for the full effect to be seen. However, I'll include that in my evaluation and adjust as I go. Also, some theories might include elements kind of hard to test out under present circumstances (such as fall in love and start a family). Well, I'll deal with it when I get there. This project might be a total failure. But at least I tried it out.

So here it is! 3000 years of philosophy and self help books condensed in speed dating style. And to be cheesy until the end, let's call this project Flirting With Red Balloons (not the best title I ever came up with but I have other things to do today than ponder upon this question... soooo shall we say subject to revision?)

Pursuits

I really don't have time for this but I feel that if I don't get it out now, it'll probably choke me as I walk towards my bus stop. And as a side note, I am wondering how healthy it really is to be writing all this down on a blog instead of just telling it to an actual person. It probably ties in with everything I guess. Paper, or in this case electronic bits on an unknown server somewhere in the world, they don't talk back, they don't argue. They take all your arguments as being the ultimate truth. You cannot be wrong as there is no one to disprove you. And this brings me to my main point: perfection. I do believe I have been talking about this before. Naturally, as it has been on my mind constantly for the past couple of years. Perfection put on a pedestal. Perfection elevated up to an art. Perfection on a white frame hung up on the wall. Perfection pursued with a tenacity that becomes maladive. I think I read somewhere that perfectionists also tend to be procrastinators because, unless they have that perfect idea on how to start the job (and let's be honest, how often does that happen?), they will put off starting to work on it, waiting for divine inspiration to strike. And when that doesn't happen, you eventually run out of time and do it last minute in sictir simply because you don't have any other choice. But anyway, this is not supposed to be an apology for why I'm constantly doing my assignments at 2 AM the night before I have to hand them in. I guess that what I'm trying to say is that the  pursuit of perfection and excellence is ingrained in our society (just look at the presidential elections in the US... you're not allowed to have one single fault) to the point of it becoming a part of our nature. Every new year we pledge that we will become better, healthier, more organized, more loving, more open, etc. Only to fail miserably every single year. And then we beat ourselves up over it. So my question is this: perfection might be a pretty concept (kind of like unicorns), but does it make us happy? I might try my hardest to be critical and smart and thin, but does that make me happier than the poor slob who's laughing his ass off watching Charlie the unicorn. And after all what is happiness? Yes, I know, 3 000 years of philosophy haven't been able to answer that question, what the hell are my chances of figuring it out? Probably slim to none, but there are some questions that never leave you. And maybe when you can stop worrying about the end, you can actually enjoy the ride. Maybe a better strategy would be to pursue the perfection of each moment and take the chance that the end result would be less than perfect.

Limits on infinity

What I love about being in school is that I re-acquire the love of learning. As human beings, we aim for the easy button on a daily basis and in the absence of constraints we would probably spend our life in front of a TV, X-box or bottle of (insert favorite alcohol here). Drugs are also an acceptable substitute or complement to the bottle of (insert favorite alcohol here). So what I like about school is that, after the first 3 weeks of depression during which it kicks my butt out of lazy mode and into action, I actually feel like I'm starting to move ahead and discover new things! Today's picks are James Montier's theories of happiness and definition of a specialist: people who learn more and more about less and less, until they know absolutely everything about nothing. Ah the power of limits on infinity!

 Also, thanks to behavioral finance I finally realized what my problem in life was: status quo bias. Some people call it laziness, others call it a fear of the unknown, either way it's an inability to move out of one's comfort zone and keep things the way they are. This year I started working on it, but I still have a long way to go I guess. Here's to trying many new things in the future (raise glass of favorite alcohol here).

 Now back to study if I want to go to the World Press Photo exhibition tonight! And I promised myself I would not miss it this year!

Life is an endless search. For security. For happiness. For love. Life is an endless quest on a road with infinite ramifications and possibilities. But sometimes, rarely, sometimes, paths cross and you come face to face with yourself. Like looking through a mirror into the past. Going full circle and coming back at square one only to exchange a smile with mini-me. Listening to this song makes me feel like I've stumbled upon an old friend that I though lost forever. Either I've changed or Linkin Park went back on their creative steps, or we're both meeting half way, but somehow I feel like I'm 14 again. And it feels great!

Answers in Wonderland

It's funny how the older I get, the more I need silence. Complete silence. Sometimes I wish I could slow down everything. The trains passing by, the sun going up in the sky, the Earth inexorably turning aroung its axis, my thoughts going around in circles again and again around the same topics in an endless spiral that never reaches its origin. I now realize that crossing the ocean is not enough to find peace or serenity. Because the storm is within and no matter how far I go, it will just follow me to the end of the world. The truth is that I always wanted to solve everything through logic, reason and organisation. But the more I think, the less I know. And that doesn't make sense... And the fear never goes away. And the more I want to slow down, the faster the world seems to spin. In these moments, you feel like a small child too afraid of what is on the other side of the window. And when reality becomes stranger than fiction, maybe we're better off on the other side of the looking glass.

I wanted to embrace change... but not this kind of change. I can accept people growing up, getting married and having kids. But I was not prepared for changes in geography... Benoit Lefebvre was talking about changing the sofas around in our heads. Sure Ben, that sounds good... maybe we should all take 5 months off and just study the great social questions of the world. Except.. wait, we kind of don't have the time for that! So instead we'll just butt head on into each other and the last one standing will be the one who's right. 

It's funny how in the end the difference between theory and practice is just emotion. I remember my Theory of Knowledge class where Brian Aboud taught us the different ways of knowing. Empiricism, reason, language, some other stuff that I forgot and... emotion. And I never understood how emotion could teach you anything. I always thought it could motivate you to learn, it could bring inspiration, but never any actual knowledge per say. Well, emotion is the difference between a vague theoretical knowledge of social unrest in Syria and a practical, bone-chilling knowledge of social unrest in Montreal. It's the difference between the pieds noirs talking about their experience of the Algerian war and their forced immigration to France and the growing possibility of an independent Québec with all that it would imply for the immigrants already established there.

I'm tired of thinking. I wish I could separate instincts and biases from actual reasons. Ironically, I don't even want to put in the effort of creating Wonderland. After all, it would be nice if the Mad Hatter would just knock on my door tomorrow and give me the answers. Twisted, irrational and absurd answers, true, but nowadays normal and rational have lost all their meaning, so why bother?

Stranger than Fiction

I haven't posted anything in a long time. Can't really say why... too busy, too sick, too much introspection that needed and still needs to stay out of the public sphere. However I couldn't stay quiet about this. To begin with, this semester started within the limits of the surreal. But I'm not talking about the lights of the Eiffel Tower or the excessive French nationalism that has shadowed my steps these past months. What I want to talk about is an e-mail that I got this weekend from the Concordia Student Union concerning Bill 78 that the Quebec government wants to pass in order to stop student protests against the tuition fee hike. I am not going to post the entire thing, but this excerpt strangely reminded me of 1984:

We are communicating with you about this proposed legislation now because we are concerned that following its anticipated adoption, the CSU and other student associations may be unable to issue public criticism about its contents without risking extraordinary sanctions or risking our ability to continue serving students through regular operations.

One of the functions of this law is that it puts a legal onus on student associations like the CSU to attempt to enforce the law’s contents on its student members.

As a result of some of the implications of this proposed legislation, we feel it is our responsibility to explain that you that you may receive some communication from the CSU not as a result of the political will of the membership or its representatives, but because it will be forced to comply with a law that is neither just nor justifiable. Therefore, in the coming months we ask you to please think critically about the nature of the communication you receive from us and other associations.

Between this bill and the increasing possibility of an Eurozone break-up, it's getting harder and harder to distinguish between reality and fiction. J. K. Rowling, if Voldemort is for real and still trying to take over the world, this is as good a time as any to tell us that we're witches and wizards and that we at least have magic to fight him!