Advice for a human. 81. You can't find happiness looking for the meaning of life. Meaning is only the third most important thing. It comes after loving and being. 82. If you think something is ugly, look harder. Ugliness is just a failure of seeing.
Interpretation
Happiness cannot be found by searching for life's meaning; it comes from love and existence.
This quote by Matt Haig emphasizes that the pursuit of happiness should not be centered around understanding the meaning of life, which can often be elusive and overwhelming. Instead, true contentment arises from the experience of love and simply being present in the moment, suggesting that our focus should shift from existential questions to appreciating our connections and existence.
In practice
This quote can inspire discussions in a mental health awareness seminar.
Being a depressive should not imply danger any more than being a man or even a human should. Mental illness isn't a them/us issue; we are all on the scale somewhere. So we must be very careful to resist ignorance and combat the stigma that leads to dangerous silence.
It can be difficult for people to talk about it, because there still is that stigma around mental illness. But I would encourage people to do that, because they'll be surprised once they do 'come out' how many other people have had similar experiences.
Understand that thoughts are thoughts. If they are unreasonable, reason with them, even if you have no reason left. You are the observer of your mind, not its victim.
We need, ultimately, to be able to view mental health with the same clear-headedness we show when talking about physical health.
You are no less or more of a man or a woman or a human for having depression than you would be for having cancer or cardiovascular disease or a car accident.
You don't have to be a creative maverick to have a troubled mind. You just have to be human. There is no 'us' and 'them.' No one is one hundred per cent healthy, physically or mentally.
We should enjoy food and have fun. It is one of the simplest and nicest pleasures in life.
Video games are meant to be just one thing: Fun! Fun for everyone.
It is only a poor sort of happiness that could ever come by caring very much about our own pleasures. We can only have the highest happiness such as goes along with being a great man, by having wide thoughts and much feeling for the rest of the world as well as ourselves.
The only sin passion can commit is to be joyless.
There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.
Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower, and draws all good things toward you.
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