Session 4,

Science of Happiness

Session 4, Meaning,  goals, Viktor Frankl and Trump

Monty Python is in my opinion the best comedy group ever and their films are among the best you can see

-          Monty Python’s Meaning of Life                            screen

-          Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.

For a serious, in depth research, meditation on the subject you could read Viktor Frankl, a scientist and Holocaust survivor and his

-          Man’s Search for Meaning                         screen

-          “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

In a previous session we have spoken about calling and the need to find what has meaning for us, in order to establish what career, path in our professional life we want to take

-          Calling: meaning, good at, like

There is of course a tendency to get power, a position in society that others will envy. But that breaks one of the rules of happiness:

-          Do not compare yourself with others

Friedrich Nietzsche has written about the Will to Power that animates so many, indeed most people from the ordinary to …Donald Trump

-          Will to Power – Friedrich Nietzsche                       screen

-          Donald Trump

Donald Trump is an intriguing example. Not a role model, for an expert from the Harvard Medical School and other experts have stated that this man is actually unfit for office, on account of medical “pre- exisiting “conditions.

-          Stepping stones vs stumbling blocks

-          Resilience and grit

He has many faults, but it is extraordinary to see a man with few skills and capabilities rise so high- at the very top of the free world.

He is not the epitome of self – esteem, indeed, he has confidence issues, but he keeps saying he is the best until that image has an impact. His resilience and obstination have pushed him so high it is hard to believe.

Whether that is good for manking remains to be seen. And the meaning that animates him makes him a negative role model for this chapter, but it is an example for the case wherein

-          Establish your goals and pursue them with passion

-          Be the change you want to see in the world

If you establish goals that make sense,  can have an impact on the world around you you are more than half way to becoming happy

-          No pain no gain?                             screen

-          Happy on the way to the top

-          No pain - more gain