From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life - By Arthur C. Brooks
Your satisfaction is what you have, divided by what you want.
Basic Info
The book is authored by Arthur C. Brooks. He started his career as a professional French hornist at a young age but faced a "plateau" in his twenties. He then pursued an academic career at Harvard and is currently a Professor at the Harvard Business School. Known for his unique charisma and ability to explain abstract concepts clearly, he shares his concise and easily understandable views on happiness, such as the three elements of happiness (check out this video). You may also enjoy his interview with Tim Ferriss.
Notes
- The decline of Prefrontal cortex, responsible for working memory, implementation and provision of a mechanism to focus, in middle age may explain the drop in our "abilities".
- Our fluid intelligence, geoverning logical reasoning and ability to solve new problems, declines rapidly from age 30-40.
- Our crystallized intelligence, the ability to use our knowledge reserves, grows with age.
- According to Cicero, old men should do three things: Serve others, embrace wisdom and teach others.
- Pride leads to self-objectification, where we do things out of fear of failure. Acknowledging the problem is the first step towards solving it.
- The way forward is to detach from things and seperate intention from attachment. Minimize desires as happiness is what we have divided by what we want. Here's how:
- Start with why.
- Use a "Reverse Bucket List" to remove things that don't bring happiness. Reverse bucket list is a list that you prepare to identify things that you don't want - to control our desire and focus on things that are critical to our well-being.
- Find satisfaction in small things and be present in those moments.
- Understand and confront our fear of death by acknowledging our apprehension about non-existence and being forgotten (the mortality paradox). One way to practise is to use exposure therapy (Maranasati), which is to meditate on the decaying bodies.
- Seek companionate love, be vulnerable, and accept pain.