{"id":1266,"date":"2014-01-25T12:38:12","date_gmt":"2014-01-25T19:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/?p=1266"},"modified":"2014-01-25T12:38:12","modified_gmt":"2014-01-25T19:38:12","slug":"the-antidote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/2014\/01\/the-antidote\/","title":{"rendered":"The Antidote"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever browsed through, or read, one of those self-help books that prom\u00adises life will be per\u00adfect if only you think good thoughts, or that suc\u00adcess in a busi\u00adness comes from set\u00adting goals and striv\u00ading to meet them, you may have had the nig\u00adgling thought that there might be some\u00adthing miss\u00ading in the rosy pic\u00adtures these books paint. If so, The Anti\u00addote: Hap\u00adpi\u00adness for People Who Can\u00ad\u2019t Stand Pos\u00adit\u00adive Think\u00ading<\/a> might be the right book for you. I haven\u2019t reviewed many of the books I\u2019ve read recently, but this struck me as import\u00adant enough to do so.<\/p>\n

The book talks about how always try\u00ading to be happy, think\u00ading only pos\u00adit\u00adive thoughts, and try\u00ading to pre\u00adtend bad things nev\u00ader hap\u00adpen to people does\u00adn\u2019t work to make us happy; there is real value in con\u00adfront\u00ading our fears and wor\u00adries and work\u00ading through the worst-case scen\u00adari\u00ados as well as the best-case dreams. The author points out that fear of fail\u00adure makes busi\u00adnesses blind to the real\u00adity that set\u00adting goals and doing things in the same way as a suc\u00adcess\u00adful com\u00adpany does\u00adn\u2019t bring suc\u00adcess in and of itself.<\/p>\n

The chapter called \u2018Goal Crazy\u2019 got me adding book\u00admarks: it\u2019s about how goals often don\u2019t work, and it\u2019s not just because com\u00adpan\u00adies and people set the wrong ones, but because set\u00adting goals at all often means neg\u00adlect\u00ading oth\u00ader import\u00adant aspects. Examples include people determ\u00adined to suc\u00adceed in busi\u00adness who end up divorced and with health prob\u00adlems, or com\u00adpan\u00adies who focus on sales and starve the research depart\u00adment of neces\u00adsary funds. Inter\u00adest\u00ading stuff indeed, and lots to think about.<\/p>\n

<\/p>

The author dis\u00adcusses vari\u00adous philo\u00adsophies and meth\u00adods to accept life without the \u2018think pos\u00adit\u00adive at all times\u2019 man\u00adtra, includ\u00ading stoicism, med\u00adit\u00ada\u00adtion, Eck\u00adhart Tolle\u2019s teach\u00adings, and the Mex\u00adic\u00adan tra\u00addi\u00adtion of memento mori, and teases out the sim\u00adil\u00adar\u00adit\u00adies between these. In the final chapter, entitled \u2018Neg\u00adat\u00adive Cap\u00adab\u00adil\u00adity\u2019, he comes to the con\u00adclu\u00adsion that hap\u00adpi\u00adness includes neg\u00adat\u00adive thoughts and emo\u00adtions as well as pos\u00adit\u00adive ones. This is a groun\u00added hap\u00adpi\u00adness, rather than some\u00adthing fleet\u00ading that depends on one\u2019s mood. This, to me, sounds like some\u00adthing worth\u00adwhile (and achievable).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever browsed through, or read, one of those self-help books that prom\u00adises life will be per\u00adfect if only you think good thoughts, or that suc\u00adcess in a busi\u00adness comes from set\u00adting goals and striv\u00ading to meet them, you may have had the nig\u00adgling thought that there might be some\u00adthing miss\u00ading in the rosy \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u201cThe Antidote\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1266"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1269,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions\/1269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurenwood.org\/anyway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}