An Editorial By Aubrey Marcus
Some are blessed with an innate and unshakable happiness that persists through good times and bad. Perhaps these individuals have a particularly effective serotonin mechanism. Perhaps they have strong psychological and philosophical foundations. Maybe they are just lucky! The majority of us have peaks and valleys, with a lot of room left for improvement. The truth is that everyone of sound health has the potential to be really happy. Rich or poor, homely or beautiful, none of those factors render the final decision. A landmark study completed at the turn of the millennium supports this thesis. The top 5 countries with the happiest people were Nigeria, Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico [1]. These relatively poor countries with a fraction of the comforts of the first world giants had happier people. So while their problems were clearly more ‘life or death’, the problems of the affluent nations proved to be more persistent and detrimental to finding true satisfaction from life. It is estimated that 1 out of 10 Americans are depressed. Actors, models, billionaires… No one is immune. So why is it that so many who have every reason to be happy are not?
The great masters have all tackled this question in a different way. The Buddha instructed us that life is suffering, and the end of suffering can only be attained when one releases attachments both to material possession and relationships. Besides being incredibly difficult to achieve, this philosophy eliminates part of the magic of experiencing the physical plane, so for most it is an insufficient solution. One master that got it pretty close is Epicurus. The founder of the Epicurean school of thinking, his philosophy can be liberally summed up by the phrase “moderation in all things, including moderation”. As wise a philosophy as this may be, the true path to happiness is more comprehensive and comes from discipline in mastering the physical, psychological, AND philosophical components of life.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
The first step to attaining happiness is recognition of this fact: Happiness is a boon for those who are willing to pick up their proverbial sword and fight for it. It is a prize to be won by hard work, self-discipline, and ruthlessly honest self-examination. All too often we blame our unhappiness on external factors, or even worse, attach our future happiness to a goal that proves nothing more than a mirage. There are literally entire books written on the psychological aspects of happiness, including Bertrand Russell’s classic The Conquest of Happiness so I will attempt to give just a few helpful tips. Below I have outlined what I call the four traps, and six tentacles of chronic pestilence.
The Four Traps
1. Buying your way to happiness — This trap is like flypaper for the affluent. Inside the trapped is a vacuum that yearns to be filled with passion, zest, and spirituality. But for a fleeting moment, it can be clumsily filed with material gain. I know great men who have achieved their goals in life, but are missing a connection to the spirit and true comradery with their peers. Instead of seeking what they are missing, they fill this need with Bentleys, Rolls Royces, new houses. While getting these cars might make us happy for a few months, for them they are happy only for a few days if they are lucky. And there are diminishing returns on every attempt.
For women, the trap can be identical or take a subtle twist and turn to what they feel is aesthetic gain at the end of a scalpel or botox needle. While in moderation this can be a good decision, all too often it leads one to edge her ever closer to that Humpty Dumpty point in time where all the scalpels and collagen in the world can never reproduce the beauty that nature designed.
2. Happiness in a Bottle — Whether it’s booze or pills, it’s all a dose of escapism. I’m not sure who made the quote famous but it rings true here: “You can run but you can’t hide.” The longer you delay facing the real issues the more indomitable they will grow. The more booze you drink or pills you pop, the less the kick you will get from the drug. Its a losing battle as a long term solution, and best saved for that every once in a while occasion.
3. Happocrastination – “As soon as I get my new place I’ll be happy,” or “As soon as I get my promotion I’ll be happy.” or “If I could just make a little more money I’ll be happy.” While sometimes this is true, more often than not each of these goals projected to achieve happiness prove ephemeral. The summit of one hill just gives you a vantage point on the next even taller hill, and before you know it you have no more miles to walk. The home of happiness is in the now. After all, what is happiness if not a collection of moments, woven together to tell a tale of abundance or scarcity?
4. Overreaching your means— This trap is often related to trap number 1, but is important enough to get its own number. Humans will buy cars, clothes, houses, and shoes we can’t truly afford on a constant basis. While it feels good for a moment, ultimately this leads to nothing but stress. Remember the study about the happiest nations. Better to live moderately, and splurge occasionally and save yourself the stress!
The Six Tentacles Of Pestilence
Lethargy– The progenitor of poor discipline, lethargy prevents you from doing what you know you should. It is not completing your to-do list. It is going on Facebook instead of exercising. It is not putting your dishes in the dishwasher so you end up living in a dirty home. Ultimately lethargy leads to a sense of dissatisfaction with one’s accomplishments. It leads to blunders and missed opportunities. It causes you to settle. The world’s obsession with caffeine and stimulants are part of a losing battle against lethargy. The true way to fight lethargy is with focused discipline, adequate rest, and proper nutrition. Of course sometimes you need a little healthy nudge, and that is one of the reasons we created Alpha Brain™. As great a formula this may be, the real drive has to come from you.
Dishonesty– People underestimate the stress caused by dishonesty. Every little lie is a link in a chain wrapped around your freedom of thought and deed. Every big lie like adultery, fraud, etc is a weighted ball. Dishonesty is a direct and undeniable cause of two of the other tentacles, guilt and stress. The guilt comes from your nagging morality, and the stress comes from having to maintain the lie. Bad laws and challenging social customs make it very difficult to live a life perfectly honest. Laws against victimless crimes like smoking marijuana force people to be furtive and clandestine with their usage, a lie of omission. Challenging customs such as monogamy (this is not just an opinion, statistics show that roughly 70% of people would cheat if they couldn’t get caught source) lead to lies of commission (actual cheating) and omission (desired cheating). While certainly the love and companionship of being in a relationship generally outweighs the costs, these seemingly harmless lies add up, ultimately building a tower of resentment which is poison to happiness and the relationship.
It is possible to create a life that is largely if not entirely honest, but it takes ruthless self examination, sacrifice, and the willingness to be independently true to oneself. As it is said, “The truth will set you free.”
Fear– Master your fears or let fear be your master. If you are afraid your body is in a constant state of ‘fight or flight’. Your physical balance is off, your emotions are cloudy, and your body is not operating under its highest consciousness. Fear is also a potent hindrance. Fear of heartbreak causes you not to love. Fear of failure prevents success. Even something so silly as a fear of heights prevents you from enjoying the beauty of ‘high’ places.
Guilt– Guilt, when guided by true morality is not a bad thing. It can act as a compass, punishing poor moral choices, and driving you toward a path with heart. However, some carry guilt for no reason. The infamous healer Rasputin was once troubled by the guilt placed on him by the orthodox church. He was a man of immense sexual appetites, and found himself in constant struggle with his urges. Finally he determined that sex was as natural as life itself and rid himself of his guilt. This completely changed his life (and reputedly the lives of his mistresses as he was said to be a great lover!) for the better.
Insecurity– Insecurity is like walking through life with a mask and snorkel. Through the lens of insecurity nothing is as it seems, and even a breath of fresh clean air is difficult to attain. It is the source of jealousy and the spark that lights the dynamite of self sabotage. Look around and you will see that most failings in relationships, especially those under 35, have the root cause of insecurity. Possessiveness, jealousy, control, suspicion, sexual problems… these are the telltale signs of insecurity.
In one’s career insecurity prevents opportunity, and can even lead to completely unnecessary termination. It can cause you to fail before you begin, as you manifest what you fear you deserve. A brilliant and successful man once told me a great secret: People take you at your own estimation of yourself. If you truly believe you are great and destined for success, others will believe you. If you don’t believe this and overcompensate with cockiness, those who can ‘see’ will see right through you. More importantly, you will see right through yourself.
Bad Stress– Stress is a 100 pound pack strapped to your shoulders. Life’s soldiers will carry immense stress, and wear it as a badge of honor–a sign of their soldiery. But all the while their body and spirit is wearing out from the weight. The adrenal glands start to lose their elasticity, the body never properly restores itself, and the aging process speeds up dramatically. Have you ever looked at photos of what the president looks like before office and after? Stress is like a little time machine that speeds you faster toward your demise, and limits your joy along the way.
Bad stress is differentiated from good stress, which comes from rising to a challenge. What a stage actor feels before the curtain, or an athlete before the whistle… that is a good stress. That is what adrenaline was designed for.
PHYSICAL
Whereas this should be the ‘easy part’, conquering the physical aspects of being happy often proves insurmountable for many people. The problem lies in the fact that discipline is the true gateway to happiness. Without discipline happiness is difficult, and we are not a society that has this trait in abundance. At every turn we are given the opportunity for instant gratification with delayed consequence… Cola, fast food, nicotine, alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs, elevators, moving walkways, everything is designed for immediate convenience and comfort. This is not to say that any of these things are ‘bad’ in and of themselves. Remember the phrase from Epicurus, “Moderation in all things…” However, taken as a whole these options erode the connection between hard work and results, creating unhealthy mental habits and unfortunate physical consequences.
Good health is probably the most important pillar of happiness. This is evident to any of us who have ever had the cold or the flu, let alone something more severe. How much unhappier are we when we are sick? We can’t do the things we love like exercise, socialize, even kiss… and generally our body is providing a constant signal of discomfort that is difficult to ignore. This is not to say that happiness is impossible without good health, but without it the psychological structure has to compensate with implacable strength. Good health has several main components: Fitness, nutrition, immunity and bio-chemical/hormonal balance.
Fitness
Fitness, has become an obsession in our country. Despite having more gyms per-capita than anywhere else in the world we consistently place in the top three fattest nations. The key as far as happiness is concerned is to find a proper balance. For some, Iron Man levels of physical prowess will provide just rewards and the proper challenge. For the rest of us, I mention what I feel is the basic level of fitness in the above blog “Are You Fit Enough to Survive.” The thesis of this is that we are meant to be mobile, capable animals, and when we are not, there are both physical and psychological costs. Obesity comes with a variety of health issues and also prevents enjoyment of the full spectrum of what is available to us as human beings. Recreational activities, enjoyment of nature, even sex drive is limited by obesity. Furthermore, lack of physical fitness leads to enslavement to several of the six tentacles of unhappiness, including fear, lethargy, and insecurity.
Rounding out the benefits of fitness to happiness are the release of positive endorphins after exercise and ancillary health advantages unrelated to obesity. There are a thousand different diets, pills and exercise gimmicks that are all marketed as shortcuts, but in reality have hidden costs as great as the reward or prove not to be shortcuts at all. The real solutions all have hard work and sacrifice as their biggest component. “Fat Burners” and “Metabolizers” cause immense stress on the adrenal system, and if you have ever tried the bowflex you will realize that it is just as much effort with double the annoyance as a normal exercise routine. Of course, this is Onnit Labs, and we do believe that we have created some formulas that can lend a bit of assistance. ShroomTech™ Sport is designed for competitive athletes and can give provide the cellular energy necessary to push you over the edge and get you physically motivated. But you are still gonna have to do all the work yourself.
Nutrition
Nutrition is the next major factor when considering good health. There is a lot of outstanding research on diet systems, but perhaps the best in my opinion is the Paleo Diet. The principle of this is that if our primitive ancestors wouldn’t have been able to eat it, we aren’t designed to eat it either. Plants, fruit, meat, nuts, roots, tubers, rice, all of these are great. In real life it is hard not only from a discipline standpoint but a practical standpoint to be 100% compliant to a nutrition plan like that. This is the reason for supplements. Our products like Green Vibrance, Cod Liver Oil, and the Vega Shake and Vega Bars are all Paleo compliant and provide excellent whole food sources to help bring you into nutritional balance. But remember, they are still ‘supplements’ and while they can compensate for some bad habits, the core has to reside in solid nutrition and disciplined eating. There are pleasures to be found in the taste buds, but not happiness!
Immunity
Immunity is crucial for the prevention of sickness and degenerative disease. High levels of stress and poor nutrition / supplementation are some of the most damaging factors. High stress releases cortisol, which over time has been clinically shown to lower immune function and shorten life span. Eating a balanced diet, filled with adequate nutrients including ample antioxidants to eliminate free radicals is also vitally important. Finally of course, there are supplements to the diet, such as our ShroomTech™ Immune formula (coming soon) that has components clinically proven to be effective as part of an anti-viral and immune boosting regimen.
Biological / Hormonal
Lastly, there are the bio-chemical and hormonal factors to good health. Hormonally it is important to maintain proper levels of testosterone for a male, and general balance for a female. Steroids, birth control, and obesity have all been shown to dramatically alter optimal hormone balance. Bio-chemically the most important factor is adequate amounts of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is responsible for fostering positive mood, and sense of well-being in the primate brain. The formula New Mood™ has been designed as a superior natural serotonin boosting supplement, combining the two direct pre-cursors L-tryptophan and 5-HTP. Those ingredients have both been demonstrated to improve mood, and when combined with other the other ingredients in the formula should show a very positive benefit. For links and more information and research on the New Mood™ formula click here.
PHILOSOPHICAL
We have touched on the philosophies of some of the masters, but my own humble philosophy toward living a happy life can be simplified to four ideas.
Be A Warrior– To be a warrior is not a state of physicality. It is a mindset. It is a belief that nothing is happening to you, because it is you ultimately who can impose your intent on the world. It is the way of the shamans, and it is the only way to free yourself from self-pity or what the non-warriors call ‘bad luck’.
Be A Poet — The great myth is that true sadness is the opposite of happiness. There is a beauty in true sadness, in heartbreak, and in longing. It is part of the spectrum of magic that is available on the physical plane. The poet sees this, and the poet knows that truly there is only one enemy… Numbness. Knowing this eliminates the fear of these phantom ‘pains’. The most beautiful art often has pain as its source. This is at the heart of being a poet.
Have A Robust Spritual Life — As much as the empirical religion we call Science would have you believe, all humans have a calling to cultivate the third component of our being… The soul. Sadly, this urge has been manipulated by those seeking power and become some of the vast ‘religions’ which often foster ‘happocrastination’ in the form of waiting for heaven, and terrible guilt for one’s natural impulses. The innate extortion of truth that these religions extol has caused many to ignore the topic of the soul entirely… To “throw the baby out with the bathwater” so to speak. But this ultimately will leave one empty. No matter what your spiritual belief system, religious or deistic, use your own judgment and cultivate your connection with the eternal… It will always be here, long after all else is worm-food and dust.
Stay in Balance — If I was to give one key to my philosophy this would be it. Balance sound mind with sound body, and materialism with spiritualism. Balance a big party with a good fast, and balance necessary dishonesty with powerful truth. For every mania there is a depression, and while there are gems to be garnered at the extremes, make sure to remember where center is. The idea is to grow and improve like the chart of the price of gold. Start in the bottom left, and make your way to the top right, understanding that there will be peaks and valleys, spurts and setbacks.
This blog is ambitious in its goal, and ultimately I realize that a few written words are not going to turn the tide for anyone. But maybe a few things in here made sense. Maybe a few sentiments ring true. And maybe something here just might make you a little bit happier. Good luck!
This blog represents the sole opinions of author Aubrey Marcus, and does not in any way reflect the official position of Onnit Labs LLC. To read more from Aubrey, visit www.WarriorPoet.us
[1] Ronald Inglehart et al. (eds.) HUMAN BELIEFS AND VALUES: A CROSS-CULTURAL SOURCEBOOK BASED ON THE 1999-2002 VALUES SURVEYS (Mexico City: Siglo XXI, 2004).
