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Simply Good Life - Worrying | What is Happiness? | Our Place in the Universe

Hi friends, here is your weekly dose of “Simply Good Life,” a list of things that will help you to gr
Simply Good Life - Worrying | What is Happiness? | Our Place in the Universe
By Adam Egger • Issue #142 • View online
Hi friends, here is your weekly dose of “Simply Good Life,” a list of things that will help you to grow personally and professionally. Enjoy!

Forest Bathing
Do you know the Japanese practice called forest bathing? Studies show that spending time in the forest lowers your levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) and even of your inflammation markers.
So whenever you feel stressed, just go outside and walk around in nature for 5 to 10 minutes.
What is Happiness?
What’s your definition of happiness? For me, happiness is not a permanent state. Happiness is not a thing we achieve. We do not find the secret to happiness and then everything is just great. It’s rather “more of the good stuff and less of the bad” as described in this great article about meditation. Of course, when good or bad things happen, our happiness will still rise or fall. But with a regular meditation practice, we’ll start to have higher highs and shallower lows.
And when the highs are higher and the lows aren’t as low, an interesting thing happens: the overall level of our personal satisfaction rises. That’s happiness.
Our Place in the Universe
Powers of Ten is a short film made in 1977 that beautifully shows our place in the universe. It explores the world, both from great heights and from microscopically close. Starting at a picnic in Chicago, it transports us to the outer edges of the galaxy to make us think not just about scale but how it relates to our place in the universe. I feel small every time I watch it. How do you feel?
Powers of Ten™ (1977)
Powers of Ten™ (1977)
Feedback
“When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” - Neil Gaiman
I use this principle from the famous author Neil Gaiman to teach innovation. Whenever you ask for feedback (for your creative work or your product) just ask about things that do not work, don’t ask how to fix them.
They are experts in using the product, we - the creators - are experts in solving the uncovered problems.
Quote I Love
“Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles. It takes away today’s peace.”― Randy Armstrong
Isn’t this a great reminder for us to stop worrying? We constantly worry about things that might happen.
As an exercise, sit down and create a list of things you worry about. A few days later go through this list of things you’d written down. Did any of them eventuate? If so, how many didn’t eventuate? It’s possible that all the worry was for nothing. How does it make you feel?
Thank you Esther for sending this quote in the Simply Good Life WhatsApp group. Keep them coming!
Have a great weekend, all
Adam
Did you enjoy this issue?
Adam Egger

This easily-digestible weekly blog will help you to grow personally and professionally. Like a plant that flourishes from short but frequent watering, you will discover new ways of thinking and working that will leave you feeling more focused, productive, and happy.
I'm Adam Egger - an innovation and creativity expert - teaching teams all over the world how to become more innovative and successful.

#creativity #minimalism #mentalhacks #innovation #happiness #designthinking

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