Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Philosophy Club

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

The most effective way to get to enjoy true happiness and inner peace in the future is to build the habit of having inner peace and happiness in the present, right here right now.

The vice versa is also true: sacrificing inner peace now for the sake of the imagined future tends to lead to an unhappy future too.

You are always in the present, meaning the here and now. It is only ever here and it is only ever now. Thus, if you build a habit of valuing the future over the now, and thereby choose to lack inner peace in the now, you always lack the happiness of inner peace because you always be in the now.

[Sushan]

Happiness is relative. One may see happiness as having a peaceful life while another seeing happiness as having a lot of money. One can be happy with what he/she has already have in the present, and can develop the habit of being happy while eexperiencing inner peace. But someone else will decide to work hard today to be happy tomorrow. Maybe he/she will be unhappy forever in his/her present. But someday he/she will reach that future, and it will be the present, which is the happiness and inner peace for him/her. So the habit should be decided depending on one's definition on inner peace and happiness.

If you find love and your true loving nature in a temple, then please keep going to the temple. If you find it volunteering at a food pantry, then please keep volunteering at that food pantry. If you find it by fostering kittens, then please keep fostering kittens. If you find it on the dance floor, then please keep dancing. If you find it on the canvas with a brush in your hand, then please keep painting.

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[meadowsem]

The most effective way to get to enjoy true happiness and inner peace in the future is to build the habit of... gratitude. I believe we can program our brains to see the positive instead of the negative through a daily practice of affirmations around gratitude.

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

The most effective way to get to enjoy true happiness and inner peace in the future is to build the habit of having inner peace and happiness in the present, right here right now.

The most effective way to get to enjoy true happiness and inner peace in the future is to build the habit of... gratitude.

I agree insofar as you would also say that the most effective way to get to enjoy the true happiness of inner peace in the present is to practice the habit of gratitude in the present.

That is because if you are treating inner peace and gratitude as mutual corollaries of each other, such that one cannot be gracious without having inner peace and vice versa, then you and are saying the same thing that I am with different words. I do not disagree and cannot disagree if we are saying the same exact thing.

In contrast, choosing gratitude in the present over inner peace in the present (a.k.a. 'true happiness' in the present) as a means to hopefully have inner peace (i.e. true happiness) later in the future is not something that I would endorse, and is something the book talks about in detail in terms of future idolization and being in a toxic and/or abusive relationship with the future self.


Thank you for your reply and for sharing your thoughts!

[Samantha Barnes 3]

The most effective way to get to enjoy true happiness and inner peace in the future is to build the habit of accepting what is. When someone accepts their reality and lives in the moment, they stop stressing about what could have been and what will be. When they stop stressing about these things, then they will find inner peace.

[Surabhi Rani]

I think building the habit of having inner peace and happiness in the present is the outcome of the experience of one's true self at a certain phase of his or her evolution. It is possible in the right atmosphere when the right time comes. Even the right opportunity plays a role in discovering our true sense of being. Sacrificing inner peace now for the sake of the imagined future is the result of an ambitious and over-dynamic personality.

[Pauline Parnell]

True happiness can only comes from within as persons are happy with various things. What makes you happy may be be different from what makes me happy. Gratitude is the end result of happiness. When you are happy then you can be truly grateful to others around you and to God himself.

[Aditi Mehta 1]

The most effective way to get to enjoy true happiness and inner peace in the future is to build the habit of being grateful towards everything you have in life. Only then you can feel satisfied with your life. The feeling of satisfaction ultimately leads to a happy life.

[Bertha Jackson]

The most effective way to get to enjoy true happiness and inner peace in the future is to build the habit of having inner peace and happiness in the present, right here right now.

The vice versa is also true: sacrificing inner peace now for the sake of the imagined future tends to lead to an unhappy future too.

You are always in the present, meaning the here and now. It is only ever here and it is only ever now. Thus, if you build a habit of valuing the future over the now, and thereby choose to lack inner peace in the now, you always lack the happiness of inner peace because you always be in the now.

After reading your book, I realized I needed to focus more on my life today rather than the past or the future. I cannot change the past, and the future has not happened yet. Sounds simple, but sometimes this can be difficult. I know I am content with my life today, but as prices increase, I worry about the future. I should not do this because most things always work out over time. I have lost count of the number of times I have read your Suggestion Nine (Let go of future idolization. Embrace the present.) because it puts me back on track.

[Meghan Soderholm]

Happiness is all about perception and gratitude. I learned this the hard way when working in my pervious job where my co-workers always complained, had nasty tones, and were using their negative energies on situations they could not control. When toning them out does not work, I always have a plan B in place therefore, the job will get done giving everyone else the environment to move on and calm down. When you are calm, it brings you closer to inner-peace no matter how everyone else is reacting around you.

[OTrain M]

You couldn't be more accurate. We spend a lot of time remembering our past, musing over our future, both of these which are not here. So we waste up present-day's time because of something that has happened and that hasn't happened. That is not happiness. Once we take this day in and appreciate it all, remembering that what happened can't be changed, we can be happy. But of course we should be mindful how our happiness now doesn't taint our future.

[Mounce574]

I know I cannot change the past, and I am not promised tomorrow because tomorrow will never be felt today. Living in the moment and appreciating what I feel right now is the best that I can do. It lowered my anxiety level and helped with my depression by doing this. Dwelling on my past, I seemed to focus on the bad things that happened; thinking of the future without having a broad goal had me worrying about what I should do the next day. The worry wasted my time because I would sit and my mind would spin in circles for hours. I am a person who used to write lists for everything. If I planned my day down to the minute, I never accomplished anything.

[Amarachi Nzeakor]

We see this happen in everyday situations. For instance, more than 90 percent of people in medical college get in because of the money. To gather future wealth, the fail to enjoy the process, the here and now. In the end, what the system gets are grossly unhappy, worn out and sometimes improperly trained doctors.

[Blessing Chi Peculiar]

For me, developing the habit of expressing gratitude is the most effective way to enjoy true happiness and inner peace in the future. I believe that by practicing gratitude affirmations on a daily basis, we can train our brains to see the positive rather than the negative.

[abstactlemon]

Being present is a habit that I've had to consciously build, but now that I have, I'm able the appreciate and see a lot more good than I would have before. It's the exact thing I talked about with chosen optimism in the thread about already being in heaven.