Don't take any advice from unhappy people.

[AkshiP]

I feel that this is true to a certain extent, but there can be exceptions. A person lacking something can have brilliant insights into what it must be like to have it.

[Knitkat]

I feel that this is true to a certain extent, but there can be exceptions. A person lacking something can have brilliant insights into what it must be like to have it.

I do agree that people who are suffering may know how they got there. I think though they may not know how to escape their sadness so taking that advice might not be helpful.

[Owuamanam Eberechukwu]

I agree with this 100%, sir. Respect all men, but don't sink your floating ship by taking the ideas from a captain that sunk his ship. This is a very perfect proposition. I agree and confidently assert that this is a true proposition and logical.
More so, we can all see the same thing differently. A hungry man can see the moon as a ball of cheese. An unhappy man can see the moon as the cause of his unhappiness.
More so, the context of using the word unhappy differs from grief. This is why philosophy is complicated. Language is faulty and cannot fully help in philosophy as it creates ambiguity and even more difficulty.
Grief is different from unhappiness in this context.

[Hellen Muriithi]

There's a statement that argues "Negative energy is contagious". As such, I second you opinion that taking advise from unhappy people could be detrimental in the long run. My reasoning is based on the fact that an unhappy person sees things from an 'unhappy' perspective. Therefore, there advise or dimensions will be limited to what they are experiences at the then moment and not what they have never experienced.

[Meghan Sica]

I have to agree that one should not take advice from unhappy people. I believe negativity begets negativity and the only way to change that is to seek positive advice, affirmations, anything that makes you happy. By changing your surroundings and finding joy, speaking joy, you will begin to see joy in everything. The mind is powerful, and the things we tell ourselves become our inner voice.

[Alice Fu]

One of the most dangerous things that one can do is to take advice from people who are not content with themselves. When you ask people with that type of mentality for advice, they will always be drawing information from a source of discomfort in the depths of misery, meaning that their heads won't be particularly clear minded.

[beckybelvin]

I can see the logic in this statement; however, there could be some benefit to taking advice from unhappy people. Why are they not happy? Are you facing the same kind of situation as what is making them unhappy? If so, I believe that advice from anyone who has already faced that situation who help. If you hear from both sides of the story, you are better equipped to make an educated decision for yourself.

[Christell Lindeque]

I believe there could be exceptions. It may be that the unhappy person is aware of what made him unhappy; he just doesn't have the stamina to change it. Such a person can give you advice about what to stay away from if they are genuine.

This is actually a nice way of looking at it. Almost like saying you learn from other people's mistakes. I have actually avoided a lot of messes because I have learned from other people's mistakes.

[Christell Lindeque]

I think I can see the rationale behind not taking fitness advice (or advice to loose weight) from obese people, and not taking financial advice from poor people. And I think it is fair enough not to take advice regarding being happy from unhappy people. But why should we not take any advice from unhappy people? Being unable to see the happiness within, does it make a man worthless even to advice others regarding a field that he is an expert?

I agree with losing weight and fitness advice because not everyone has the same body. I have heard so many times not all advice works for people the same way especially when it comes to people with different body types.

[Christell Lindeque]

I really appreciate this! It makes me think of the saying, “you are who you surround yourself with.” If you surround yourself with unhappy people, you too will become unhappy.

I have heard similiar sayings like this one but never about unhappy people. This is so true especially if you are an empath, which I am.

[Christell Lindeque]

I disagree with this actually. While the overall idea of what you're saying makes sense, it's too generalized. What if a morbidly obese person is that way because of a chronic disease, but actually is a master of nutrition? What if someone is financially struggling because of their family situation or because they're having to pay for extra healthcare, but learns to navigate their situation and still survive?

People who have diagnosed depression are often more intelligent. Plenty of people are unhappy because they simply know too much about the world. I find myself feeling unhappy at times, I wouldn't consider myself an unhappy person, but being unhappy does not make me any less adept at giving advice.

Depression usually can't be helped. Most people think depression means the person is depressed, which is not true in a lot of cases. They just have symptoms of depression but it does not mean they actually feel like they want to commit suicide. I wish more people knew this.

[Christell Lindeque]

The best bit of advice I have ever received is as follows.
"Don't take advice from anyone you wouldn't want to swap - at least part of their - lives with". If you stick by this philosophy and keep things simple, always be grateful and understand that happiness (true happiness) comes from withIN, and not withOUT then you'll be gracious and happy no matter what.

This is actually good advice. Usually when someone gives me advice about something I don't agree with I just thank the person and move on with my life. Some people will try to keep convincing you to try their advice until you agree which can become nerve wrecking.

[Christell Lindeque]

Come to think of it, these so-called unhappy people may have been through many experiences that brought them to where they find themselves. They may have a thing or two, that is, lessons and advice to give someone who they think is going through the same path they went through that brought them to where they are. They're unhappy not because they wish to be, but because of some decisions they made that landed them in trouble and caused their unhappiness. Such people will surely have something to tell others to prevent them from going astray. An obese person can tell you not to eat junk because it was junkfood that made him obese. A poor person can advice you not to invest in crypto because crypto made him broke, and so on. So I believe that unhappy people or poor people or obese people may tell you things that will help you not to walk the path they did that made them what they are, thereby helping you to avoid being like them.

This is so true! Like I have mentioned in another comment. You can learn from other people's mistakes. Your comment makes me not believe in "Don't take advice from unhappy people".

[abstactlemon]

I think that is a very blanket statement, that being said, I draw my advice from everywhere I can. I doesn’t really matter what the advice is or where it’s from. You listen to a lot of people and you start to get really good at sifting out the things that can really help you. That or people hear what they want to hear, you already made the decision a long time ago, and you’re just looking for a sounding board.

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

I draw my advice from everywhere I can. I doesn’t really matter what the advice is or where it’s from.

To me, that cannot be true in the same way it cannot be true to say, "I read every book I can."

You cannot read every book, not even close.

Even if you spend all day every day reading books, you would not even be able to read 0.0001% of the books out there.

If we imagine every book as asking, "Will you read me?", then you imagine yourself as having to say "no" to over 99.99% of the books asking to read.

The same formula applies to all the people out there giving advice, be that advice given book form or through other mediums.

You have to say no to almost all of it. You have to refuse to take almost of all it.

It's like being coach for a sports team with billions of applicants and only 10 spots on the team. You have to make a lot of cuts, and you have to have very high standards. There are too many highly qualified happy people offering advice for me to give one of very few precious limited spots to an unhappy person because each unhappy person I'd let on the team would result in me having to cut a happy person.

That is why in the very first sentence of the Original Post (OP), I write, "in this human form, time, energy, money, and resources are very limited". That is a crucial premise.

Sure, if I could read every book, I would, but I have to say no to over 99.99% of them, so I have to have very strict high standards about what it takes for me to say yes to a book, or to someone offering advice. One of those strict high standards is that I only take advice from happy people. I only take advice from people who have proven their advice works using themselves as a test subject for their own advice.