Embracing the Beauty of Sadness
Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy. -Aristotle
We live in a society obsessed with happiness. This site is no exception. We’re constantly prodded with questions:
- Are you happy?
- Why not?
- Why don’t you do something to make yourself happy?
Sadness is perceived as unnatural and malignant. We’re encouraged to do whatever it takes to stop feeling sad. Frequently this means using anti-depressant drugs or other substances to physically change our mood.
But what’s the hidden cost of eradicating sadness?
Author Eric G. Wilson provides a discussion of what we might be losing in his book, Against Happiness. Listen to this brief interview on NPR to get the gist.
Wilson argues that sadness isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it goes hand in hand with creative genius. Countless thinkers (Hemingway and Lincoln to name a couple) have been prone to bouts of extreme sadness.
Sadness contributes to creative achievement as well as tragic demise. Would the world be better off if Hemingway had popped Prozac and lived to be 100?
I don’t know. And this isn’t meant to be an attack against anti-depressant medication or the people that need it. But what about the marginal people who experience the full spectrum of emotion?
Why are we so down on feeling down?
Next time you’re overcome by a melancholy mood, consider this:
- What is the cause of your sadness? Often the answer to this question can be the realization you need to make a change.
- How does sadness allow you to appreciate the pain of others?
- Does sadness make the happy times feel happier? Does it not have it’s own beauty?
Image by Joao Grando
Does Your Brain Need An Oil Change?
You probably own a car. Perhaps even a motorbike. One thing is for certain though: if you are reading this you are the proud owner of a brain.
Why is it that we care about how to keep our cars in top shape (oil changes, tire pressure, frequent cleaning…) more than about ensuring our brains – the physical basis for our minds – perform at their peak?
A spate of recent news coverage on brain fitness and “brain training” has missed an important constituency: younger people. Recent advancements in brain science have as tremendous implications for teenagers and adults of all ages as they do for seniors.
In a recent conversation with neuroscientist Yaakov Stern of Columbia University, he related how surprised he was when, years ago, a reporter from Seventeen magazine requested an interview. The reporter told Dr. Stern that he wanted to write an article to motivate kids to stay in school and not to drop out, in order to start building their Cognitive Reserve early and age more gracefully.
What is the Cognitive Reserve?
Research since the 90s shows that individuals who lead mentally stimulating lives, through their education, their jobs, and also their hobbies, build a “Cognitive Reserve” in their brains. Stimulating the brain can literally generate new neurons and strengthen their connections which results in better brain performance and in having a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s symptoms.
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A Smarter Approach to Time Management
Today’s business world is constantly changing at breakneck speeds. It requires flexibility, a great deal of organization, and a good sense of humor just to keep up. Companies are retaining fewer employees but the workload continues to increase, making it harder to meet job demands and almost impossible to maintain any kind of work life balance.
Many companies have recognized this disparity and have implemented various types of time management training programs. Even so, you need to come up with a well thought out plan in order to meet your goals. Luckily there are several things you can do to make the most of your day, get things done, and still have time left over to relax.
The Curse of the Information Age
As technology improves, the number of people bombarding us with messages only seems to grow. Every day they have new and improved ways to interrupt our work. Between e-mail, the telephone, and the fax machine, we have entered the age of information overload.
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The True Believers Guide to Blogging
Photo by L*u*z*a
According to Technorati, it is currently tracking 112.8 million blogs, and estimates that there are over 175,000 new blogs created every day. What is it, then, that takes a blog from obscurity to a place where thousands of people read it each and every day? There are, of course, many different reasons but in this article I want to turn the spotlight on one reason that I consider to be absolutely essential: belief.
Why is belief so important? After all, can’t any fool believe their blog is destined for greatness? And belief is worthless unless it translates into action, right? Well these things are true. Anyone can believe, but the truth is many people don’t (even when they think they actually do!). There is a big difference between hoping your blog will become popular and truly believing it will. And this brings me to the key point in this article: what you believe determines how you act. When you truly believe you are destined for success, you do the things that successful bloggers do.
If you are sick of simply hoping your blog will become popular, the following are some specific ways in which you can take it to the next level by being a true believer.
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A Guide to Quitting Your Miserable Job
Some people are lucky enough to discover their ideal career at a very young age. For them, the path is clear: develop an interest, get a relevant degree, cultivate expertise, and climb to the top of the ladder.
These people are the vast minority. The rest of us reach adulthood without knowing what we really want to do for a living.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Maybe you have diverse interests. Maybe you never really thought about it. Or maybe (especially if you’re a web junkie like me) your ideal career didn’t exist 5 years ago.
Finding the ideal career is far from obvious but if you don’t actively look for it you can get sucked into a job that doesn’t make you happy.
Do You Have a Job or a Career?
This an important question to ask yourself because it there is a vast difference between the two.
A job is just work. You might like it, you might not, but you do it for the money and it has no connection to your personal identity. If you lost your job, you might be upset but you’d get over it when you found a replacement.
A career is inseparable from who you are and who you want to be. A person with a job is collecting a paycheck. A person with a career is working towards a dream.
When I graduated college I had no idea what career was right for me so I did what most people do — I took the path of least resistance. I interviewed with employers who recruited on campus and wanted someone with my degree. I didn’t care what type of job I got. My only priority was finding one before graduation.
I don’t consider this a mistake because I learned a lot and worked with great people. But I was miserable. My passions and talents just didn’t fit. It eventually comes to a question: Are you willing to settle for a life of discontent and mediocrity just because you’re afraid to make a change?
Step 1. Follow Passion
For someone in this situation it’s easy to feel powerless. We all have expenses and responsibilities. How do you quit your job and start your career if (a) you don’t know what it is, and (b) you probably aren’t qualified anyways?
The first step is answering question (a) by following your passion. Not to say that if you like to read fiction you should become a novelist, or a painter if you admire Van Gogh. It’s important to be practical and find a career that is both personally satisfying and valuable to others.
The key is finding the place where your passions and aptitudes intersect with valuable labor. For this I recommend reading (online, books, magazines, everything) and having conversations with people you admire. It takes time but it should be fascinating. If it’s not, you’re on the wrong track.
For every passion (art, science, sports, nature, etc.) there are thousands of careers in close proximity. The point most people miss is that career opportunities lie, not in indulging the passion itself, but in bringing it to others.
Do you love art? Maybe a career in design is right for you. Love talking to new people? Maybe you’d be great in sales. There’s a place where what you love to do intersects what you’re great at — that’s your ideal career.
Step 2. Building a Resume and a Network
The next step is building a body of work and connecting with people in your industry. You need a body of work because you have to prove your ability and commitment before anyone will hire you. A network will help you find that first opportunity.
The only way to build a body of work is to get out there and start doing. Don’t let inexperience or shyness hold you back. What you need to build depends on the career you want, but generally some good ideas are:
- Writing – Any time you can share thoughts and ideas clearly you prove your understanding of a topic.
- Organizing - Arranging a list of resources and commenting on the work of others is another good way to build understanding.
- Creating – The actual creation of something that’s valuable to others is the most impressive (and difficult) way to create a body of work.
Creating a body of work goes hand in hand with building a network. Your hard work isn’t much good when it’s sitting in a closet. You have to actively share it, and in the process you’ll develop valuable relationships.
The web is an amazing place to find and be found by potential colleagues and employers. No matter what industry you want to break into there are people on the web looking to connect. There might even be a social network specifically for that profession.
You should also seek out offline networking opportunities. Go to public events that people who share your passion might attend. Join local organizations. Bring up your aspirations in conversation. This isn’t particularly hard to do, but it takes initiative and motivation.
Step 3. Make the Leap
Strangely, quitting a job you hate may be a difficult decision. Even when we aren’t happy, we get comfortable and resistant to change. Don’t let fear keep you in a job that’s just OK because the stability is nice and it pays pretty good. Test the market, look for opportunities, revamp your resume, peruse job boards. Just get out there and search.
Maybe you’ll get lucky and an opportunity will fall into your lap. That’s what happens to people who work towards a dream with passion and conviction. Don’t be afraid to take that opportunity. Even if it means less money and more risk and your friends think you’re crazy.
Take your career into your own hands. Your work shouldn’t be something you tolerate. It should be something that drives you — to become the person you should be, to give everything you can.
Image by Jessica DeWinter
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