"You teach your child to be successful, but do you teach your child to be happy?", that question got me thinking.

Our evolutionary brain operates in two default modes, fight or flight. Happiness mode is not part of the default factory setting, onus is upon us to upgrade the human operating system.

Happiness cannot be pursued; it will only ensue when you avoid unhappiness.

Thought was inspired by German Mathematician Jacobi “man muss immer umkehren” - "Invert, always invert" - think forwards and backwards, all hard problems are best solved backwards.

Happiness is a discrete mathematical mental state with a short burst of dopamine release, it becomes a norm after that. A bigger pay check, a bigger house or fancy cars will elevate your mental state for a short time before it gets internalized and normalized.

Inversely, unhappiness/anxiety is a continuous state in a mathematical sense; fear of "loss of health, near and dear ones, employment and wealth is ever present".

So, counter-intuitively, minimizing unhappiness will result in sustained happiness rather than chasing happiness.

Whilst optimum personal net worth is important to cover our material needs, beyond the optimal point, fear of loss supersedes personal net worth resulting in diminishing marginal returns.

Happy zone is a mental state where fear of loss is minimized and personal net worth is optimised.

Always think forwards and backwards.
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Case study:

Michael Phelps is known to the world as the most decorated Olympian (28 Olympic medals, 23 of them gold) and symbol of success but what was not known until recently is that he was severely depressed and suicidal after his success.

Phelps is not alone, many top Olympic athletes report feeling a “crash,” in which they come down from the physical and mental height of the games and sink into depression. Whilst the system trained them forwards for success but there is no support solving backwards (i.e. avoiding depression & suicidal thoughts)

Phelps started sharing his mental battles recently and has established Michael Phelps foundation to promote pursuit of dreams whilst not comprising healthy physical and mental living amongst kids and fellow athletes.

It is a journey, what do you think?

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