Stop Connecting Your Happiness with What You Haven't Accomplished
We all daydream. We all have hopes and dreams and visions of a better future. This is part of the human experience, and contrary to what our teachers and parents used to tell us daydreaming is a good thing— in moderation of course. The moment we stop dreaming of something better is the moment we accept our lot in life. It’s also good for us. In a 2013 article in National Geographic, University of Florida Psychiatrist Eugenio Rothe told author Christine Dell’Amore that, as our minds wander, different part of our brains activate, accessing information that may have previously been dormant or out of reach. According to Rothe, "This accounts for creativity, insights of wisdom and often the solutions to problems that the person had not considered."
Daydreaming (plus action of course) has driven human achievement to incredible levels. The mistake comes when we tie our happiness to this undetermined and undecided future.
“A more, better, someday is the enemy of your contentment.”
I came across the quote that I began this article with in Ryan Holiday’s book the Daily Stoic, and it really resonated. Like all the daily entries, Holiday introduces the chapter with a Stoic quote, this one from our old friend Epictetus:
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