Poll: Does thinking prevent you from being Happy?

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Well ignorance is bliss not happiness so no thought does not make you unhappy it makes you unblissfully unoblivious of your surrounding circumstances.

 

[Calatar]

It's not thinking that makes you depressed, it's how you think and what you think.

Certain people have a tendency to drift into dark thoughts given too much inactivity. Thoughts about their insignificance and powerlessness. I've been one of those people.

I suspect that most people are naturally pessimistic. Negative thoughts*time to think=negative mindset. However, with a little prompting, a little bit of refocusing of priorities, you can change that. Optimism makes you happier. And you can still be an optimist and a realist at the same time, by devaluing the personal importance of negative things you can't change, and working on what you can change.

My personal approach is actually a mixture of my natural pessimism and my acquired optimism. I pessimistically think of the worst situation possible, then I optimistically think "Well, whatever happens is probably going to be better than that!"

It's fun times

What's the worst case scenario in trying it? Your negative imagination is a turrible thing to behold? Well then laugh at the bizarre creations of your mind, point out how absurd it would be, and move on.

Personal case in point: Taking a test.
"What's the worst case scenario? I get hit by a bus on the way to class, fall on a dirty soup spoon and get infected with HIV. HAhahaha, well at least I'll have a good excuse to get out of the test! Realistically though, I get a bad grade, and end up with a bad grade in the class, forcing me to take summer school. I've taken summer school, it isn't so bad. Now I know I can deal with reality."

I have no clue whether this sort of approach would work for most people, but it's an amusing way for me to make my pessimistic way through life with a non-wry smile.

 

[Electro-coma]

How is being able to get into life makes you sad?
As for me, I'm pleased with my education and up bringing that I've had in my oh so living family.

It's just plain degrading - as for me - using your so well built computer(brain) for making tosts and not some calculations or somethings that can make your life more diverse and joyfull.

But being able making tosts and do calculations is what I stand for!!

 

[Angerwing]

Not for me it doesn't. The dark times in my life are over, and right now shit is sweeeeeet.

So no, my current life situation determines my mood, and my thinking is merely and extension of that.

 

[Doctor VonSexMachine]

By the Social Contract, individual freedom is a worthy exchange for social order. I value social order about as much as I value nipples on men. As I said, I would gladly live somewhere with no society, or people for that matter, at all. Unfortunately, finding said place isn't easy.

Unfortunately, it's not as simple as that, as the 'contract' is so long as you benefit from social order, you must adhere as this is what is required to maintain this order. Ever read Walden Pond? Even 100 years ago that man had a hard time with his paradise.

No one is physically stopping you from smoking dope or killing yourself. You choose not to because you deem the consequences to not be worth the actions.

First of all, if I was found in possession of drugs by the police, they would definitely stop me from doing them, (at least the drugs they found, specifically) and killing yourself sort of is its own consequence and I have no urge to, but last time I was in the hospital I was in a room with a guy who was on suicide watch. He tried to kill himself by jumping off a building and in the process broke his leg and shattered his ribcage. He certainly was prevented from killing himself, at least for the time being, and he said that there was a possibility that he could end up in a psychiatric ward, which I'm pretty sure would be very diligent at that as well.
Second, my problem with this is that there ARE consequences. Purposeless consequences. If I get high and hit someone with my car or something, then the problem isn't really that I was high, it's that I hit someone with my car. There's no way me simply being high and sitting on my couch is a negative thing towards anyone else.

And I really wouldn't consider myself an existentialist. more of a nihilist.

They can keep you for 72 hours (At least in Canada) and if they want more, they need to bring you before a Judge. I've been held on a schedule one form twice, I know the drill. In fact, as I face my first voluntary hospital visit, I'm finding out just how hard it is to be admitted. (Or commited) After that, you're free to go walk into a bus if you want too, although it won't be very nice to the driver and passengers.

The impaired driving is a terrible example. No, you aren't doing much harm sitting on your couch smoking dope, and I'm happy I live in a country (and region) in which I can do this if I want to, without any real trouble. Choosing to drive a car while intoxicated from any drug is a piss poor choice. Choosing to bring attention to your drug consumption is another.

We can live peacefully, happily and with relative freedom if we think before we act. Things don't always go as planned, but when was the last time you heard of some 30 something person raided for smoking a joint on the weekend? And how many suicides do you think go unreported and even undiscovered, especially with the combination of sedatives and the elderly?

I'm going way, way off topic but I think it's going to cause me to change my initial vote: Thinking does not necessarily mean unhappiness. In fact, thinking about our actions might be necessary to avoid the regret and consequences of a)impulsive behavior b)blaming the "system" for our lack of drive to do anything about our situations.

Now, back to my (legally prescribed) drugs.

 

[Mafiastyle]

This debate is a half and half for me. I put no because thinking does not make me unhappy. It actually saved my butt during some situations when I wasn't thinking. It's more of a situational thing, I believe.
If something negative were to happen to me I'd probably think unhappy thoughts so I'd blame my unhappiness because of those thoughts...However it wasn't my thoughts fault it was merely me pushing the shock of the situation onto it.
Just like for example if something positive were to happen to me - I'd probably be really happy and be thinking something of the sort of skipping through a wild field of flowers. It wasn't the thought that made me happy though - it was my personal experience.

I don't really know - I just believe that the thought process has nothing to do with it, it's the individuals themselves that push the process into happening but I shrug at my logic. LOL

 

[snide_cake]

No, thinking is my happy place.

As a scientist, writer and photographer, my entire life revolves around thinking. I enjoy thinking, stretching my mind muscles and asking questions, devising theories and learning. I'm a naturally knowledge-hungry person. And it helps to have a housemate who is also intelligent and thinks outside the box.

 

[Comte de Frou Frou]

Thinking makes me happier; when I think it's not usually about life, universe and everything or anything depressing like politics all the time (that's not to say i'm ignorant towards politics because that's far from the truth) it's usually a creative concept so I write it down just for the hell of it, even if I don't see it to fruition.

Also I love to relax and think in the bath, there is nothing more soothing

 

[Commissar Sae]

Depends what I think about really. Theres always this nagging little though hanging around that everything we do is pointless and 100 years from now no-one will remember my passing or anything I did. Combine that thought with the idea that Humanity is just a tiny speck in both history and the universe and yeah, leads to some less than happy thoughts. But then I think of my cat or something and push all that aside for a while.

 

[GreyWolf257]

Thinking only makes you unhappy when you realize something is wrong in the world. You are then capable of using these thoughts to make your world a better place. For instance, if your government is an evil, oppressive totalitarianism, you can use your knowledge to resist. Sure, you might die in the process, but if you succeed in your resistance, your life will become a hell of a lot better.

 

[Mozared]

"With a golden heart comes a rebel fist", that much is true. But that doesn't mean that you're per definition less happy if you think stuff through.

 

[Fraught]

It may, it may not. Depends on what you're thinking about.

Either way, at the moment, thinking makes me happier, as I really want a PS2 and both the Kingdom Hearts games with it, but I can't...so I try not to think about it, and do something else. On the other hand, that 'something else' results in me 'not thinking', but rather 'thinking about something else'.

 

[Tharwen]

If I ever get close to making myself unhappy by thinking too much, I just back off and feel content with the fact that my instincts drive me to find food and make babies, and strive towards those goals.

 

[Woodsey]

I'm thinking of something in particular that makes me very happy, at the moment.

Yes yes, we're all happy if we think about tits.

OT: Depends what you think about, surely? Over thinking can be a huge problem them and, depending on your nature, make you think that everything will most likely turn out badly.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Yup, more i think less happy i be.

 

[DividedUnity]

I do think too much about everything that happens and it leaves me burned out and down all the time. I tend dwell on mistakes and bad experiences as well or put too much thought into good experience then build up expectations of what will happen in future because the situation continues to escalate in my head. Its not really the healthy option but ive found that drinking helps me relax

So for me thinking does stop me from being happy but only because I think too much.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I'm thinking of something in particular that makes me very happy, at the moment.

Yes yes, we're all happy if we think about tits.

...WIIITTCCCH!

I mean, uh...how 'bout them Maple Leafs?