Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Living Up To Your Duties Leads To Happiness

Luke Ford writes:

On his radio show Friday, Dennis Prager said: Life consists overwhelmingly of have-tos and the quicker you make peace with that, the happier your life will be.

People think that the fewer have-tos the better.

Some psychologists have the credo that there should be no shoulds in your life.

[In my experience of therapy, this is not in moral issues so much as in your expectations for yourself and from life. It is silly to wail, Joe should not treat me this way. I should be stronger. I should not feel sad, etc.]

If you don’t want a life of have-tos, you need to not marry, to not have kids, and to be born into wealth, or to be taken care of by somebody. I don’t think such a person will be happy.

Have-tos bring good things — money, family, a life. You build something. How do you build something without have-tos?