How can we reduce our suffering?

How can we reduce our suffering? I just watched this wonderful TED talk by Amit Sood, about how we can overcome our predisposition for suffering. He was surprised by the amount of suffering in the world, and decided to study why our brains struggle to be happy.

He points out that our minds wander over 50% of the time, and we focus on imperfections. The more time we spend in this default mode, the greater our risk of anxiety, depression and potentially dementia. We can get stuck in the default, mind wandering state.

We also tend to focus on the negative, spending too much time on imaginary fears, and ignoring the real threats. This is known as negativity bias. Some of our evolutionary adaptations, such as our sweet tooth, are not really adaptive in today’s world.

There is also the problem of hedonic adaptation, where we get used to the goodness in the people around us, and start to focus on their imperfections instead.

To become happy, we need to change our inner state, rather than focusing on external factors. Amit gives us some examples of tools we can use, like gratitude, finding novelty in our usual situation, and wishing people well rather than judging them. He suggests we reframe life’s challenges using the principles of gratitude, compassion, acceptance, meaning and forgiveness. I think this is a lovely way to look at the world, and I am going to try out his tips!

Project 365

I set up this website after deciding that I want to build a more creative life for myself, so I can give up my job and be in control of my own destiny.

I have set myself a goal of publishing an article on my website every day this year, to document my journey from employment to self-employment.

The name I chose was Project 365 because I see this as a year that I have dedicated to learning and self-development, as I countdown to freedom. It started on 1st January 2021, so I have 287 days to go!