Why does technological development hinder our happiness? According to secular standards, edelson is very successful and happy. He not only has a successful career, but also has made remarkable achievements in many fields. What is even more enviable is that he has always maintained an optimistic attitude towards life and a healthy body and mind, spreading positive energy to the public. But you may not know that edelson grew up in a slum when he was a child, and it is the poorest slum in new york. People call that place "the murder capital of new york", and there are many mafia in that place, which is notorious. What is the mafia? Mafia is a secret social organization that originated in Italy. The base is in Sicily. /kloc-In the 20th century, Europe set off a wave of emigration to America. Mafia people flooded into the United States, took root in new york, moved around the United States, manipulated the gambling and pornography industries in the United States, and also sold drugs and smuggled arms. Simply put, the mafia specializes in professional criminal activities, such as kidnapping, murder, robbery and so on. Edelson, who grew up in a harsh environment, lost his father as early as one year old, and his family relied on his mother to earn money to make a living. Edelson * * * has four brothers, and it is conceivable how difficult the conditions in his family are. The family experienced the Great Depression in 1930s, and then World War II, and their living conditions couldn't be worse.
Edelson couldn't afford a baseball when he was a child, so he used tape to roll the rope into a fake ball. Limited by conditions, he can learn very little. When he first entered high school, he only knew two tools: a hammer and a screwdriver. At that time, the streets were full of cars.
Supposedly, under such conditions, people have reason to be mediocre, but edelson did not give up his life. On the contrary, he studied hard and exercised actively, and earth-shaking changes have taken place. At the beginning of the book Positive Energy, he proudly described his process of getting rid of poverty. He wants to use his own experience to explain that poverty will not hinder the pace of happiness, but the progress of science and technology will hinder our happiness.
Why do you say that? Because technology is a double-edged sword, it will not only bring convenience to people's lives, but also make life more complicated. For example, the advent of mobile phones can make communication fast and convenient, which is a good thing, but the privacy that may be exposed because of the loss of mobile phones will make people feel particularly anxious, just like the stalk we often joke about: "It's over, I may be famous because I lost my mobile phone." Technology changes life, but it also complicates it. Once life is complicated, people's pressure will increase.
Maybe you will say, I don't watch the news head office, right? No People nowadays are basically inseparable from social media. For example, someone once showed off his wealth in a circle of friends, was targeted by malicious people, and finally lost money by fraud. Many people have been cheated by "online dating".
So do we have to go back to primitive society to be happier? Of course not. In fact, technology plays a very important role in our happiness. But we should overcome the negative effects of technology and find ways to get happiness. The most important thing is to understand that happiness comes from mentality and should not be affected by external forces. If you can keep a positive attitude, you can improve your happiness. On the other hand, if you have a bad attitude, you can only be led by the nose by external forces and be on tenterhooks all day.
How can we maintain a good attitude? In order to keep a good attitude, we need to introduce a medical concept called the placebo effect. Placebo effect refers to the phenomenon that although patients get ineffective treatment, they "expect" or "believe" that the treatment is effective, thus alleviating the symptoms of patients. During World War II, there was a doctor named Henry Beecher in the United States. He was responsible for treating wounded soldiers. Once he used up all the morphine, trouble came. Morphine is used to relieve pain. Once it disappears, the wounded soldier will scream in pain. What should I do? Henry Beecher was very anxious. In desperation, he came up with an idea. He began to inject normal saline into the wounded and told them that it was morphine. As a result, he found that 40% soldiers thought that these fake morphine could relieve pain.
Did you get a look at him? In the placebo effect, what works is actually the mentality. Therefore, the placebo effect can keep us positive.
In addition, the placebo effect can also make us more confident in choosing a lifestyle.
Take the concept of health as an example. Some people say it's good to eat vitamins, some people say it's unnecessary, some people say overweight people live longer, and some people say thin people will be healthier.
So who should we listen to? Edelson told us that people's constitutions are different, and everyone has his own best way to keep healthy, so it's hard to say which theory is helpful to our health, but the placebo effect can give positive hints. As long as you believe that your lifestyle is the best for you, you can get good results. Just like Huang Yongyu, a 95-year-old ghost, shared his secret of longevity: "Smoking, staying up late, not eating fruit, basically not considering health problems."
Therefore, edelson also suggested in this book that there are gymnasiums focusing on yoga, aerobics and pilates everywhere. Tell yourself to be happy, optimistic, reduce stress, be positive and enjoy life, which is more important than exercise. Whether we want to go on a diet or exercise, there are many ways to help us achieve our goals as long as we are determined to make ourselves healthy and happy.
Happy people will be healthier, healthy people will be happier, because health is very important to happiness, and the premise of maintaining health is to have a good attitude and use the placebo effect to give yourself positive psychological hints, so as to maintain physical and mental health.
To sum up this book, poverty will not hinder us from obtaining happiness. On the contrary, the development of science and technology will complicate our life and make us farther away from happiness. But in the final analysis, happiness comes from mentality, and we should not be led by external forces. Secondly, using the placebo effect to give ourselves positive psychological hints will make us physically and mentally healthy and bring us closer to happiness.
Lincoln famously said, "For most people, they are as happy as they decide." Anyone can live a happy life as long as he keeps an optimistic and positive attitude and thinks positively when things happen.