The Happy Man by William Somerset Maugham author of The Voice of The Turtle https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-voice-of-turtle-by-william-somerset.html and other fantastic stories-10 out of 10

 

The Happy Man by William Somerset Maugham author of The Voice of The Turtle https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-voice-of-turtle-by-william-somerset.html and other fantastic stories

 

10 out of 10

 

In my mind, there is some confusion over this story, nevertheless, I enjoyed very much, just like any other Somerset Maugham, for he is one of my favorite writers, it used to be Marcel Proust at number one, and then Maugham coming up behind, however, with time, the list got longer, and there would be some thirty, maybe seventy favorite authors

 

The Happy Man made me think of merriment in general, therefore, I only have to say this about the story, which is already above, I find it wonderful, and then I will move off into the wild, hence the spoiler alert: all I had about the tale is finished, from here on, there are just thoughts on happiness, some ‘new’ idea in particular

Harvard Professor Tal Ben Shahar https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/04/choose-life-you-want-by-tal-ben-shahar.html has a record, he taught the most popular course in the history of Harvard, positive psychology, in which he used to insist on rituals, just like we brush out teeth three times per day, we need to take care of our mind

 

I try to be positive, work on that pie chart with what we do daily, there is the mantra ‘we are what we regularly do, excellence is not an act, it is a habit’, explained differently in the Talmud – ‘mind your thoughts, for they become your words, mind the words, they will be acts, the acts will become rituals, and habits form character…character is you

Sometimes I think I make new connections, or just see how the wisdom of the ancient luminaries, Socrates, Seneca and others has been confirmed by science today take the ‘Happiness Activity No 1: Expressing Gratitude –counting your blessings for what you have either to a close other or privately, maybe in a journal, conveying gratitude to one or more individuals you haven’t properly thanked’ and analyze it

 

This is happiness activity number one in The How of Happiness https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-how-of-happiness-by-sonja.html by brilliant Sonja Lyubomirsky, but it is also present in other books, lectures, Harvard Professor Tal Ben Shahar speaks about it too

There are differences, Sonja Lyubomirsky maintains that doing the count your blessings every day may get diminishing returns, so it could be better to leave it for the weekend, while Tal Ben Shahar suggests it as a daily exercise, nonetheless, the effects are confirmed by multiple studies and then meta-studies, that you can find

 

This is an ancient piece of wisdom, Seneca and the Stoics said that ‘we need to be happy with what we have, wish for what there is already’, some critics said that it was easy for Seneca, seeing that he was one of the richest men of old days (indeed, there were almost exclusively men) to preach about having little, when he had an immense fortune

Daniel Gilbert is another illustrious Harvard Professor, author of another astounding book Stumbling On Happiness https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/stumbling-on-happiness-by-david-gilbert.html which expose the myths of happiness (Sonja Lyubomirsky has also written Myths of Happiness) and confirm the ancient philosophers

 

The Hedonic Adaptation is the phenomenon by which we get used with most things, those we thought would bring us to earthly paradise turn out to be not so transformative, one common mistake is to think you will be happy, if only you were to move to California, a Caribbean or Pacific Island, a situation that has been tested

Those who move, enjoy the new setting, landscapes, but then they adapt to them, and get annoyed by the exorbitant prices for food, energy, and other drawbacks, in the end, we become used with almost anything, which proves the Stoics were right, why covet, desire so many goods, when if you get them, you just stop seeing them shortly

 

Aristotle https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/aristotle-in-ninety-minutes-by-paul.html said that ‘a virtuous man is a happy man’ and we have this, as other pronouncements confirmed by positive psychology and other studies, moreover, virtues come as a package, you could not be brave, without moderation

Which highlights another cardinal rule, listed by Aristotle, The Golden Mean, virtue has vice on both sides, courage would have madness, as in taking the motorbike to speed at three hundred kilometers per hour, possibly on ice, and then the extreme caution, of the one who stays indoors forever, on the other side…

 

Stefan Klein https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-science-of-happiness-how-our-brains.html wrote the magnificent The Science of Happiness, in which he has some crucial conclusions, regarding change for instance, we need that in our lives, otherwise we create paths, and we do the same things, even the wrong ones

When I return (or get downtown at five in the morning, which is easier, less traffic then) home at about noon, I find it impossible to use Temperance – self-control, prudence, forgiveness and mercy, humility and modesty – in relation to those mad, fucking heinous drivers that come within a millimeter of my bicycle

there are those clever words 'there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so', Hamlet, the mind is its own place, it can make heaven out of hell’, and yet, there is a fury almost every single day, and then we get to ‘fuck you’, instead of that permeant Buddha smile…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To the Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”