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BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'

26 Dec 15 - 05:17 AM (#3760877)
Subject: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Mr Red

a clear message for the "arguenauts" of this parish that vituperation ain't good for ya!

TED talk on: The Harvard Study of Adult Development

The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.

Happy: Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Diwali, Samhain and Dawkinstide........... et al.


26 Dec 15 - 08:02 AM (#3760905)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST

"Meaning comes from the pursuit of more complex things than happiness."

"Happiness without meaning characterizes a relatively shallow, self-absorbed or even selfish life, in which things go well, needs and desire are easily satisfied, and difficult or taxing entanglements are avoided,"

There's More to Life Than Being Happy


26 Dec 15 - 01:45 PM (#3760951)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST

I'm happy being a miserable twat.


26 Dec 15 - 02:23 PM (#3760957)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Joe_F

Good health & a bad memory.


26 Dec 15 - 05:46 PM (#3760980)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Mr Red

the happy appellation is my way of avoiding the "do gooder" connotation.

If you watch the video it is fairly balanced. The simple message (and it can be more complex if you look closer) is that having good relationships, family, lovers, collaborators etc make for a good life. The side effects are the prospect of more years and healthier years at that. Averages of course, if fate calls, fate intervenes. But loading the dice in your favour involves "good" relationships.


26 Dec 15 - 06:43 PM (#3760989)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity

A happy wife makes happy life!

GfS


26 Dec 15 - 09:46 PM (#3761009)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: olddude

Beer


26 Dec 15 - 10:08 PM (#3761011)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker

me and the mrs first started shagging each other when we were students.
I was 23, she was 20.

I'll be 60 in 3 years.....

Lot's of regular several times weekly 'cuddles' later and neither of us have wrinkles or look our real age....

course... neither of us are smokers or drug users, and we also never had kids to wear us out and down....

which might be additional positive factors.... 😜

I recommend at least three times daily skin to skin contact & communication...


..Then there's that old man Sting and his mrs and their erotic tantra..

good luck to 'em.. that'd probably put my back out...


26 Dec 15 - 10:35 PM (#3761019)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Ebbie

I think happiness is a choice, a way of thinking. I've tried both happy and sad- I like happy better.

Although it may be true, as Joe F says above: The secret to having a happy old age is having a bad memory.


26 Dec 15 - 11:06 PM (#3761023)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker

Ebbie - I did sporadic bursts of dark despair in my late teens to early 30's..

That was not much fun..

Then I worked out how to switch off my upper intellect and harmful over thinking & introspection..

Dumbing down aint nowhere near as painful as being too clever... I recommend that as well... ☀


26 Dec 15 - 11:25 PM (#3761024)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Joe Offer

A happy life. I think that making music makes a big difference.
Spending time with nature, and with friends.
-Joe-


26 Dec 15 - 11:28 PM (#3761026)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: keberoxu

Ha! Joe beat me to it! I was just going to say, who is going to chime in with music?
Best of all, a combination of words AND music.


27 Dec 15 - 12:45 AM (#3761035)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker

music and naughty cuddles... 😎


27 Dec 15 - 02:42 AM (#3761051)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Dave Hanson

Beer and sex and chips and gravy, [ The Macc Lads ]

Dave H


27 Dec 15 - 03:11 AM (#3761053)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: DMcG

Thomas Hardy's "He never expected much" has a lot in it of relevance. But I'm not sure I value happiness as usually understood very much. I prefer something more like the quiet satisfaction that comes with a job well done, for example.


27 Dec 15 - 03:15 AM (#3761054)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity

When, in any given moment, the person looking out your eyes, is coming from a place of Love.

....The 'question of 'God' is then a moot point...not subject to any 'theology'...
...Music becomes prayer.

When Loving comes to giving...some people stop at nothing.

GfS


27 Dec 15 - 03:22 AM (#3761056)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Ebbie

When Loving comes to giving...some people stop at nothing. I once read that "You can give without loving but you can't love without giving."


27 Dec 15 - 04:06 AM (#3761059)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity

Well then, you got the idea....some people 'stop at nothing' has a double edge, and that I like. Makes one think a moment and examine themselves...all the times you gave up...when there was really more.

Regards,

GfS


27 Dec 15 - 06:27 AM (#3761071)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Steve Shaw

Do as you would be done by. Never stop relishing the quest for real explanations.


27 Dec 15 - 07:07 AM (#3761081)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Sol

I vaunt to be alone (just like Garbo) :-)


27 Dec 15 - 09:16 AM (#3761095)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Derrick

When a westerly gale is lashing the windows with rain and I'm sitting in a warm room with the curtains closed,I often think that life could be a lot worse.
Many people would be glad to be warm,dry,safe,healthy and well fed and debt free without great wealth or power.


28 Dec 15 - 05:20 AM (#3761257)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Mr Red

Speaking as an atheist.
It is reckoned that those that follow religion are often more "content" in life. And average lifespans do reflect this, apparently. The reasons given usually include,:
giving control to a higher authority, thus relaxing more.
having a circle of friends that offer support. An extended family (or surrogate).
And lets not be too cute about it, there is a lot of music/singing involved.

If you don't subscribe to the "God" notion and accept the wider implications, it is advisable to tap into a similar set of communities that mimic religion. IMNSHO.
Religions didn't coagulate and provide in a vacuum.


28 Dec 15 - 06:30 AM (#3761275)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Steve Shaw

Well Mr Red, when I looked that up on the Psychology Today website it seems that the correlation between faith and longevity doesn't apply everywhere, far from it, and that we should be wary of logical fallacies. Anyway, I have a hypothesis, based on my observations over many years of the "Deaths" column in my local paper. According to many of the entries therein, "God only takes the best". If it's true that atheists don't live as long as Christians, then it seems that God is more enthusiastic about having atheistic company than Christian company, putting off the taking of Christians for as long as possible. I conclude that God prefers atheists. QED.


28 Dec 15 - 12:51 PM (#3761334)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Pete from seven stars link

There are in fact a few atheist ...churches..around where the faithful can encourage each other in their belief system. I see one on telly that was next to a black Pentecostal church , the pastor of which felt not at all threatened but see it as an opportunity.               I don't think the stubbornly atheist, will be enjoying Gods company , Steve , according to the bible .


28 Dec 15 - 01:16 PM (#3761341)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker

As an agnostic, I guess I might be invited into heaven on introductory open days
and special promotional cut price voucher off-peak weekends... ???

Who knows, maybe fierce competition with hell might help keep admission prices down... ??? 😇


28 Dec 15 - 02:34 PM (#3761363)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Steve Shaw

Don't want to know that sort of God anyway, pete.


28 Dec 15 - 03:29 PM (#3761381)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Musket

If there is a church and structure they are not atheists, prat.

If you must use the word, relate it as people who have no use for a comfort blanket or are comfortable with the notion of reality and what actually is, rather than fantasising over conjuring tricks and fairy tales from another age.

I'm happy, contented and have a circle of friends based on being friends rather than a point in a service when everybody is told to shake hands with each other. I stick a few bob in charity boxes because of the people it might help rather than because I want to look good in the imaginary eyes of an imaginary character of fiction. In my work, I used to defend and protect hospital chaplaincy funding, not on the basis of thinking it any more than genial bollocks it is but because if it works for you, it works and I can't argue with that. Cheaper than anti depressants and not quite as long term harmful in most cases.

The thing is, the vast majority of people in The UK are similar. No wonder they call it the god delusion.


28 Dec 15 - 05:13 PM (#3761390)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST

If there is a church and structure they are not atheists, prat.

Oh, do try to be polite......prick!


29 Dec 15 - 03:15 AM (#3761444)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Musket

I've often found my prick to be most useful, albeit somewhat expensive at certain times of my life.

I tended to let others worship it though.......

See my point re delusion.

Tosser


29 Dec 15 - 04:10 AM (#3761450)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: BobL

Harries's Sod's Law (from retired bishop Richard Harries) states, essentially, that for a good life you need health, wealth and spare time.
In youth you have health and spare time.
In middle age you have health and wealth.
In old age you have wealth and spare time.


29 Dec 15 - 04:15 AM (#3761451)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: DMcG

Also, musket, Pete is only reporting what these people say themselves when they call it an atheist church. Wherever the prattishness lies this time it is not with Pete.


29 Dec 15 - 04:22 AM (#3761453)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: DMcG

I should add I an not claiming ALL call themselves churches and it would be the height of prattishness to claim that's what said.


29 Dec 15 - 04:57 AM (#3761463)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Mr Red

well MR Steve Shaw

The consensus in the New Scientist seems to be that religions do confer a statistical advantage. And on the converse, hedonists tend not to be religious, statistically. Maybe the researchers measured oxytocin, it is the sort of thing proper studies would do. But then choose your religion. Voodoo might not confer contentment. Jedi - who knows? If my mother's experience with Jehovah's Witnesses is anything to go by, they would not be particularly positive. Scientology looks pretty negative. But they all claim to be religions.

Dai'sh would, understandably, not be part of any study, purely for practical reasons. But I do concede they would skew the figures.

There are lies, damn lies and the sort that people cherry pick and call statistics.


29 Dec 15 - 06:48 AM (#3761483)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST

It's all about context.

Hence the silly posts above by DMcG and Mr Red.

Musket is right. Delusion is all.

DMcG is right, till he realised what he said and tried to qualify it.

Mr Red is as unfathomable as usual.

Did you know? The pub opens in ten mins. Tatty bye.


29 Dec 15 - 06:53 AM (#3761485)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: DMcG

I qualified what said precisely because some atheists who attend these things call them churches and some just call them assemblies. It was about being accurate, guest.


29 Dec 15 - 07:01 AM (#3761487)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Steve Shaw

Pete's expression "stubbornly atheist" is worthy of further contemplation. In view of the overwhelming evidence against the supernatural, I'd have thought that "stubbornly religious" would be the better way round. I've never regarded myself as stubborn in this context. After all, as I keep bleating, I don't know whether there's a God or not. I'm just waiting for some evidence, that's all.


29 Dec 15 - 08:50 AM (#3761503)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Pete from seven stars link

And this is that Steve who recently said.....don't want to know that sort of god anyway..who claims he is waiting for evidence !


29 Dec 15 - 09:14 AM (#3761506)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Steve Shaw

Perfectly compatible statements.


29 Dec 15 - 09:57 AM (#3761515)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST

"what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'"

Should have asked Lemmy.


29 Dec 15 - 10:36 AM (#3761522)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Bill D

"what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'"

87.328% good luck,
11.513% using what good luck you get cleverly and with a measure of altruism.
0.141% good beer and/or Scotch.


29 Dec 15 - 10:42 AM (#3761524)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Dave the Gnome

Felicity Kendal would help :-D


29 Dec 15 - 11:27 AM (#3761541)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Pete from seven stars link.

Perfectly compatible.........somewhat of an exaggeration, when you only look for , or consider, what you want to conclude !


29 Dec 15 - 11:28 AM (#3761542)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Steve Shaw

Nah, Bill. 88% good luck and 13% proficiency in arithmetic.


29 Dec 15 - 11:41 AM (#3761545)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST

There was a time when looking at Felicity Kendal made my life good, to be honest.

The snag is, I'm still a sex God, a latterday Adonis and could get work starring in porn flics whilst poor Ms Kendal....

Being good is in the eye of the beholder whilst being happy is mere state of mind. I doubt pete will enjoy God's company and I doubt anyone will be reincarnated as a butterfly, but I have no doubt that fretting over a future that you have no grounds for believing in is a waste of a good life, even if it gives you a happy life.

How about a contented life? Overall, I certainly have that. Got up, had breakfast, worked on a couple of new songs, went out with my mate to the pub for lunch, got back, snoozed listening to Bert Jansch and now about to start on dinner for when my good lady comes round later. Apparently I might be on a promise.

Good? Self indulgent but not bad. Happy? I'd say so. Contented? Too bloody right...


29 Dec 15 - 12:32 PM (#3761559)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker

Now we're getting closer to new year / resolutions..

My real sincere genuinely considered recipe is...

A warm cuddly woman, a roof over my head, food in my belly, a big HD TV & Hi Fi audio gear,
music from the 1970s, guitars, amps, and a home recording 'studio'...

..don't even miss booze that much since I've mostly given it up over the last few years..

A pint is now just too bloody expensive !!!
.. and a bottle of single malt is the same price as a decent fuzz box...


30 Dec 15 - 05:37 AM (#3761674)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Musket

A word to the wise. I once called my first wife "cuddly" as a compliment. Apparently I have much to learn....

New Year Resolutions eh?

Pull my arse over my head and tell everybody I'm a red back beetle.


30 Dec 15 - 12:34 PM (#3761752)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker

some times it's perhaps advisable to pull punches and err on the side of 'good taste'..

you never know which sensitive conservative minded souls might be reading...

'cuddly woman' in this case might be a softer euphemism for
'a dirty shag loving old Welsh valleys chapel girl with a good job and a decent salary'... 😜

Btw.. it's not illegal to fancy Charlotte Church anymore...
Anyone else seen the new version of "Under Milk Wood" - might still be only 99 pence to rent for 2 days on Amazon Prime...


30 Dec 15 - 01:05 PM (#3761762)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker

... and I was still erring on the side of delicacy with that expanded alternative description...

To further recommend the new film treatment of "Under milk Wood"....

My alternative title for it would be "Carry On Wicker Man"

Sadly not enough gratuitous nudity to honour it with "Confessions of a Wicker Man"... 😜


30 Dec 15 - 01:33 PM (#3761768)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: MGM·Lion

Oddly little on this thread, it seems to me, of spouses or partners. Surely the right one of these must be part of a 'good [aka happy] life'. I was blest for 48 years in my adored first wife Valerie. When she died 9 years ago, I thought my happy days were done. But one must move on while life persists, and I was fortunate enough to be rescued by my dearest Emma, to whom I have now been married for 5 years: the only bug being wondering how much longer, at 84 next May, I shall keep going for her.

≈M≈


30 Dec 15 - 04:28 PM (#3761802)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST

Celery.

(Makes for a good splint)


30 Dec 15 - 04:29 PM (#3761803)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,HiLo

Agreed, the other is all! I hate the word " partner". It is so much more than that. Partner is what you have in a law firm or a tennis match! My great love brings me joy....and then... More joy. Together we love our garden, our music, and, above all, our family. But we adore silence together and the singing of the small birds and the thrum of the deep sea! A romance of thirty years is a grand blessing, is it not ? And oh yes, the cuddles are nice! Not too mention our ancient and honourable dog Kildie.


30 Dec 15 - 11:10 PM (#3761864)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Bill D

87.whatever or 88% good luck includes finding the right person, whatever you call them, to share life with. There are SO many ways one can guess wrong. Some of us have guessed wrong and then had the very good fortune to guess right finally.


31 Dec 15 - 08:21 AM (#3761971)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Saris Vinaefir

Living in Northern England, having a Newcastle Tyneside accent, being 70 yrs olde, johnny handle, al Lloyd, Ewan maccoll, lord of the rings, Tolkien, living in the countryside 50 miles west of Lindisfarne yeah< IM ALL THAT! ME LIFE IS FORMIDABLE!!!!!!!!


31 Dec 15 - 10:11 AM (#3761990)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,xxxxl

Finding a pair of trousers that fit comfortably.


31 Dec 15 - 07:43 PM (#3762109)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: Donuel

It is often said you can be happy or you can be right but rarely can you be both.


01 Jan 16 - 09:54 AM (#3762199)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,Musket

Fair comment Hilo. My late dog was my best friend, faithful hound and pick any line from Old Shep. But like you say, calling your dog your partner just gets the curtains twitching.
🐶💋😍


01 Jan 16 - 10:08 AM (#3762202)
Subject: RE: BS: what makes for a 'good (aka happy) life'
From: GUEST,HiLo

I did not mean to imply that the dog was my partner. I meant to say what joy she brings to us. I do appreciate your comment above and thank you for it .