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This is awesome, and reminds me of what Eckhart Tolle is describing in his book "A New Earth". Essentially, "your purpose in life is whatever you are doing right now".

If you like this idea but want to work more on truly internalizing it, I highly recommend reading 'A New Earth' by Eckart Tolle. I read it twice (on my iPhone on the subway to work) and it made a big difference in terms of becoming happier and more effective in business and with friends and family.

Right on!
I also enjoyed "The Untethered Soul" (Singer), "You Are Here" (Hanh), "A New Earth" (Tolle) and "The Daily Stoic"(Holiday)

Reading The Power of Now (Eckhart Tolle), A New Earth (Eckhart Tolle), and Radical Honesty (Brad Blanton). I am now at peace and happy all of the time. I could spout off about technical stuff, but none of that has paid off as much as the mindset these books gave me.

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle https://www.amazon.com/New-Earth-Awakening-Purpose-Selection...

For anyone interested in further development of the idea presented in the article, I recommend books 'Power of Now' and 'A New Earth' by Eckhart Tolle. Life changing books.

masochism is deriving pleasure from what would be considered pain by the majority. I think we should hope that us humans have a predisposition to seek pleasure (even when veiled in apparent pain). have you ever read A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle?

There are some other foundational things needed for living a full life (which I infer is the author's point).

> "Jack, you shouldn't play Overwatch..."

This is judgement, which implies ego. The indicator here is "shouldn't". Ego isn't an authentic representation of self, it is fiction. If we can become aware of ego and avoid following it's incessant needs, we are closer to ego-lessness which can contribute significantly to happiness.

So in the end, being authentic and transparent without ego, the original statement may be something like:

> "Jack, I don't like to play overwatch, I would rather (do x,y,z)"

Great book for anyone seeking - Eckhardt Tolle - "A new earth" - be warned, skip chapter 1!

It gets easier. But unfortunately it's not just a matter of putting yourself in the situations more (you'll just get accustomed to how you feel so it won't get you down as much, but you'll still feel anxious and leave).

2 things helped me a lot: mindfulness (I read "A New Earth", YMMV) and the book "Learned Optimism". I can't recommend that book enough. Doesn't sound like it has anything to do with anxiety, but it really does. Anxiety can come from a pessimistic outlook - the stories you make up for the things that go on around you that you don't have all the information on. For example, you say "it just feels like everyone is watching me". This most likely triggers thoughts like "everyone thinks I'm uncool" or "I must look so out of place" or "I'm so unattractive" etc. which makes you anxious about staying there, so you leave. And there begins the spiral or rabbit hole to debilitating anxiety, depression or feelings of worthlessness.

"Learned Optimism" is all about changing the stories you tell yourself about these situations, to nip those thoughts in the bud. There's a definite pattern to them, and it can be broken quite easily. I won't do it justice to try and explain it here, it's really best to read the book from the start and let it do the talking. Oh and check out this out: https://github.com/raganwald/presentations/blob/master/optim...

I wish I could answer your question but that would mean I'd have reached Budhha-hood :). Helping others is about the most meaningful thing you can do. What else is there?

All I can say is to try it out and see how you feel. You can support families in Africa for $10 a month.

If you want theory then you could try the following books:
1. "The Art Of Happiness" - (Interviews with Dalai Lama).
2. "A New Earth"

sorry Alan- u approach this with rational conviction but your emotions have your logic circuitry out of whack. don't take my word for it- come back to this thread in 5 years and you won't recognize the words! i've been there, i know.

that's why we are "life bullies" - because we've made it through tough times and can guarantee that it gets better. if you were a hungry child without a family or a roof over your head, i wouldn't be lecturing you. but then again you wouldn't have time for despair - you'd count every grain of rice as a blessing. buck up, cowboy up, weather the storm. if you feel out of place in this world, do something to make it better. pick up trash, help old people, build a website for a nonprofit.

throw this junk about how you're so special and don't fit in out of the window. being sad doesn't make you special or deep or wise. your life is YOUR LIFE - make it worth living.

if you like books, read Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth. it's good perspective shared with the weight of firsthand experience.

The problem for you is not climate change, it's anxiety. Focus your energy on learning how to manage your anxiety, not how to avoid thinking about specific topics.

A book I strongly recommend: Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry. A very practical and useful book that changed my life.

If you're more spiritually inclined, I also highly recommend Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth.

Well have you read "How to Make Friends and Influence People"?

If you haven't, the advice in it sums up to: be honest, respect others, respect yourself. That's really all there is to it.

The important thing about how to make more friends is to know how to BE a friend. Think about what you can offer other people, think about how to make the law of comparative advantage work for you.

I also highly recommend Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" .. which will not directly talk about how to make friends, but will dig into the root causes of why you have issues with making friends.

Also I would say, one thing that helped me a lot, is I have recently been watching the latest season of "Beauty and the Geek." observe closely the character of "Joe," and instead of laughing at him or thinking how much better you are than him, think about how you are, how all of us are, so very much like him and so very much unwilling to admit it.

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I had pretty much given up on the self help genre but a comment left by a poster on Youtube video led me to the book. Something about the title grabbed me and I read not only The Power of Now but 3 of his other books as well over a 3 week period in December - all of which strongly resonated with me. I live my life - really each present moment - differently because of Tolle's teaching. So my life changing books for 2015 - all by Eckhart Tolle were:

The Power of Now;
Practicing the Power of Now;
Stillness Speaks;
A New Earth

I am the same way, however I would not want it to be otherwise. A "slow thinker" sounds very negative but in reality there is just more gaps between thoughts, gaps in which you are true to yourself and this moment.

A new sight or sound arises, and in the first moment of perception, there is a brief cessation in the habitual stream of thinking. Consciousness is diverted away from thought because it is required for sense perception. A very unusual sight or sound may leave you "speechless", even inside, that is to say, bring about a longer gap.

The frequency and duration of those spaces determine your ability to enjoy life, to feel an inner connectedness with other human beings as well as nature. It also determines the degree to which you are free of ego because ego implies complete unawareness of the dimension of space.

When you become conscious of these brief spaces as they happen naturally, they will lengthen, and as they do, you will experience with increasing frequency the joy of perceiving with little or no interference of thinking.

Inner space also arises whenever you let go of the need to emphasize your form-identity. That need is of the ego. It is not a true need.

I would very much recommend Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" if you want to read more and achieve freedom.