We've all heard the saying "no brain, no pain." It's not news that thought brings unhappiness and pain, and that restricting the former also restricts the latter.
There is a common belief, however, that thinking is necessary in order to perform many of the everyday functions we regard as necessary. We therefore do not seriously consider thought cessation as a viable method of achieving happiness. The situation is not this simple, however, as the relation between happiness and thought is not a linear one - one does not need to halve one's thinking to double one's happiness, but cut out only a relatively small part of one's thoughts.
Presented herein are techniques for identifying and eliminating those parts of your thoughts that provide the maximum amount of pain, while keeping the actual amount of thinking that one must eliminate to minimum. Of course, eliminating more thinking will produce even more happiness.
One of the most important things to keep in mind about partial thought elimination is that it really is possible. Large numbers of people, in fact, achieve reasonable levels of happiness though techniques very much like these. These are people in highly technical jobs. These people have mastered the techniques of compartmentalization - they are able to produce brilliant and innovative ideas in technical fields, while remaining essentially comatose and braindead when considering their ambitions, interpersonal relationships, or general happiness.
Many people are able to do this intuitively and automatically. If you can't, however, don't be disheartened. It's possible to achieve as good or even better results by following the simple steps outlined below:
The first step is to recognize which subjects cause pain. Some subjects which are very likely to cause pain are those listed below.
It is also possible, of course, to identify difficult subjects from the pain that you experience when you start to think about them. Thinking should feel like sitting in a big easy chair drinking a mug of cocoa. When it starts to feel as uncomfortable as standing up does, you know you've hit upon a subject that needs to be suppressed.
The most important thing to remember when suppressing a subject is that
You don't have to be thinking about this.You have an inalienable right to comfort. Everyone has a moral obligation to get along with each other, so as to avoid providing you with any situations in which you would need to take a side or make a decision. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the world to present you with easy options in all situations, so that substantial amounts of initiative are never required.
Now, the world is an imperfect place, and it sometimes falls short. What you need to remember when this happens is that it's not your failt, and it's not your responsibilty to deal with it. If you simply wait, people will sort themselves out and return to the way they should be.
Furthermore, by actually dealing with people who treat you this way, you're giving them what they want. This is rewarding them for their reprehensible behavior, and serves only to encourage it! By refusing to deal, you're keeping the moral high ground, and putting the deviant conflictors in their place. You have an ethical responsibility to refuse to deal with situations like these!
There are times, however, when merely having a replacement thought is not adequate. In these situations, it is helpful to have a replacement activity instead. This activity serves to provide constant stimulation of new thoughts and keep the old ones from entering your mind, allowing you to forget about them and thus allow them to solve themselves. Some popular replacement activities are:
In some cases, however, you may find that these replacement activities do not tax your mind sufficiently, and that there is capacity left over for thinking about the subjects you intend to suppress. In these cases, it is necessary to find a replacement activity which is taxing and requires your full mental capacity. One of the most popular such activity is to work very long hours at a job. This may also have the advantage of bringing you substantial amounts of money - which can then be used to purchase toys, which can then be played with as distracting activities, providing a double benefit.
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