Part 4: How to be happy | 3.8 minute read

You’ve made it. This is part four in our four part series on Aristotle’s four levels of happiness. If you missed them, check out part one, part two, and part three before reading this little ditty.

I’m going to be a little vulnerable here for a few minutes which, as those closest to me know, is difficult for me. I usually mask my insecurities with bluster, my anxieties with a joke, my deepest worries with silence.

But, like I said, I’m about to get a little real with y’all.

There’s this lyric by a punk-ish band called Motion City Soundtrack that has always felt like it was written for me. You know that feeling. A line in a book, lyric in a song, quote in a movie that feels like whoever wrote it just gets you.

Few pieces of art have had that effect on me quite like this one simple line from their song “Last Night”.

It goes:

And I still don't know exactly who I am
I never will, amen

I just FEEL this, you know?

This feeling is probably the reason I often joke that I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up (despite, by anyone’s definition, having been completely grown up for quite a while now). I just feel like, no matter how old I am, I’m still growing up. Still putting together the puzzle pieces of me.

So, what exactly does this have to do with happiness? (This rambling is getting a little emo, isn’t it?)

Well, Aristotle’s fourth level of happiness — sublime beatitudo (sublime blessedness in English) — is sort of about this feeling.

I say sort of because it’s open to interpretation and hard to define. And since this is (partly) my newsletter, I’ll define it for myself.

This idea of sublime blessedness comes from acceptance — acceptance that we aren’t perfect, never will be, and that’s OK. It’s the feeling of inner peace. That we are, and always will be, works in progress.

That’s why I feel that line.

So here’s to never fully growing up, always evolving, embracing it, and being a little happier at the thought of it.

Amen.

P.S.

You’ve made it to the end of this mini guide to happiness, based on the philosophy of someone much smarter than me. Hopefully, it gave you an idea or two about how to become a little happier.

I guess, for me, Aristotle summed up in the very first post: “happiness depends on ourselves.” It’s up to us to find it in all four levels (happiness from things, from achievement, from connection, and from acceptance) — and then, maybe, just maybe, we’ll live a little happier.

The pebble

The challenge

Meditate on what it is you need to accept about yourself — what it is that might be holding you back from being a little happier. Seems simple, but it’s heavy.

Thanks for reading. We’re honoured you’ve spent a bit of your day with us. Feel free to reply and let us know what’s made you happy lately. If you’re feeling extra generous, why not forward this email to a friend?