The conquest of happiness according to Bertrand Russell

Born in Wales in 1872, Bertrand Russell was not a happy child. He himself defines his feelings in childhood as follows: "fed up with the world and burdened with the weight of his sins." At the age of six he lost his parents and was raised by his paternal grandparents, who instilled in him very strict moral ideas.

Later, at the age of five, he began to think that if he lived to be seventy he had only endured one fourteenth part of his life, and the long years of boredom ahead of him seemed to him unbearable. In adolescence his situation did not improve, and he comments having been on the verge of suicide several times.

With this history we could imagine an adult depressant, with symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, and a good number of neuroleptics on his nightstand. However, in his adulthood this philosopher says have learned to enjoy life.

What did Russell discover to help him come to a happy and enthusiastic maturity and enjoy life?

• You may be interested: "A Harvard study reveals 6 basic points to be happy"

The conception of happiness according to Bertrand Russell

These are some of the keys that the philosopher highlighted to orient yourself towards the state of happiness.

Put the focus of attention abroad

The British philosopher made an interesting discovery. He realized that by caring less about himself, ceasing to continually reflect on his faults, fears, sins, flaws, and virtues, he was able to increase his enthusiasm for life.

He discovered that putting the focus of his attention on external objects (various branches of knowledge, other people, hobbies, his work ...) was approaching his ideal of happiness and his life was much more interesting.

In his writings he comes to tell us that expansive attitudes produce joy, energy and motivation, Unlike being closed in on yourself inevitably leads to boredom and sadness.

In the words of Russell “who does nothing to distract the mind and allows his concerns to acquire absolute dominion over him, behaves like a fool and loses the ability to cope with his problems when the time comes to Act".

The idea is to increase external interests, make them as varied as possible, in order to have more chances of happiness and to be less exposed to the vagaries of fate, since if one fails you, you can resort to another. If your interests are as broad as possible and your reactions to things and people that interest you are friendly and not hostile, you are more likely to approach everyday happiness.

• You may be interested: "How are Psychology and Philosophy alike?"

How can we foster this expansive attitude?

So, simply by focusing on the daily activities of the day to day we will be happy?

Staying focused on the outside will make us more motivated and excited, but it is not the only ingredient of happiness.

According to Russell, a theory that would fit the ideas of contemporary cognitive psychology, to be reasonably happy you have to learn to think in the right way and at the right time. Paraphrasing him, “The wise man only thinks of his problems when it makes sense to do so; the rest of the time he thinks of other things or, if it is night, he does not think of anything ”.

Cultivate an orderly mind will undoubtedly increase our happiness and efficiency, thinking each thing in its moment will keep our mind clear and awake and allow us keep us more in the present moment.

And how does he invite us to think the right way?

The philosopher encourages us to deal with thoughts that scare or incapacitate us. According to him, the best procedure for any type of fear consists of the following:

“Think rationally and calmly about the subject, putting great concentration to become familiar with it. In the end, that familiarity will dull our fears and our thoughts will turn away from him. "

It also encourages us to confront our thoughts and discard those that are not adaptive or are far from reality.

Effort and resignation

According to Russell, happiness is a conquest, and not a divine gift, therefore we have to fight it and strive to achieve it.

However, faced with certain unavoidable circumstances of life, the most advisable thing is resignation (which I would call acceptance). Wasting time and emotions in the face of inevitable setbacks is totally useless and undermines peace of mind.

In the words of Reinhold Niebuhr, "Have serenity to accept the things you cannot change, courage to change those you can, and wisdom to be able to differentiate them."