Some people make an intellectual effort every day and think about important matters, such as the meaning of life. Various existential problems are not indifferent to them. They often reflect on the sense of a phenomenon, a process, and even a single action. They like to value them. Or maybe they do it unconsciously. In any case, thinking about important matters is an intellectual adventure for them.
However, this adventure can have different consequences. Can reflective thinking make people less happy? Or, quite the contrary, a constant reflection on important matters makes them happier?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no
Best Regards Krzysztof Trzcinski
Dear Krzysztof
You ask the following: Are deeply thoughtful (reflective) people less happy?
It is not an easy task to answer your pertinent question. It depends on what type of person you are and the environmnet where you were born and grew up. In their daily life, some people reflect a lot on existential problems, such as Why live? Why be moral in a world wherein injustice abounds?, and so on. As a psychologist, I think that those who are committed to the true, the good, and the beautiful, to think of these existential problems may render them happy, even though they are aware that happiness is not given to them in, say, a golden dish, but rather that they have to conquer it by following a demanding track not a shortcut.
But it may also be the case that, for example, people with some mental problems, to think on the above mentioned existential problems makes them less happy. Ironically, shallow people often seem to be happier than thoughtful (reflective) people. Shallow people are happy with little, even though we can wonder about the type of their happiness. As I see it, no one can be happy at the cost of others' unhappiness. But this is more true for thoughtful (reflective) people than for shallow peopple. Neeless to say, both thoughtful (reflective) people and shallow people.are so because of their (a) biological inheritance, (b) their social environment and the intrincancies between (a) and (b).
It is worth mentioning that there is no agreed upon idea of what happiness is, nor is there any magic formula for one to be happy. To my understanding, it is difficult to be happy without health, loving and being loved, and some money to survive.
I hope I has got the gist of your post and that this helps.
Kind regards,
Orlando
No, just happy and unhappy in a different way to non-reflective types. Thinking for reflective types is pleasure-based and accords its own happiness.
In my view deeply thoughtful (reflective) people less happy because most of them are pessimistic.
Dr Kamath Madhusudhana
Thank you for all the precious voices so far!
They are thought-provoking.
And I'm looking forward to getting more food for thought!
With kind regards,
K
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