I enjoy going on a fast, followed by indulging in something delicious. Generally, disconnecting from experiences, taking a break from fulfilling our needs, and then returning to them brings us immense happiness. Thanks to such intense sensations, we develop a stronger desire to live and a deeper appreciation for what life offers us.
"1. Experience: The notion that qualitative experience is at the core of life-meaning has an ancient lineage, dating to Aristippus of Cyrene (c. 435–c. 356 B.C.E), a pupil of Socrates, who held that pleasure is the supreme good, and Epicurus (341–270 B.C.E.), who developed the view that the greatest good is found in the attainment of modest pleasures and the minimization of suffering. In the 20th century, Moritz Schlick (1882-1936) argued that the meaning of life is to be found in a type of "play" experience "where [one] is wholly given over to the moment in the matter at hand" (Schlick, 1928/1979), what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b. 1934) would later describe as the experience of "flow" (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). The contemporary philosopher Robert Audi (2005/2013) has put forth an explicitly experiential conception of life-meaning: "We are most alive when we are intensely experiencing something: beautiful music, good conversation, a zesty round of our favorite sport . . . a good life is one in which good experiences (of a certain kind) predominate" (p. 323)."
"The results confirmed our original theory: appreciating small things can make life feel more meaningful. But applying that insight can be difficult. Our modern, fast-paced, project-oriented lifestyles fill the day with targets and goals. We are on the go, and we attempt to maximize output both at work and at leisure. This focus on future outcomes makes it all too easy to miss what is happening right now. Yet life happens in the present moment. We should slow down, let life surprise us and embrace the significance in the everyday. As former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in 1950, "We live in a wonderful world.... There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.""
Studies suggest that appreciating beauty in the everyday may be just as powerful as a sense of overarching purpose
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