Proud we are of all of them

[MindAbiding]

Your thoughts on this, dudes?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wait-but-why/generation-y-unhappy_b_3930620.html

[PriorRestraint]

Agree with a lot of this, and the Happiness = Reality --Expectations equation is pretty accurate and handy I think

[DigitalBuddha]

Well, dude, we just don't know; I would say that's just like their opinion, man.

[Judd Dude]

Lots of truth in that article. Seems the world is overrun with young narcissists nowadays, who can't understand why the rest of the world doesn't think that they're wonderful. It's important to encourage children, but when kids are constantly told that they're awesome it gives them a skewed sense of self worth, which down the road can be devastating to their psyches when they find out that they're only average in the real world.

The FaceSpace factors in a whole nuther dynamic to this. It freaking breeds narcissism! When I was on there for the short time years ago, all I saw from people was "Look at me and how awesome my life is!" It was pretty rank seeing that shit all the time, so I bailed. I'm so glad I'm not on that waste of bandwidth of a social network.  Twitter sucks just the same.... But as long as it exists, people will partake. Pretty sad really, the age we live in and how many people carry themselves.

This is however just like, my opinion man.

[BrotherShamus]

I would have to disagree with the happiness equation. It makes sense in most of situations, but only because people don't understand that happiness is a decision. It doesn't have anything to do with whats going on around you. You can only be happy if you decide to be happy.

Just my opinion.

[Judd Dude]

I disagree that happiness is a decision. Some folks are quite happy to bop through life and not think about things, while others are in fact thinkers who question things and tend to carry a lot of weight in their thoughts. I am one of the latter. Factor in anxiety and depression and you have another added factor and proof that happiness isn't a decision. If it were, everyone would be happy.  But that's really not what the article's about...

I do believe the article's pretty accurate on youngsters overly high expectations of life though. Many of them have their heads in the clouds, or up their own asses, depending on how you wanna look at it.

JLMO,M.

[MindAbiding]

Nice discussion, Dudes.

Brother Shamus, about the formula. What's nice about the reality - expectations thing, in my opinion, is it allows for your decisions (in the form of expectations) to matter a lot, potentially. In fact, according to the formula, expectations constrain the amount of happiness you can get from reality. It's hard for me to think that the objective circumstances in one's life don't matter at all, though I do think I agree that once our basic needs are met and maybe exceeded a little, the expectations we set carry the day in terms of our happiness.

To your point, Judd Dude, changing our expectations isn't just... well, it might not be just such a simple... uh, you know? There's a lot of shit to wade through before happiness becomes a matter of simple choice-- I agree with that wholeheartedly.

[Hominid]

I agree that happiness and expectations are directly related. But as mentioned, it can be overshadowed by anxiety and depression which is being discussed in another thread.

I do think that some of the gen y kids of today are the result of their boomer parents swinging the pendulum too far the other way... you know, living at home till they're 30, things like that.



Good discussion.

[BrotherShamus]

Interesting Mind Abiding, what you said kind of reminds me of what the Buddha said. Desire (expectations) are the source of suffering. without these desires we can eliminate suffering. Not sure how universal that statement is, but its something to think about.

As far as the happiness discussion goes, I can totally respect your thoughts on that Judd Dude. Depression and anxiety are chemical problems. I guess I've always just viewed happiness as more of an outlook rather than an emotion.

I too find myself weighed down by my thoughts, brought on by questioning my surroundings. It can be a stressful practice. But I always try to soak up these bad things, and at the end of the day say to myself, "ok, lets keep going"

Not trying to change anyone's mind or anything. Just my opinion, man

[Primo]

+1 for the Buddha explanation that BrotherShamus said: "Desire (expectations) are the source of suffering."

I translate desire into cravings. Those "I need really that shit" feelings.
I need that shit = source of suffering.

[jgiffin]

Wow, the man is speaking truth from the grave:

Paul Harvey, a University of New Hampshire professor and GYPSY expert, has researched this, finding that Gen Y has "unrealistic expectations and a strong resistance toward accepting negative feedback," and "an inflated view of oneself." He says that "a great source of frustration for people with a strong sense of entitlement is unmet expectations. They often feel entitled to a level of respect and rewards that aren't in line with their actual ability and effort levels, and so they might not get the level of respect and rewards they are expecting."

And now you know...the rest of the story.