bobbyong

awesome compilation of advice from the blog

You have low expectation of the end-result. If something pleasant happens at the end, you will be happy. If something bad happens, that's expected. Make sense?

I got back from a 10-days backpacking trip to Thailand and Laos a few weeks back and I totally enjoyed it partly because I went with zero expectation. I did not know what to expect (no research) and I did not expect anything. I did not book any hostels and just went with the flow.

I have no must-see travel list nor do I have any must-do travel stuff. Anything interesting was a net positive feeling for me during the trip. Anyone interesting I met was a net positive feeling for me. If I had expected to see a certain place or do a certain thing and could not accomplish that during the trip because of bad weather or schedule, I will be disappointed. I did not feel disappointed at all for 10 days.

Well, different people might like to plan their life differently and you can feel right in having expectations if that's what you prefer. I just found it awesome to see a place without knowing what to expect.

@nachteilig posted an article (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/lowered-expe...) in one of the comments below that mentioned a study by University of Chicago sociologist Yang Yang where he found older people are generally happier

I think it is very hard to master the art of just being truly contented and happy and you are right in saying that it takes a lot of practice

Great article. "Danes would make good Buddhists. They live their lives as the Buddha advised: in the present tense, not grasping at some future happiness jackpot."

Also the quote by @manmal is mentioned. “Happiness equals reality minus expectations.” Given that neat formulation, there are two ways to attack the problem: boost our reality or lower our expectations.

Interesting stuff.

Awesome. Thanks for sharing! There's a lot of wise words of wisdom from the eastern religions

Pretty cool German saying. Care to write it in German? I did learn a lil German n would be interested to know it :)

Great advice on technical mentor! Will start looking for one myself now.