Take time out to ponder your views about your own death.

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Consider how the idea of determinism can help you feel happier.

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OK. So you are not happy.

You persist in making negative judgements about something. And this lowers your mood and gets you down.

Why do you do this to yourself? Well, you honestly believe that your negative value judgments are correct, of course!!

How can you stop? Well, you have to change your mind and start believing the EXACT OPPOSITE (or near opposite) of what you currently believe.

If you think that not owning a new car is BAD, you must challenge this belief until you actually believe either that not owing a new car is NOT THAT BAD, or even better, that not owning a new car is GOOD.

Recognizing that all values are subjective can help. Look up Moral Relativism, the Is/Ought Problem, or the Fact/Value Dichotomy on Wikipedia and study up.

When you are done studying, write down the opposite of your negative value judgement and then make a list of all the reasons why not owning a new car is actually GOOD.

Review these reasons frequently until you actually believe you are better off without the car.

*** This is not as hard as you think it is. Give it a try. ***

Simply pretending to be happy or using distraction (like meditation or relaxation techniques) will only work temporarily.

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I’ve come to the realization that what makes happiness possible for every person on earth is the subjectivity of value.

Value subjectivity is what explains how the richest person on earth and the poorest person on earth can be equally happy.

Value subjectivity explains how a world class athlete can be as happy as a quadriplegic.

There is no other sane explanation.

By the way, value subjectivity also explains how Hitler could have been happy exterminating the Jews and how terrorists can gleefully perform their suicide bombings.

Value subjectivity also explains depression.

Ever wonder why wealthy, famous and sexy people attempt suicide? The answer is value subjectivity.

People can choose to value or disvalue any aspect of their lives. And people do this rather arbitrarily, although, many use cultural values as guides. Using cultural values, though, can create as many problems as they solve.

HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS!!!

The good news is that if (and this is a big IF) you can accept the reality of the subjectivity of value, then there are common sense things you can do to make yourself happier.

If you recognize that your positive and negative value statements are largely arbitrary, you can more easily change them, and be happy most of the time.

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This is a very quick into to Albert Ellis’ ABC theory.

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