Brian Johnson argues that emotions naturally oscillate, and you can't sustain constant happiness. But by living your ideals with discipline and play, your emotional highs get higher and your lows rise too, so even your worst days improve compared to your past.
Hi, this is Brian with another mini chapter from A Philosopher's Notes. This one's called Higher Highs and Higher Lows. Here's the deal. We're never going to be happy all the time. Anyone who tells you they are is lying, either to you or themselves or both. Dan Millman says there are no enlightened beings, only more or less enlightened moments. I love that. Everything in nature, including our emotions, has its rhythms. Day and night, high tide and low tide. Spring, summer, fall, winter. The good news is that as we choose to step forward, forward into growth, and actually live our truths more and more consistently, what we'll find is that our highs get higher and our lows get higher, such that our new off days are often better than our former best days. The key that unlocks all doors. Diligently, patiently, persistently and playfully live our ideals. And in the long run, our highs will be higher and so will our lows. And that rocks. So higher highs and higher lows. Really big idea. We want to embrace the fact that we're never going to be in a perpetual state of unending joy and bliss. There will be oscillations, our highs will get higher and our lows will get higher. But we need to allow for that rhythm to occur. As I've done that more and more in my life, I've just experienced so much more freedom and so much more just true, consistent happiness. I no longer suffer my suffering, as they say, quite as much. Hope you enjoyed and look forward to sharing more with you soon. In the meantime, have another awesome day.
