Vishen Lakhiani introduces and defines "blissipline": the discipline of nurturing positive emotions without forcing happiness or suppressing sadness. He distinguishes blissipline from fake happiness, acknowledges the value of melancholy and grief (citing Inside Out and WandaVision), and illustrates the idea with a John D. Rockefeller poem emphasizing work, play, and gratitude.
Chapters
Happiness is not the goal at all. In fact, happiness is not even what we care about. What we're looking at is a concept called bliss cipline. Blissipline is not being happy. It's not forcing yourself to be happy. Look, I am a person who can be prone to depression. I'm also a person who is prone to melancholy. Melancholy is when I want to. When it typically it happens when it's raining, I want to sit by the fire, listen to sad music and just be by myself. And I like that. I'm not happy. I'm neither am I sad or depressed. I'm just melancholy. And it's a beautiful feeling and we all feel that sometimes. If you've ever seen the Pixar movie Inside out, it shows that sadness can be a superpower. You can be sad when you miss someone. You can be sad when you're grieving. There's a beautiful quote from the Disney show WandaVision. What is grief but love persisting? The goal isn't to push away sadness, rather the goal is this, is to remember this when we are showing up with people, when we are showing up at work, the thing that matters is the concept of blissipline, and that is having the discipline to ensure that you are nurturing your positive emotions. Now, positive emotions doesn't mean you're fake happy. Positive emotions mean that even if you're sad, you can observe it. Like, I love that quote. What is grief but love persisting? Because if you're grieving someone, that's a beautiful emotion. You can grieve someone who has left your life, but you're not beating yourself out of it. So you're still, in a way, blissful. Now, one of the most beautiful things I read was in the book Titan. It's the biography of John D. Rockefeller. He was the richest man who ever lived. And at the age of 83, John D. Rockefeller wrote a beautiful poem that illustrates this idea of blissipline. He said, I was early thought to work as well as play. My life has been one long happy holiday, full of work, full of play, and I left the worry along the way. And God was good to me every day.
