Psychology

Guilt & Leading An Ethical Life

Psychology / 26 May, 2020 / Leave a Comment

Don’t feel bad about not living a perfectly ethical, “good” life. That would be counterproductive: Feeling guilty about wrong actions doesn’t make us more moral or act better in the future.

Not only that, feeling guilty is selfish: Guilt is based on self-involvement, which only makes our egos feel better – and therefore more likely to look away from injustice; the opposite of being ethical. An ethical response to bad acts should not involve thinking about your personal feelings, but to be pragmatic & practical and consider how to right them.

Figuring out how to live this “good” life should be fun: The more you enjoy morality (more specifically, acting virtuously), the more likely it is that you’ll live ethically. Learning to feel pleasure about morality may be necessary for moral excellence. Guilt is the opposite of pleasure and therefore the opposite of ethical living.

Source: It’s impossible to lead a totally ethical life—but it’s fun to try & 7 reasons not to feel bad about yourself when you have acted immorally

Rumination

Psychology / 26 May, 2020 / Leave a Comment

Rumination is the focused attention on the symptoms of one’s distress and the possible causes and consequences, as opposed to its solutions.

Nolen-Hoeksema

Ruminating, therefore, is unconstructive & unproductive (or even hurtful) repetitive thinking.

Sometimes rumination is a reaction to a negative mood, sometimes to simply deciding that you have “failed” to make satisfactory progress towards a self-set goal.

Rumination is a fancy psychological word for worry, and as such is directly related to anxiety and other negative emotions.

Put an end to rumination. Here are some tips.

The Best Hacks Against Anxiety

Psychology / 09 May, 2020 / Leave a Comment

wet mouth trick

A dry mouth is a danger sign for your body. Drink something or swoosh some saliva around in your mouth.

Warm hands

Make sure to hold something warm. The easiest way is a nice, hot cup of water tea.

Breath

Pay attention to your breath and breathe deeply and slowly.

Say the opposite

Say the opposite of what you are thinking. Example: Turn “I can’t do this” into “I can do this.”

Don’t identify

Don’t tell yourself “I’m anxious.” Say instead “I am experiencing anxiety right now”.

remember death

Know that nothing matters that much because everything is better than being dead.