Eben PaganDiscovery Hub

To feel bad consistently, think about people who have it better than you and focus on how good things used to be compared to now

Upward social comparison and backward temporal comparison are the reliable recipes for misery. Understanding this mechanism gives you a choice: suffering is optional when you see it as a mental habit you can redirect.

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Upward social comparison and backward temporal comparison are the reliable recipes for misery. Understanding this mechanism gives you a choice: suffering is optional when you see it as a mental habit you can redirect.

Relevant Clips1

  • Teaching3:24

    Two Tricks to Manufacture Pessimism

    To feel bad consistently, think about people who have it better than you and focus on how good things used to be compared to now

    → Canonical teaching