From software development and prior to that architecture, learned people have leveraged the power of patterns. Patterns are structures of learning that can be applied to achieve consistent results. For architecture its perhaps the golden mean, the mechanisms to create a bridge. In software , my favorite was MVC or model-view-controller. This is states that User interface must be separate from the data, and from the control ( business logic or execution) . I've seen folks not follow this pattern and then find themselves updating all three layers of software for changes that otherwise would have been simple had they followed the pattern.
Thus we must ask if Happiness has a pattern, if happy wisdom, the two combine, have certain approaches that would glean greater success than just going it in a haphazard sort of way.
Of course I propose there are. Before I get into the first few, lets discuss why these are not rules or laws . The trouble with "rules of life" books is that all of our lives are different we're different and we're in a stream of changing events - basically its to difficult to put a stake in the ground and say this is it. This is how to get happiness.
I like axioms, and intend on integrating them in here somehow. Lets get them out of the way.
Axiom 1 - You cannot stop or slow down time, and there is no current mechanism for going backwards in time.
Axiom 2 - whining about age doesn't change Axiom 1.
Axiom 3 - life on earth ultimately is a tragedy since we all die, since everything dies.
Axiom 4 - understanding A1 and A2 and A3 doesn't make them any easier to deal with, so we might as well be happy and enjoy every moment.
Patterns, on the other hand, are like tools. You recognize a problem, and you say, "Hmm, maybe there's a pattern for this problem. A way those who have come before me in this area have succeeded."
Lets try some examples, and yes, these will be refactored at some point in time, like all of my writing.
Pattern I - Ask A Child
children have an amazing way of cutting to the chase, of getting at the core of enjoying life. If you have a problem, why not hit up a kindergartner and see what they have to say about it? I'm serious here. Don't underestimate the power of purity.
Pattern II - Who Dies?
How important is the thing you're worrying about? If the computer dies, or you dropped your phone in the toilet - is anyone going to die? You might want to kill someone, but really...isn't it just a thing? A situation at work that will resolve? Rarely things we stress over are proportional to the amount of worry we apply to it.
Pattern III - Practice Letting Go
This is a biggie, and one of my take aways from Zen teaching. There are several philosophers who have made this a main part of their thinking, going as far as stating that life itself is a practice of letting go of things. God hasn't given us things, he's loaned them to us. Children leave, cars breakdown, shows end, books end, people die - its related to the axioms, and directly deals with them. We're on a bus ride, and we can't stop the bus and get off. We're watching out the window.
That's all I've got for now. Stay tuned. And, if you have Patterns of Happy Wisdom, why not comment below? :)
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