How to grow deeply happy | Jonny Thomson

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more“If we're to be happy at all, it has to be found outside of this notion of pleasure. We have to step beyond hedonia. But the problem is that we risk going too far.”

Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ►

Up next, 3 powerful mind statesFlow state, good anxiety, and Zen Buddhism ►

Humans have been chasing happiness for thousands of years. But we can't seem to agree on the exact definition of happiness and it's often presented as simply a smiling face on social media. Jonny Thomson, author and our very own staff writer here at Big Think, argues that happiness is less of a smiling face, rather, happiness is a smiling soul.

Thomson runs the social media account ‘Mini Philosophy,’ where he distills complex philosophical ideas into bite-sized lessons. So, what can philosophy teach us about happiness? By examining different schools of philosophical thought, we can learn a lot about different ways to create happiness.

From Buddhism, Daoism, and ancient Greece to the philosophers of today, Thomson leads us through 2,500 years of happiness philosophy and carves out 3 simple methods that you can use to usher greater happiness into your life.

Timestamps:

Read the video transcript ►

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Image creditsTamil_inscriptions.jpg / SKsiddhartthan / Wikimedia Commons / CC BYSA 4.0 () / Cropped and desaturated from original

MS_Persian_373,_folio_24_verso_Wellcome_L0030694.jpg / Welcome Collection Gallery / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0 () / Cropped and desaturated from original

Account_of_the_construction_of_Athena_Parthenos_by_Phidias.jpg / Tilemahos Efthimiadis / Wikimedia Commons / CC BYSA 2.0 () / Cropped and desaturated from original

Saint_Thomas_Aquinas_Reading.png / Fra Bartolomeo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0 () / Cropped and desaturated from original

Socratesstatue.jpg / Leonidas DrosisC messier / Wikimedia Commons / CC BYSA 4.0 () / Cropped and desaturated from original

Gautama_Buddha_statue_meditating.jpg / Krishna Kumar Shrestha / Wikimedia Commons / CC BYSA 4.0 () / Extracted from original

Antisthenes_PioClementino_Inv288.jpg / Vatican Museums / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0 () / Extracted from original

Antisthenes_PioClementino_Inv288.jpg / Vatican Museums / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0 () / Extracted from original

Aristotle._Line_engraving_by_P._Fidanza_after_Raphael_Sanzio_Wellcome_V0000205.jpg / P. Fidanza / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0 () / Extracted from original

Paolo_Monti__Servizio_fotografico_(Napoli,_1969)__BEIC_6353768.jpg / Paolo Monti / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0 () / Extracted from original

Philosopher,_marble_head,_Roman_copy,_AM_Corfu,_Krfm22.jpg / Zde / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0 () / Extracted from original

Socratesstatue.jpg / Leonidas DrosisC messier / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0 () / Extracted from original

Gautama_Buddha_statue_meditating.jpg / Krishna Kumar Shrestha / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0 () / Extracted from original

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Jonny Thomson:

Jonny Thomson taught philosophy in Oxford for more than a decade before turning to writing full-time. He’s a columnist at Big Think and is the award-winning, bestselling author of three books that have been translated into 22 languages.

Jonny is also the founder of Mini Philosophy, a social network of over half a million curious, intelligent minds. He's known all over the world for making philosophy accessible, relatable, and fun.