The SteyrAUG Guide To Total Happiness...

[Outlander_Systems]

@C4IGrant

The two with degrees are NOT working in their degrees (as they could not get a job in it).

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this.

The buddy of mine that joined the knee-deep Navy was working at a restaurant as a bar tender, prior to the CG. Every, and I mean every, employee on the wait staff had a 4 year degree of some kind. It’s spooky, when you think about it.

Unless you have a very specific career in mind, going to college aimlessly, for the sake of going to college, is a monumental, and blunderous, waste.

[JessR45]

@SteyrAUG

1. Stop watching the news - The only thing that makes the news is depressing, shocking and dramatic things. Good news never makes the news. Being aware of current events usually leads to concern and stress. Your parents always told you what you don’t know can’t hurt you and this includes crime, disease and dangerous places. Just like the boogeyman if you pretend these things don’t exist they won’t find you.

Remember when your parents suggested you try and make friends with the school bully? Well criminals are just the same people grown up. They aren’t bad people, they are friends you don’t know yet. Just remember if you think only good thoughts, only good things will happen to you. If you must watch some form of news, limit it to things like the Today show.

2. Avoid education - Your education should be limited to the ability to count money and perform some skill that allows you to earn a living. For example if you are going to be a surfing instructor you will need to know how to surf. You won’t need Quantum Physics to be a good surfing instructor. Some will suggest you will need to know some geography but that isn’t true. The guy flying to plane or steering the boat to take you to the good surfing locations will need to know geography, not you.

Education usually only leads to discovering long held and preferred beliefs are in error and this leads to stress and concern. Education is also hard and can lead to failure on your part which will only make you sad. Education can also lead to self evaluation which is also something to avoid. If you limit your knowledge of things like honor, self respect and accomplishment you won’t feel compelled to actually attempt any of those things. This will make life much easier which will make you much happier.

3. Avoid politics - Knowledge of government and how it functions, especially in contrast to how it is supposed to function is stressful and depressing. Do not research things like the rights and freedoms you are supposed to have. Limit your participation in politics only to the Presidential election. Vote for the guy who says things that make you feel good and happy. If possible vote for a minority or female candidate so you can reassure yourself that you are a good person who is not a racist or sexist in any way. It will make you feel good to know you are a good person. You shouldn’t even know who the candidates are for Vice President or any other position. Simply vote for the names you like the most.

Knowing how governments work is the job of the people in the government, not you. Let them learn all the big words and fix all the hard problems. No sense in you getting bummed out knowing about it, you certainly aren’t getting paid like they are. They will tell you what you need to know and what, if anything, you need to do.

4. Get Religion - Some think religion is a bummer but that is because some people pick the wrong ones. You want to be religious so you won’t be depressed by the thought of dying. The belief that when you die that you will go to some kind of happy place will make the whole thing much more acceptable. A religion where the afterlife is even better than this one is best. Knowing you will go to a place with hot naked chicks you can have sex with, great music and all the food you can eat will make dying something you can almost look forward to.

Try and avoid religions with lots of rules and regulations. You shouldn’t have to not have fun in this life in order to party in the next life. Choose carefully. For example Buddhism seems cool but it is actually a lot of work, requires improving yourself and says you gotta let go of your stuff to be happy. And as we all well know stuff makes you happy. Islam seems like a good choice, it proves to others that you don’t let things like 9-11 make you hate people and that makes you feel like a good person. But it has LOTS of rules that limit your fun here. Try and find something like Scientology which is easy to understand and simply helps you learn who you are in a non educational way. Satanism is another good one as it is designed to make you happy. It also has a cool “shock value” which you will enjoy even though Satanists don’t actually believe in Satan or God. The only real downside is they don’t believe in an afterlife, but you could just make up your own brand of Satanism if you want.

5. Focus on you - Nobody is going to make you happy so sadly you have to do it yourself. Discover what makes you happy and do only those things. Only spend time with people who also do those things and who you enjoy being around. It is not your job to make other people happy, that is their job. Your job is making you happy. Simply do what you want, when you want for as long as you can. You might not be educated, but nobody can say you are stupid.

Great post, this just hit me this morning — I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but my daugther (going on 18) is well on her way to following much of this (except the Satanism thing). I guess we’ll just have to be there for her whatever path she chooses to take.

Thanks,
Jess

[Honu]

when I lived on Lanai the invasion of somalia happened ?
I dont remember it cause it never happened to me ? but of course heard more about it about a year later when I moved back to Maui

but one day I guess a few days after it happened a guy on your boat asked us what we thought about it ?
( I was the scuba instructor)
capt and I looked at each other and said we have no clue what you are talking about !!!

he was kinda mad in a nice way like HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW ABOUT IT !!

we told him we had no TVs no Radios did not read papers ?
he could not believe it

we said we liked it we just work in the morning go fishing or hunting in the afternoon then eat what we got that night

he would ask us what if there was a huge storm coming in ?
we said well we would notice the wind change the water temp the birds and fish would act different so we would know how big it was with that info !!!
he shook his head and said you cant rely on that !!!
we said isnt the weather guy the brunt of jokes ?

he would come back up ask us what if their was a huge war ?
we said well chances are nobody is going to bomb Lanai and if they did OH well not much we could do but react then
or we would go down to the harbor to work and the boat would not show up and we would go hunting early that day and if it went on a few days we might ask whats up

he asked about a nuclear war and if they bombed Pearl Harbor ?
we said well we would see the cloud and take this fine boat we are on to the South Pacific somewhere and try to disapear
(we worked on a 55 foot catamaran)
first we would go grab our bows and spear guns and dive stuff then leave

he kept coming up with these scenarios of what if this or that ? and was really blown away anyone would want to live so disconnected from the world

we said we get plenty of info from tourists like yourself and even that is to much usually cause we like our lives on the island to be simple as it can be

have to say that and when I lived in the Caribbean on a small island were some of the nicest most tranquile non worry times in my life

[Terry]

I am a truck driver and the number of people with 4 yr degrees driving a truck for a living surprised me.
I was 3 days out of high school and in boot camp, never even took an act or sat.
Having said that, I am going to send my daughters to the “best” school I can afford. Anyplace except ohio state or notre dame anyway.

[Jerm]

Anyplace except ohio state or notre dame anyway.

Good man.

[Redmanfms]

#5 and #6 directly conflict and would lead to confusion and stress, thus making the person unhappy.

I do get a chuckle that supposedly “educated” people (not looking at you Steyr, not at all) honestly believe that spiritual faith is incompatable with education and pursuit of knowledge.

[SteyrAUG]

@Redmanfms

#5 and #6 directly conflict and would lead to confusion and stress, thus making the person unhappy.

I do get a chuckle that supposedly “educated” people (not looking at you Steyr, not at all) honestly believe that spiritual faith is incompatable with education and pursuit of knowledge.

Two things:

1. There is no #6.

2. I said “religion.” Nobody mentioned anything about spiritual faith.

[Redmanfms]

@SteyrAUG

Two things:

1. There is no #6.

2. I said “religion.” Nobody mentioned anything about spiritual faith.

Sorry, #4 and #5.

[wild_wild_wes]

Sex is not on your list!

[SteyrAUG]

Bumping this because…

1. It makes me happy

2. To remind myself to actually start doing some of these things.

I’m screwed on #2 (too late) but I can start avoiding the news and politics. I simply have to try and get stupid enough to start taking that Scientology shit seriously. But every time I consider getting my thetans checked I have a South Park flash back.

[SteyrAUG]

@wild_wild_wes

Sex is not on your list!

#5 Discover what makes you happy and do only those things.

[LHS]

I counter with Robert E. Howard’s guide to happiness:

Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.

[Honu]

Funny timing

Was looking at places in the islands again 15 minutes ago sadly out of price still ? cancelling all but one news tivo then thought jump on M4 see whats up and this post reminded me of my past life

Thank you for bumping and truly a sign to go back to the old me

[mr_smiles]

99.9% of life is shit. It’s what makes the .01% worth living

[Gramps]

When I graduated from high school, I had a trade behind me, building custom cabinets, but just had to go work in the woods in the PNW, where I grew up. Never could see building a big debt for education. After agriculture, I went to driving truck, then doing custom auto body, and finally went to a 14 month vo-tech for telco, and now making a pretty damn good wage, especially for this state. I talked to different young people in different business and they would tell me how much college they had and how little they were making. They would ask me how much I made, and I just couldn’t tell them it was 4X’s what they were making after college. I just said they really didn’t want to know.

I’ve found that life IS what WE make it. It is in our attitude. If you feel positive, it will help you as well as those around you through out your day. It’s something you have to experience for yourself. Education will NOT do it for you.

Whoever said a few post back that "College is a business " was so right on. I live in a university town, and it does bring a lot of financial to the town. And it is all about making money at the U of M, for what I feel are some overpaid professors. But that just my OPINION.

[uwe1]

@SteyrAUG

I’m screwed on #2 (too late) but I can start avoiding the news and politics. I simply have to try and get stupid enough to start taking that Scientology shit seriously. But every time I consider getting my thetans checked I have a South Park flash back.

I missed this post the first time around. It’s entertaining to see everyone’s thoughts over a year ago.

Definitely avoid the news and politics. I remember during 2008-2010, I kept wanting to tear out my hair and could feel my blood pressure rising every time I found out more and more BS. I now no longer watch the news because it’s full of shit and find myself much calmer.

I’m screwed on #2 also. I paid a fee and got a degree. But, at least it was a useful one. Some good points were made about degrees though. Don’t go to college and get a degree in “History and the Classics”, “Fiction Writing”, “Sociology”, and whatever bullshit just to finish. I listed these because I know people who have completed them and have mountains of debt with no job in sight. Morons…

Religion…been there, done that, not going back.

Focusing on me…shooting guns makes me happy…

[Suwannee_Tim]

Most of the happiest days of my life have been spent in the wilderness, disconnected from the news and politics. The rest were spent shooting.

[ZRH]

College isn’t actually a ripoff if you don’t assume going there actually makes you educated. The problem with most people is they think 4 years of college means they have all the education they’ll ever need.

The other thing is all teachers went to college, they probably hate their job, and they are trying to sell everyone on the same bullshit they bought. If anything all you need to learn is be cynical.

[LHS]

College is useful for learning to live on your own, without parents to keep you on the straight and narrow. Some succeed, some fail. I saw several kids who just couldn’t seem to grasp the concept of doing their own laundry, cooking their own meals, planning their own schedules. I saw several go nuts with booze and/or drugs, because they’d never had freedom before and didn’t know how to self-regulate.

For many, college is the first time they have any kind of real responsibilities with real consequences.

[austinN4]

Famous, Rich, and Successful People Who Were High School or College Dropouts
http://www.collegedropoutshalloffame.com/