Living a Worthwhile Life

Living a worthwhile life involves being a virtue ethicist where you not only maximize mental and physical benefits to yourself but also to those around you. Virtue ethics revolves around having a moral character, and a moral character is necessary for freeing the body of pain and anxiety, living in moderation, caring more about friends and family than material goods, and finally and most importantly; thinking positively and rationally. These ideas are fundamental for living an advantageous life.

As Epicurus says: living a life worthwhile is a life where our body is free from pain and the mind from anxiety. Pain and anxiety are illusions that are caused by our mind. In other words, we would not experience pain and anxiety if we did not have any of our senses in the first place. Pain and fear for example were adapted into humans as a primal instinct in order for us to avoid danger when needed. Consequently, humans have evolved to associate fear with harmless experiences, causing the individual discomfort. For example, an individual may have a fear of bats, even when all the bats that live in his or her environment are harmless. In general, the experience of harmless fear is not necessary for a worthwhile life as we can easily live without it using rational thinking.

Endorsing another one of Epicurus' views; life should be lived in moderation. In order to live a worthwhile life the mind and body must be treated beneficially. Under these circumstances, patience for long-term rewards over short-term ones is required for maximum physical health and a peaceful mind. This is because waiting for long-term rewards consistently carries greater personal benefits than short-term rewards. For example, an individual may have a chance to endorse himself in a fortune of chocolate all in one session, except obviously we know that kind of behavior would be very destructive to the health. On the contrary, if the individual were to eat the chocolate in moderation; as in eating a small amount on occasion, it would be beneficial for a peaceful state of mind because no physical or mental harm is done. Overall, making rational decisions is a necessity in living a virtuous and peaceful life.

Thinking positively in a consistent effort is also the key for living a worthwhile life as our internal and external thoughts precede our feelings, beliefs, and knowledge. To put it more simply, if we think positively we feel happier, and if we think negatively we fail to accomplish any goals that would make us happy. One way of achieving positive thinking is by being open-minded. This includes not judging others by their appearance and realizing that attraction is a primal instinct. A lot of people judge others by their appearance and assume that negative characteristics relate to that person. If you find yourself judging others by how they look you will find that you will run into more negative conflicts than positive experiences. This is due to the fact that you are more likely to make more friends if you are not judging others. Therefore you are more likely to achieve happiness by positively evaluating others and receiving positive feedback in return.

Many people have a bias on a large variety of things which causes them to find themselves thinking negatively. We may think we are correct when associating negative qualities with ethnicity, race, or any other characteristic, but most of the time we are wrong. Biasing restricts how one thinks, and it leads one to think of more negative conclusions on life than positive ones. An effective way of living an advantageous life is to abolish any tendency of negative bias or thought.

A greater number of illnesses have been proven to be associated with those who think negatively compared to those who think optimistically. When our body responds to a sickness and we feel hopeless, our immune system weakens and we are less likely to recover. In contrast, those who are optimistic and think positively are more likely to recover due to strengthened immune system. Furthermore, when an individual runs into a stressful situation, for instance a traffic jam, he or she will become more vulnerable to illness if the situation is interpreted negatively. To summarize, if we interpret any kind of conflict negatively, it may sacrifice our health. The key is to be optimistic on every situation, which will benefit our health and