Hear
A while on social networks like Instagram or Tik Tok and you start feeling bad, missing.
This It happens especially when the insightful algorithm discovers that we are interested in issues related to health and quality of life, in its broadest sense. It is then that applications fill us with reels of professionals or non-professionals from the most diverse related professions who inform us how much we should do or not do to be healthy and happy.
Diets, exercises, mental attitudes… are offered with the best intentions and, on many occasions, with really useful observations, but Paradoxically, the final emotional result after the walk through the reels It is often a certain anguishthe kind that feels when we perceive ourselves to be “offside” if we compare our own with the multiple proposals that are presented to us.
The idea of generating impact ensures that the messages of the communicators of these networks have an emphasis and conviction that is overwhelming. The wonder of magnesium, abs now, virtuous emotional attitudes, advice so that marriage is not ruined, what to eat before going to sleep, how bad it is to do certain things, eat certain foods or have certain attitudes that make us unhappy… and so on.
We repeat: this is usually good advice, although many would benefit from confirming it with trusted professionals. But What we are aiming for here is the final emotional result of the continued visualization of proposals for a quality of life which, always, show that we are far from being on the right path towards health and happiness.
Some will say that the feeling of being missing that many feel after spending time on social networks is the result, precisely, of looking too much. reels and posts that saturate attention. It’s a good point. It is not a minor fact that the negative emotional effect occurs after excessively looking at people who show off that they are well.while they offer their example so that we get out of our state that, obviously, is not as good as theirs.
Let us also say that the proposal implicit in this saturation of information to achieve a certain “perfection” recalls what the author Russ Harris called “the trap of happiness”. It consists of believe that there is a perfect place that, obviously, we never get to because of our own faultand an imperfect one, in which we exist and from which we should get out as soon as possible because of how defective it is.
This author says, wisely, that Happiness is not a natural state, nor is it synonymous with pleasure, nor is its absence due to the fact that we are “defective.” for suffering sadness, falls, confusion, bodily “imperfections” or darkness.
At the same time, if we talk about happiness, it is good to remember the following paragraph of Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and philosopher, creator of Logotherapy, who says: “Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase her, the more she runs away. But if you turn your attention to other things, she comes and gently rests on your shoulder. “Happiness is not an inn on the road, but a way of walking through life.”
What would be those “other things” that Frankl alludes to? They are possibly something more interesting than trying to catch butterflies or congratulations. What we do take for granted is that those “things” are far from our navel. Or, at least, they don’t have it as the center of the universe. Value the reader something that he loves, something that he likes, something that excites him, something that dignifies him and offers meaning or let you feel a little peace forgetting about himself for a while… and suddenly he will see with surprise that he has a butterfly perched on his shoulder.
Since we are in the line of quoting phrases, let’s also go for that one from the book of Chinese wisdom called I Ching, which says that “the best way to combat evil is energetic progress in the direction of good.” Too much emphasis on “fighting” fatness, a sedentary lifestyle, hypertension, negative emotions, stretch marks or relationship problems. That is certainly true, but it becomes a boomerang when we do not honor what is “good” in our present, even if it is not easy to see at times.
So things are, It is not a bad idea to promote the good life, which is the real one (with all its ingredients, even the difficult ones), not the ideal, and not to change that old guilt of yesteryear for a modern one.which points the finger at us for not following the “commandments” to access a non-existent utopia.
It has always been said that we must change the world (and us, as part of that world), but perhaps it is time to, more than change it, offer it a little love and a generous look, which with that the rest, happiness included, will come in addition.
*Psychologist specializing in relationships.
