Notes on: For the Love of Happiness

'For the Love of Happiness' is taken from the course 'Managing Happiness' by Arthur Brooks on edX.org.

Different Kinds of Love

The medieval philosopher and theologian, Thomas Aquinas, said "To love is to will the good of the other." The focus is on the other person and what is good for them, not you. Love is a feeling and also the act of making someone else's life better.

For the ancient greeks, love came in many forms including: romantic love, friendship, love for humanity, love for self.

What is the opposite of love?

You may think of hate when you think of the opposite of love, but the philosophical and psychological opposite of love is fear.

The origin of our emotions is the limbic system, but our emotions get processed in our prefrontal cortex, which is where we become aware of our feelings. Love is processed in the left hemisphere of the prefrontal cortex and fear is processed in the right hemisphere, and they inhibit each other when present.

"Through love, one has no fear."

- Lao Tzu

Practicing love drives out fear and becomes a significant source of happiness.

What’s wrong with avoiding risk and playing it safe?

Research shows that young people these days are exposed to less risk than before as parents and educators emphasised both physical and psychological safety more than they did in the past.

Risk and danger are part of life and by over-protecting young people from developing courage and learning to deal with potential risk can be harmful for their long-term emotional development.

A certain amount of healthy risk can benefit young people as they learn to cope and deal with fear. When we grow up and learn to conquer our fears then we have more room for happiness, and who wouldn't love that?