Exploring Our Unhappy Side

We all deserve to live the happiest life possible. If you are like me, you probably have spent sometime pondering why its been so challenging to achieve such a life consistently.  After some time spent analyzing this matter (for years actually), I have come to a straight forward understanding and in this blog I am taking the liberty of sharing it with you.

Before I dive into it, I must warn you about that what I discovered is not very easy to swallow. I struggled big time to accept it but I eventually put on my "big boy pants". The fact of the matter is that you and I have had far less control over our lives, therefore our happiness, than we could ever imagine.  Evidence points to that the social environment we were raised in, and still live in, has had a far greater impact on us, past and present, than what we have controlled with our own personal will (by a landslide)!  If we analyze more carefully what is our "true nature", we will realize that we arrive to this world more like dry sponges that only end up absorbing that which we are dipped into.

Follow me so far? No? OK, let's say for example that you were born in Iran and of the opposite sex, what choice in language, religion, gender role, and food preference would you have? The same as you do now? As far as I know, and can prove, I did not have a choice in where, when, how, and whom I was going to be born to/raised by.

So it should follow that if I am unhappy enough with my current life then shouldn't I examine that which has had the most affect on me, my social surroundings? And when I dig into how it has influenced me, and others, this is the ugly truth that I have found...


1) It Has Made Us Glorify Individualism:
We are too isolated thanks to America being one of the weakest socially connected countries on the planet. Family and community are not valued enough while individualism is glorified. Due to this, we as individual are feeling more pressure to make choices and take responsibility. What we are left with is being prone to suffer from more isolation, loneliness, being misunderstood/under-appreciated, more self-doubt, and a general distrust of others.  Any sign of dependence is seen as weakness. And, of course, in this competitive climate there is usually only 1 winner and the rest are losers.

2) It Has Made Us Feel Insignificant:
One would think that with more responsibility one would feel more in control. This is not the case for the majority of us. The reality is that we are feeling smaller and smaller in this growing world. From one angle we feel hopeless about how large businesses continue to underpay us, poison us and pollute our environment. From another angle, we feel powerless about how our government taxes the shit out of us while ignoring our cries as voters. And from yet another angle we have the banks enslaving us through interest and debt.

3) It Has Left Us With An Insatiable Appetite:
Thanks to the constant bombardment of advertisement and celebrities with their ridiculously high lifestyles, you and I find ourselves not valuing much what we have, those around us, and who we are. We have been guided to constantly measure our skin, our hair, our nose, our height, our abs, our arms, our butt, our legs, our clothes, our house, our car, our bank account, our job, etc against those at the very top. Our ambition and mindless consumption in pursuit of the higher status has only made us more shallow and bitter while only chasing our own tails.

4) It Has Turned Us Into Crazy Perfectionists
The commercials and propaganda we are exposed to since early childhood have been deeply implanting the seeds of perfectionism in us. They have been burning images of what is 'perfect' leaving us feeling depressed for being just 'normal', and 'ordinary'. We are repeatedly beating our own selves up, and of course others.

5) It Has Molded Us Into Mostly Seeing "Black and White"  
By us being raised to largely focus on outward appearance, we are prone to quickly label things, others and our own selves superficially. We fail to understand the multiple layers and sides to life. When a person is quick to condemn another person, s/he is quick to condemn her/himself just the same. Instead of living a life of compassion, love and happiness, there is a life of confusion, hate and frustration.

6) It Has Disconnected Us
When we are immersed in a culture of commercialism, superficiality, and consumerism we grow up greatly distracted from what is truly necessary to our health and happiness. When we become dead-set on chasing the illusion of the prescribed 'perfect status' we find ourselves being more cynical as we struggle to find real fulfillment.  At some point 'misery' becomes normal and 'contentment' weird. Meanwhile, the simple natural things that truly nourish us are the things we least seek.

7) It Has Made Us Neurotic
What usually escapes our awareness in our blind pursuit is that we have devolved into these great balls of stress. Our bodies were not designed to be under such constant pressure. The chemicals the body produces when it is in "emergency mode" are needed to propel it to move out of trouble and return to a relaxed state as quickly as possible. But when they exist for prolonged periods of time they eat at us from within.  Physically we develop symptoms like poor circulation, indigestion, sleep disorders, muscle pain, shortness of breath and even organ failure. Mentally we manifest issues with concentration, prolonged irritation, prone to heavy addictions (to sooth ourselves), depression, and panic attacks.

8) We Have Grown Addicted To Poor Nutrition
Just like celebrity propaganda poisons our minds, processed food commercialism destroys our bodies. The foods that naturally nourish, energize and protect us from harm have been replaced with stimulating yet artificial junk. After years and even decades of contamination, we sadly become numb to our body repeatedly telling us that it is tired and sick until that day comes that a terminal illness takes over.

9) We Are Only Offered Poisonous Prescriptions
The chronic symptoms of being raised in such society naturally drive us to seek relief. Unfortunately, the solutions readily proposed to us keep us in the vicious cycle as opposed to removing us from it. Instead of plugging ourselves to a more natural, simple, and humane lifestyle we are ushered towards pharmaceutical treatment which only serve to numb us of discomfort momentarily while ensuring that we will be return customers. Adding insult to injury, the drugs given further poison our already wary body insuring future more medical dependence.


If you are still reading then you are probably asking yourself, "Now what? Where do we go from here if this is in any way true?" Well, you have a few choices: (A) Go back to doing what you were doing, that never ending grind. Or (B) Do your own research to verify the points I shared with you. Or (C) Research how does one live a more free, natural, healthier, organic, connected, fluid, appreciative, and fulfilling life. I recommend going back to (A) keeping in mind what you read here and testing to see if it holds any water. Then try (B) for a bit after you are convinced that there is no real hope with option (A). Finally, dip into (C) when you are ready to create real change in your life. The realization that we were not very responsible for our past should not be a reason to feel depressed. On the contrary, it should motivate us to take control of our life in the present and our future. Yes our society continues to have a negative impact in our life but it is liberating to know that if we make a conscious effort today then we are no longer victims of circumstances.