8/5 (Tue.) How hedonism can make you happier (Host: Rock)

[Rock]

A hedonist is someone who tries to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.

How hedonism can make you happier
https://poly.rpi.edu/opinion/2018/04/ho ... u-happier/

Life sucks. You will go through pain, you will make mistakes, and you will go through times where nothing seems fair and you just want to lay in bed and feel sorry for yourself. And I’m sorry to say that I have no advice for how you can stop this inevitability. Dating that one person, getting that one dream job, or doing that one thing you always wanted to do will not make you a happy person.

But, most of you know this already—if somehow you’ve managed to get this far in your life without coming to terms with this fact, I’m sorry. I won’t belabor this point, instead I will focus on my current understanding and how I deal with it. To put it shortly, I’m an advocate for hedonism.

Hedonism often conjures up images of wild orgies, substance abuse, frivolous spending habits, and general debauchery, but this doesn’t have to be the case. The type of hedonism I’m suggesting is one devoid of these stereotypes, oftentimes called responsible hedonism...

(Continue reading with the link above.)

Hedonism is overrated – to make the best of life there must be pain, says this Yale professor
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... -professor

Why Hedonism Doesn't Lead to Happiness
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... -happiness

Hedonism Lifestyle: Definition, Causes, and How to Overcome It
https://www.bfi.co.id/en/blog/gaya-hidup-hedonisme

The True Meaning of Hedonism: A Philosophical Perspective
https://positivepsychology.com/hedonism/

The pleasure principle: is a little bit of indulgence the secret to success?
https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... to-success

Questions
Session One
1. Group activity: By definition, A hedonist is someone who tries to maximise pleasure and minimise pain. Please think of what things hedonists do and make it a list. Make the list as long as you can. In the presentation, tell people how many items you have and what they are.

2. Do you know any hedonists? What do they do? What do people usually think of them?

3. Why do hedonism seem to have a bad name? Why many people don't do it, stay away from it, and even hate it?

Session Two
Delayed gratification is the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward in favor of a more valuable, long-term reward. It involves forgoing a smaller, immediate pleasure for a larger or more enduring benefit later. This skill is linked to positive outcomes like academic success, better physical and mental health, and stronger social competence.
By chatGPT

4. Do you agree that delaying gratification is a key to success? Do hedonists delay gratification? If not, does it mean that hedonists are less likely to be successful at work?

5. Which country is known as with a more hedonistic culture? Is Taiwan getting more hedonistic? Is it a good thing?

6. If, for some unknown force of the universe were at work, you were to be a hedonist for some time, how long would you want to do it? What would you do? And, most importantly, would you feel happy in the end?

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Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:45pm Discussion Session (35 mins)
7:45 ~ 8:00pm Summarization (15 mins)
8:00 ~ 8:05pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 5 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:05 ~ 8:40pm Discussion Session (35 mins)
8:40 ~ 8:55pm Summarization (15 mins)
8:55 ~ 9:00pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements

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Meeting Date: As shown on the Subject Line
Meeting Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Meeting Venue: 丹堤咖啡 Dante Coffee (Minimum Order $85)
Address: 台北市濟南路三段25號[MAP]-捷運忠孝新生站3號出口步行3分鐘

Important Notes:
1. We suggest that participants read the articles and think about the questions in advance.
2. Newcomers should prepare a two-to-three-minute self-introduction in English to deliver when called upon by the host before the start of the discussion.
3. We welcome newcomers and other guests to attend the meetings and join the discussion freely for three times. After that, we hope you will consider becoming a YoYo English Club member. We charge a NT$1000 lifetime membership fee, or NT$500 for students.

[Rock]

I asked chatGPT about the words following the pattern of "hedonism, hedonist, hedonistic".

Here is what she says,

Buddhism Buddhist Buddhistic
Realism Realist Realistic
Optimism Optimist Optimistic
Pessimism Pessimist Pessimistic
Egoism Egoist Egoistic

and

Atheism Atheist Atheistic
Feminism Feminist Feministic (rare)
Racism Racist Racist (adj. too!)
Altruism Altruist Altruistic
Capitalism Capitalist Capitalistic
Nationalism Nationalist Nationalistic
Materialism Materialist Materialistic

[Iris Wu]

First off, reading through the laundry list of meeting materials definitely won’t be on my list of hedonist activities.

But let’s use this example to explore hedonism a bit further.
I think there are two kinds of hedonists: responsible hedonists and irresponsible ones.

For someone who’s more duty-driven—probably like me—I’m not sure if it’s innate, or if it’s just a calculation: the stress of showing up unprepared outweighs the pain of reading all the articles. So we suppress our hedonist urges… for now.

But maybe it’s not that simple. Suppressing hedonist impulses can be complicated.

Some delay gratification not out of obligation, but because they aim high, hoping to seize opportunities, gain recognition, or even achieve fame, power, or fortune.
And of course, people aren’t born with equal abilities. What feels like a ‘pain in the neck’ to one person might be a breeze—or even a pleasure—for someone with the right strengths. In fact, one person’s dreaded chore might be another’s hedonistic joy: math, coding, hands-on crafting, or technical deep dives, for example.

In the end, if reading these meeting materials ever becomes an actual hedonist activity for me… I suppose someone should check if I’ve had a robotic chip implanted in my head.

[Rock]

Hi, Iris, long time no see. Are you coming back and join the meeting today? If you do, then we definitely will say "It's our pleasure to see you again!", which makes it a hedonostic gathering la!!