A Joosr Guide to Thrive by Arianna Huffington

These days people are abundantly rich in intellect, but poor in wisdom

third metric to success, which encompassed four distinct elements: well-being, wisdom, a sense of wonder, and giving.

Learn to let go off things that drain your energy – hidden resentments, self-criticisms, or unfinished projects that are hanging over you.

We have chosen screens and devices over art and nature – two of the greatest things that can still disconnect us from our over-connected lives and give us the feeling of wonder. We have also drowned out silence with constant noise – from television, music, and even viral videos. Letting some silence back into your life will give you space to listen to your inner voice.

We need to fight against the hurry sickness that pervades our society and instead aspire to time affluence. As paradoxical as it might seem, the only way to achieve this is by slowing down. The result will be a greater sense of well-being and an increase in reflective wisdom.

The third step to thriving is to regain your sense of wonder. Learn to live in the present moment, without worrying about the past or stressing about the future. Remember that life is short and therefore you must live every day according to what matters most.

Defining success through money and power is unsustainable
In 2005 Arianna Huffington helped to found The Huffington Post. During the following months and years, Arianna worked like a maniac, often putting in 18-hour days. On 6th April 2007, she collapsed at her home office. As she fell, her head hit the corner of her desk, cutting her eye and breaking her cheekbone. Why did this happen? After endless tests, she realized that her unrelenting work schedule had caused her to collapse from exhaustion.
The accident was Arianna’s wake-up call. Up until that moment, she had been driven to define herself through the two traditional western measures for success, money and power.
This definition can keep you going, at least in the short term. But, over time, money and power become like a two-legged stool. You may balance on them for a while but eventually you will fall because this measure of success is not sustainable. Only now did Arianna realize that, in her pursuit of success, she had started on a course of self-destruction.
The western culture of work is fuelled mainly by burnout, stress, and sleep deprivation. Stress badly affects our health, and one of the side effects of stress – sleep deprivation – affects our productivity, creativity, and decision-making ability. Shocked by the reality of her work-life balance, Arianna looked for an alternative definition of success, a third metric by which a healthier approach to success could be measured.
Everyone wants to lead a good and happy life. But what defines a good life will differ wildly from individual to individual. Humans have been debating the ingredients of a good life since time immemorial. But somewhere down the line, we stopped searching for meaning and happiness and shifted our attention to more material things.
Around the time Arianna had her accident, any outsider looking at her life would have been envious of her success: she was famous, powerful, and rich. But only Arianna knew that beneath the surface she was falling apart. In the aftermath of her collapse she found that thriving – finding real fulfilment in life – was her third metric to success, which encompassed four distinct elements: well-being, wisdom, a sense of wonder, and giving.

Stress leads to low levels of well-being
So why do people suffer from so much stress today? Increasingly businesses have developed a competitive office culture, which encourages their employees to work as hard as possible, come in early, leave the office late, take fewer breaks, meet demanding and unreasonable deadlines, and so forth. Essentially, work life supersedes personal life in almost every regard.
The outcome is unsurprisingly that people are under huge amounts of pressure, which leads to stress. In our current definition of success, it is almost essential to drive ourselves into the ground. And while this model is not doing much for men’s health, it is even more harmful to women, who have the added pressures of family and the home to factor into the equation. Technology only exasperates the situation because even when we are at home, we do not disconnect from work.
There is growing evidence that a company’s success is intrinsically linked to its employees’ well-being. Enlightened companies realize that high levels of stress will lead to low levels of well-being, which is detrimental to the success of both a business and its employees. But what does well-being mean? In essence, it means taking care of yourself: sleeping and eating well, disconnecting from electronic devices, and connecting with your inner self.
Start by trying to just get thirty minutes more sleep every night. Even this small adjustment will have a massive impact. At the same time, introduce a few minutes of meditation into your day. Find a quiet space, relax your body, and focus on deep breathing. Each time you notice your thoughts wandering, bring your mind back to your breath. Finally, get active. Walk, run, do yoga, or whatever else you enjoy. Exercise is great for body and mind, so without putting pressure on yourself, try to find some time in your day when you can get your body moving. Following these simple steps and engaging in stress-reducing activities will improve your overall health, and increase your levels of well-being, which will ultimately make you happier and more productive both at home and work.

You cannot thrive without wisdom
These days people are abundantly rich in intellect, but poor in wisdom. Wisdom is not a mystical, old-fashioned concept but is something that is incredibly important to our daily life. If your goal is to thrive, you will have to find some way to access wisdom.
But where? Certainly not on the Internet, which has given us access to abundant knowledge, but has only made it harder for us to access true wisdom.
Wisdom is not connected to knowledge or intelligence. It is a mindset; an insightful way of looking at life, without giving in to the distractions and frustrations that face us every day. We must stop looking for wisdom in the outside world. Rather, we need to learn to look inward, and pay attention to our experiences and intuition.
This kind of wisdom is intangible, but it is very powerful and real. For example, some nurses are able to tell intuitively when an infant has sepsis, which if left untreated can be fatal. The nurses themselves cannot describe how they do it; they only say that they felt instinctively there was something wrong with the baby.
This intuitive wisdom isn’t mysterious; it comes to us through the accumulation of experiences. The nurses, for example, draw on their vast experience to recognize seemingly imperceptible patterns in the babies they care for.
Learn to let go off things that drain your energy – hidden resentments, self-criticisms, or unfinished projects that are hanging over you. Disconnect from the digital world for a set period every day – perhaps ban your smartphone from your bedroom! This will help you reconnect with your inner self. Then when you get into a tight spot, you can look to your own inner wisdom accrued from your life experiences to guide you.
In life, you will have many different types of experiences. Some will be pleasant while others will be painful. If you can approach life like a classroom, you will learn something valuable from each new experience. With this kind of mindset, you will benefit from experiences that can otherwise be demoralizing.

Have a child’s outlook towards the world
Children tend to look at everything with a sense of wonder. But as we grow up, we become more worldly and life begins to lose its magic. Ironically, the technology and gadgets that connect us instantaneously to other people prevent us from connecting to the world. We have chosen screens and devices over art and nature – two of the greatest things that can still disconnect us from our over-connected lives and give us the feeling of wonder. We have also drowned out silence with constant noise – from television, music, and even viral videos. Letting some silence back into your life will give you space to listen to your inner voice. It will also make you much better at listening to other people.
Approaching the world with a sense of wonder makes you open to all the world has to offer. Children live entirely in the moment; they don’t worry about the future or brood over the past. And this is what we need to do in order to reconnect with our sense of wonder. When you feel stressed about something you need to do in the future or tense about some conflict in the past, try to focus on your breathing to bring you back to the present moment. This will allow you to approach each day afresh and keep you open to the everyday wonder of the world.