Born in Wales in 1872, Bertrand Russell was not a happy child . He himself defines his feelings in childhood as follows: “fed up with the world and burdened by the weight of his sins”. At the age of six he lost his parents and was raised by his paternal grandparents, who instilled in him very strict moral ideas.

Later, at the age of five, he began to think that if he lived to be seventy he had only endured one fourteenth of his life, and the long years of boredom ahead of him seemed unbearable.As a teenager his situation did not improve, and he says that he had been on the verge of suicide several times.

With this history we could imagine a depressed adult, with symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, and a good number of neuroleptics in his bedside table.However, in his adult stage this philosopher says he has learned to enjoy life .

What did Russell discover to make him enthusiastic and happy and enjoy life?

Bertrand Russell’s Conception of Happiness

These are some of the keys that the philosopher highlighted to orienting oneself towards the state of happiness.

Putting the focus on the outside

The British philosopher made an interesting discovery . He warned that by worrying less about himself, by ceasing to reflect continuously on his failures, fears, sins, defects and virtues, he managed to increase his enthusiasm for life.

He discovered that by focusing his attention on external objects (various branches of knowledge, other people, hobbies, his work…) he was getting closer to his ideal of happiness and his life was much more interesting to him.

In his writings he comes to tell us that expansive attitudes produce joy, energy and motivation, as opposed to being closed in on oneself which inevitably leads to boredom and sadness.

In Russell’s words, “those who do nothing to distract the mind and allow their worries to take over completely, behave like a fool and lose the ability to face their problems when the time comes to act”.

The idea is to increase external interests, to make them as varied as possible, so that you have more opportunities for happiness and are less exposed to the vagaries of fate, because if one fails you, you can turn to another.If your interests are as broad as possible and your reactions to things and people that interest you are friendly rather than hostile, you are more likely to approach everyday happiness.

How can we encourage this expansive attitude?

So, simply by focusing on the daily activities of the day we will be happy?

Keeping our focus on the outside will make us more motivated and enthusiastic, but it is not the only ingredient of happiness.

According to Russell, a theory that would fit in with the ideas of contemporary cognitive psychology, to be reasonably happy one must learn to think in the right way and at the right time . Paraphrasing him, “The wise man only thinks about his problems when it makes sense to do so; the rest of the time he thinks about other things or, if it is night, he thinks about nothing”.

Cultivating an ordered mind will undoubtedly increase our happiness and efficiency, thinking each thing in its turn will keep our mind clear and awake and allow us to stay more in the present moment.

And how does he invite us to think in the right way?

The philosopher encourages us to confront the thoughts that frighten or disable us. According to him, the best procedure in the face of any kind of fear is the following:

“Thinking rationally and calmly about the subject, putting great concentration to familiarize ourselves with it. In the end, that familiarity will blunt the fears and our thoughts will move away from it”

It also encourages us to confront our thoughts and discard those that are not adaptive or that stray from reality.

Effort and resignation

According to Russell, happiness is a conquest , and not a divine gift, so we have to fight for it and strive for it.

However, in the face of certain unavoidable circumstances in life , resignation (which I would call acceptance) is the most advisable. Wasting time and emotions in the face of inevitable setbacks is totally useless and undermines peace of mind.

In the words of Reinhold Niebuhr, “Have the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to be able to differentiate them”.