Beautiful States

A framework for understanding how to achieve and maintain beautiful states of being, based on the principle that there are only two types of states: beautiful and suffering.

Core Concept

• Only two types of states exist:
  • Beautiful states (joy, laughter, calm, serenity)
  • Suffering states (pain, depression, self-pity)
• What people truly want is more beautiful states and fewer suffering states

Key Principles

• Beautiful states are independent of external achievements
  • Don't need to wait for things to happen to feel good
  • Can choose to feel it now without prerequisites
  • Most people mistakenly chase middle-men (promotions, achievements) thinking they lead to beautiful states

Framework for Maintaining Beautiful States

• Set both external and internal goals

  • External goals provide meaning and direction (Viktor Frankl principle)
  • Internal goals focus on maintaining beautiful states while pursuing external goals
  • Most people forget to set the internal goals

• Test your state's resilience

  • How "cheap" is your happiness?
  • Can small inconveniences knock you out of your beautiful state?
  • Goal is to maintain beautiful state despite external circumstances

Implementation Strategies

• Practice sovereignty over emotions

  • You control your response to events
  • Choose how to interpret and react to situations
  • Don't let external circumstances dictate your state

• Challenge yourself with difficult goals

  • Sometimes doing more is easier than doing less
  • Hard goals can paradoxically make life feel easier
  • Use challenges to grow stronger internally

• Focus on growth over comfort

  • True happiness comes from growth
  • Don't optimize for comfort
  • Growth leads to sustainable beautiful states

Common Pitfalls

• Waiting for external achievements to feel good
• Not setting internal state goals alongside external goals
• Letting small inconveniences destroy beautiful states
• Focusing only on vertical/horizontal success while neglecting depth