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fubarobfusco comments on "Spiritual" techniques that actually work thread - Less Wrong Discussion

7 [deleted] 11 March 2015 10:35AM

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Comment author: Jayson_Virissimo 11 March 2015 05:35:27PM 6 points [-]

Saying grace before a meal can help you maintain tranquility (thereby making it more likely you will experience positive emotions) via framing effects:

Before eating a meal, those saying grace pause for a moment to reflect on that fact that this food might not have been available to them, in which case they would have gone hungry. And even if the food were available, they might have not been able to share it with the people now at their dinner table. Said with these thoughts in mind, grace has the ability to transform and ordinary meal into a cause for celebration.

-- William B. Irvine, A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

Comment author: fubarobfusco 11 March 2015 08:57:06PM 2 points [-]

You might consider reflecting on your good fortune to live in a time when food is abundant — indeed, where there's a global agricultural and transport system bringing that food to you.

And you might reflect on the folks actually involved in producing that food and making it available to you. Although (to paraphrase Adam Smith) you do not depend on the benevolence of the baker, the butcher, or the refrigerated truck driver, you're still much better off than if they did not exist to fill those economic roles.

Or, to put it graphically ...

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