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What're some books to make you a more positive sort of "good vibes" person? I don't mean I'm depressed or anything more so I want to gain the habit of looking on the bright side and just being friendly and nice

>>7039 Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

>>7040 On a similar note to Meditations, I recommend reading Epictetus and Seneca, the other two major Stoic philosophers

Ted Kaczynski's manifesto

>>7040 >>7407 I also came here to post Meditations. Excellent book. A lot of people noticed a positive change in me after I read it. >>7039 I also recommend the Gospels.

Zhuangzi ( the Taoist philosopher) more fun than Laozi

Terry Pratchet. I would go with narrative fiction over philosophy.

>>7039 >Siddhartha - Herman Hesse Teaches you to reject normal people, and develop yourself, and just let the world be >writings by the samurai Musashi Note that he was an autistic swordmaster who rejected society in favor of studying the blade. He teaches a lot about confidence. >Hagakure - Teaches you why you should live your life positively to the fullest because you should embrace death bravely when it may come at any moment. After reading this book, I became extremely positive and confident.

>>7039 Not looking at paper or a screen and actually going somewhere nice and peaceful, like on your pic.

>>7499 yeah I'd say pseudo religious texts like this. things like the Tao Te Ching, or even the Quran or Bible. another good read, the journey to the west, teaches that refinement of your being is the meaning of life.

>>7500 I was about to say that even the funniest writing doesn't really lift one's outlook on life, not for much longer than it takes to read it. Then I realized how wrong that is. I started reading Douglas Adams when I was 10 and at that age a lot of the jokes are above your head just due to lack of experience. I knew what bureaucracy was but it wasn't my problem, it should be your parents' problem at that age. Now for the rest of my life, standing in line or filling out ridiculous paperwork, something will pop into my head from one of his books and I think oh... THAT'S what he meant, and I smile to myself at the stupidity underlying modern life.

>>7500 I agree and raise you Jose Saramago, at least his less serious work. The Cave is a book about escaping, both expectations of modernity as well as your experiences and the ways which they can make you cynical and stubborn. All the Names is about a low level bureaucrat's obsession and how that ends up leading to an accidental quest for immortality. Blindness and The Double are both outstanding novels, but they don't fit this thread at all. Blindness is harrowing and The Double is about the angst of following someone else's path in life.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. My mom really liked that book and read it to me before sleep when I was very young. It's still pretty good.

The Daily Stoic Read daily quotes from stoic philosophers. It's a great entry point into rabbit holes about the philosophers.

>>7683 Adams is another great example, yeah, although his books got more depressive over time. It is true that you can't really appreciate some types of humor until you've been an adult out in the world for a bit and have some bumps & bruises from life. It is also true that good humor in the face of everything is an important quality. >>7687 Never read Saramago, I should pick some of these up. They sound great.

Ray Bradbury, “the dandelion wine” it will be one of the most memorable books you’ve read in your life

Bradbury teaches you to be open, and appreciate the childhood, and fragility, of life

Nietzsche. You'll really feel dynamic and active when read his books.

Being positive and good vibes is only worth a damn if you're a beacon in the darkness type aware of all things dark and positive despite of that. The trick is to see the dark as an opportunity to become better .

>>7039 Leibniz' New Essays on Human Understanding. Leibniz was a man who had a very deep, profound and strongly argumentative faith in humanity. It will change your outlook on everything, especially if you come from an Anglo-American background or if you're highly americanized.

But "good vibes" are for suckers. Why are you seeking to embrace a delusion?

>>10301 >But "good vibes" are for suckers. Why are you seeking to embrace a delusion? t. Miserable loser whose only joy is trying to make everyone else feel as bad as I do.

>>7039 I'm not sure if this counts as it's a freely available audio of a speech that has also been printed a few times, but 'This Is Water' by David Foster Wallace is a good starting point for not being miserable thanks to the mundane, frustrating bullshit of daily life and staying conscious(probably not too helpful if you have actual trauma though)

>>10302 Or be an adult and face facts without the cult of positivity. You can be accurate without being a miserable loser. Try it sometime.

>>10305 if only you knew how happy and awesome things really are. >>thread I don't think this book is as directly effective at improving "good vibes" as the other books people've brought up, but I'll mention Dale Carnegie's how to win friends and influence people. The title makes it sound like an insincere grift, but the actual content is good. The overarching theme is to: 1. Genuinely care about other people 2. Be nice and give real compliments The book is basically just anecdotes of good things happening when people do these things.

Lovingkindness by Sharon Salzberg It's super easy to read, and generally just evokes an atmosphere of holding empathy to beings around you. >>8994 +1 to Little Prince >>7406 +1 to Ram Dass