Happiness:

Happiness is such a strange experience.

Stellt sich ungefragt ein, in manchen Momenten, Stunden, Tagen, Wochen.

Oder als Hintergrundmusik im eigenen Leben.

Verliebtheit:

Es gibt kaum etwas Besseres als über einen längeren Zeitraum stark (und vielleicht auch positiv) aktiviert zu sein. Eben darin liegt der Reiz der Verliebtheit.

Loving My Life:

I love my life so much. And I don’t know exactly what is causing it. High agency?

Living Intensely:

I think you should travel a lot. You should have many deep conversations, and you should meet lots of new people. You should stop doing things half-assed. You should go all-in on quite a few things. At least for a while.

Books and Travel:

For the first time in years, I’m doing deep reading on a regular basis. In addition, I’m traveling more than ever before.

Ein paar Tage:

Die letzten paar Tage gehörten mit zu den besten Tagen meines Lebens. Da sich in den paar Tagen in mehreren Bereichen meines Lebens Entwicklungen ereignet haben, die sich sonst auch in Wochen nicht vollziehen. Die Suche nach solch einer Dichte an Ereignissen durchdringt doch fast alles. Wenn jemand eine Reise macht, dann ...

Evo-Psych: High Self-Esteem

"From an evolutionary psychology standpoint, a high self-esteem man is not someone who simply “feels good about himself.” Self-esteem is treated as an evolved monitoring system—a sociometer or hierometer—that tracks how well he is doing on problems that historically affected male reproductive success: status, competence, formidability, resources, and mating access.

What the gauge is actually tracking

Men faced stronger selection for competing over mates and rank than women did. High self-esteem in men therefore tends to rise with:

• Evidence of status (prestige via skills/respect, or dominance via intimidation)
• Short-term mating success (number of partners tracks self-esteem more reliably in men than in women across cultures)
• Competence and resource-acquisition potential
• Physical formidability (strength and muscularity are among the more consistent predictors of both mating and, in some societies, reproduction)

Authentic pride (earned competence, respect) is linked to genuine high self-esteem and the prestige route to rank. Hubristic pride (arrogance, entitlement) is more tightly linked to narcissism and the dominance route. Both paths can raise status; they are not the same psychological profile.

Why the system exists

In ancestral environments, a man who accurately (or slightly over-)estimated his standing could:

• Calibrate how high he aimed in mating
• Decide when to compete versus defer
• Signal capability to others (overconfidence can function like a costly signal—only those with some real ability can sustain it without constant costly errors)

Low self-esteem in this framework is less a moral failing than a readout that one’s current social/mating value is low, which should reduce risky challenges and lower mating aspirations. High self-esteem does the opposite: it licenses approach, persistence, and higher aspirations.

Important caveats

• The system is domain-sensitive. A man can have high self-esteem from status or competence even if he is not especially physically attractive; the opposite pattern is more typical for women.
• Modern environments mismatch ancestral ones. Overconfidence that once helped in small-group competition can look like arrogance or poor calibration today.
• Correlation is not identity. High self-esteem often accompanies high status or mating success; it is not itself the fitness-relevant trait.

In short: evolutionarily, a high self-esteem guy is a man whose internal status-and-mate-value monitor is reading “high”—usually because he has (or credibly signals) traits that historically converted into rank, resources, and reproductive opportunities."