Transcribed by Cherlin Kim
Interview with Dr. Alexander Batthyány
“We are all humans. We fall down from time to time, and it will often hurt—but our strength is that we are here for each other, and if we accept our vulnerability, life is going to be so much easier.” - Dr. Alexander Batthyany
Most famous for his works in existential psychology, Dr. Alexander Batthyany is the director of the Research Institute for Theoretical Psychology and Personalist Studies at Pázamány Péter University, Budapest. (Google books, 2021) He has published over 15 books and articles which have been translated into more than 10 languages. Read about our interview with him!
1. Fleeting nature of happiness
Batthyany informs that happiness cannot be attained simply by striving for it: it has a fleeting nature. In order to discover happiness, it must be a byproduct of something worthwhile in your life; it is often the stress to strive towards a state of happiness that rather provokes tension. Instead of celebrating moments of happiness, you need to claim happiness as an inescapable part of you.
2. Happiness amidst mental health struggles
Especially when struggling with your mental health, you have a growing urge to feel happy again. And oftentimes when that happiness feels out of your reach, you may feel self–detached. However, Batthyany examines mental health in a different light: for people struggling with volatile moods, he suggests that they do everything they dislike on their bad days, because if it is a bad day, why not do everything that you wouldn’t do on a happy day? More frequently than not, people do not stay in the same bad mood afterwards, but may rather be faced by great relief having finished tasks they were putting aside.
“If there is so much darkness in the world, why not radiate your own light?”
3. Kindness: easiest route to happiness
Batthyany informs that though cliché, the easiest path to seeking your own happiness is by inflicting kindness and, consequently, happiness on others’ lives. The first step in doing so is by escaping the cage of “how do I feel?” or “I must do this to make me feel better.” Instead, if you were to change that mindset into “how can I help others?” you can more easily feel the effects of your benevolence.
“Best recipe in life is to be a realist.”
4. Be realistic
It will be inevitable that there will be both dark and bright sides in our lives, but it is vital that we embrace the darker side, not for the sake of it, but to improve the dark side into a brighter one. Especially for those suffering with mental health, they may feel isolated in a solely dark world. They do not seek to hear “you will be fine,” but rather a mutual understanding from others standing by them amidst darkness.
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