Chip Conley might be onto something here with his Emotional Equations

 Well now, this is a bit of alright, isn't it? This talk about adding up your feelings like they're so many bags of sugar. I have to say, this fellow Chip Conley might be onto something here with his  Emotional Equations, as they call it in proper English. Usually, all this self-help nonsense leaves me colder than a fishmonger's slab, but this... this has a certain straightforward charm to it.

Let's take this first one: despair equals pain minus meaning. Old Victor Frankl knew a thing or two about a bad time, didn't he? And this idea that pain's a given, like rain in Manchester, but finding a bit of meaning can somehow dry things out... well, it's surprisingly sensible. It's not saying the pain goes away, mind you, but maybe it doesn't feel quite so pointless. Like having to clear out the gutters – it's a pain, but if you don't, the house floods. There's a grim sort of meaning in that, isn't there?

Then there's anxiety being uncertainty times helplessness. Now, that sounds like the sort of thing a clever clogs would come up with, but when you think about it, there's a kernel of truth there. All those things we fret about – half the time we don't even know what's going to happen, and the other half we can't do a darn thing about it anyway. Making a list of what you can and can't control? It's almost like sorting out the nuts and bolts in the shed [referencing his interest in tools and organisation mentioned in the introduction]. You might still have a load of junk, but at least it's organised junk. Might even stop you lying awake at night staring at the ceiling [referencing his thought about lying awake at night].

And the last one, happiness is wanting what you have divided by having what you want. That's a bit of a clever way of putting it, isn't it? All this chasing after more and more... maybe the trick is to just have a good look at what's already on your plate and be a bit grateful for it. This talk about Bhutan and their happiness index... it sounds a bit woolly, but the underlying idea of appreciating the here and now rings true. It's like enjoying a simple cup of tea instead of always hankering after a fancy cocktail.

These equations, they're not going to solve all your problems overnight, are they? But they're a neat way of looking at things, a way of cutting through the usual waffle and getting to the heart of the matter. It's almost mathematical in its precision, and you know I've always had a soft spot for things that make a bit of sense [though he often feigns exasperation with overly logical things].

So, fair play to this Chip Conley. He's managed to put some rather complex feelings into simple little sums. And you know what? Sometimes, that's exactly what you need. A bit of plain speaking and a bit of common sense, even when it comes to something as messy as emotions. This Emotional Equations? It's a little gem, it truly is. Makes you think, doesn't it? And that's saying something.

Chip Conley's book "Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success":

Regret = Disappointment + Responsibility

Jealousy = Mistrust / Self-Esteem

Envy = (Pride + Vanity) / Kindness

Anxiety = Uncertainty x Powerlessness

Despair = Suffering - Meaning

Disappointment = Expectations - Reality

Calling = Pleasure / Pain

Workaholism = What Are You Running From? / What Are You Living For?

Flow = Skill / Challenge

Curiosity = Wonder + Awe

Authenticity = Self-Awareness x Courage

Narcissism = (Self-Esteem)^2 x Entitlement

Integrity = Authenticity x Invisibility x Reliability

Happiness = Wanting What You Have / Having What You Want

Joy = Love - Fear

Thriving = Frequency of Positive / Frequency of Negative

Faith = Belief / Intellect

Wisdom = Square Root of Experience

Innovation = Creativity - Cynicism

Event + Reaction = Outcome

Suffering = Pain x Resistance

Emotion = Energy + Motion

Emotions = Life

Gravity (Emotional Baggage): Conceptualized as a force that affects emotional selves, similar to physical gravity