Train your brain to focus on the positive.
I'm a happiness junkie. I surround myself with happy memories, watch comedy shows and sitcoms and in a bookshop, I head straight for the philosophy section for books on happiness. This amuses my daughter who cannot fathom why a psychiatrist should look for books on happiness! Maybe, dealing with stories of trauma and sadness on a daily basis enhances one's quest for an antidote. In fact, while neuroscientists have improved their understanding of emotions like fear, envy, anger and even love, happiness is still an elusive concept. Hundreds of 'happiness' researchers around the world are working on unravelling it's various aspects.
A university in Rotterdam has a world database for happiness studies with 6713 publications in their bibliography of happiness! So what does neuroscience and mental health say about the subject? Rick Hanson a psychologist and neuroscientist proposes that happiness and contentment are related to negative and positive experiences which impact the brain. His theory is that the brain remembersnegative experiences more than positive ones-it's like Velcro for negative experiences and like Teflon for positive. As a result, even though many of us have many positive experiences, the brain tends to focus unduly on the negative-a barrier to feeling happy. The challenge is to enhance the positive experiences, keep their memories alive and replay them in your mind so they become positive implicit memories for the brain.
Happiness scientists had earlier described a Happiness treadmill. People seem to have a set point of happiness and external experiences appear to change the happiness levels only momentarily. Current neuroscience believes that the brain can be trained to be happy and focus on positive thoughts. It can also be trained to handle negative experiences in a manner that one bounces back to the default happiness state much faster. While some people may agonise over a remark that someone made, there are others who are upset for a moment but then brush it off and move on. The second variety of people, who do not allow themselves to ponder over negatives, are the ones who are more happy.
Matthieu Ricard, a microbiologist turned Buddhist monk remarks in a popular TED talk, how people want to be happy but end up doing things which cause unhappiness. He says that at any given time, the human brain can hold only one emotion and letting go of negative emotions such as hate, envy, arrogance and obsession gives way to compassion, love and happiness. He recommends 'mind training', a method of training the mind. When negative thoughts arise, do not nurture them but allow them to appear like clouds and gradually move away. Brain science has found that the left pre-frontal brain which is considered the jewel of human evolution lights up with activity when it is happy-be it through meditation or watching happy videos. The challenge is to keep it lit up most of the time.
I would recommend playing the 'My ten happy places' game. These places could be within you or outside you. A song that lifts you, the taste of mishti doi which lingers on in your mouth, a smiling child, the memory of your baby when you first held her, the sight of the sea, the smell of rain, your best friend, the joke you shared with your lover or the awe you feel on seeing the mountains. Find your ten happy places, nurture them, and let them help you tide through tough times so that you come back to your default state of happiness as soon as you can. Happy 2012.
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