Looking At The Science Of Being Happy
Happiness is an elusive idea. What is happiness? As maybe as frivolous as the question can sound, there is actually a lot of science going into trying to answer the question. Is happiness simply a release of chemicals in the brain? Is happiness coming from money or success? Is happiness coming from your relationships? Perhaps happiness comes from inner peace. Everyone has their theories and all are based in partial truths, yet what makes us truly happy is something that we still can not quite answer.
There are suggestions in research that humans were happiest when we were hunter gatherers, having more free time than we do now and having time for friends and family, storytelling and the like. What we do know is that happiness is something of a human experience. While we can see chimpanzees and apes participating in play they do not think about whether or not they are happy. Indeed the question of whether I am happy or not is a uniquely human problem that stems from our cognitive abilities. This is a fancy way to say that we can sit around and over analyze our day and life and it can end up making us feel good or bad about ourselves. To further strengthen this suggestion, it has also been found that humans are their happiest when they are truly in the moment. The more we think about what we are doing, the less happy we are. A human mind is a wandering mind and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.
So what is happiness then? By the sound of this it is simply a place of blissful ignorance. Not worrying about tomorrow or what other people are thinking just simply being in the moment you are in. But how do we achieve this state when so much of our life is about planning for the future? We can't very well suggest not to think about the future and just go like every day is your last. This sounds like a surefire way to wreck yourself. In fact, worrying is part of our learning mechanisms. Knowing that snakes are dangerous for example, comes from the same place. Neuroscientists have also noted that the prefrontal cortex, the part of our brain for worrying but also planning and and carrying out intentional behaviors, has grown in size and complexity over the last 7 million years, it is the reason we have developed the way we are. Human success comes from this future way of thinking yet it also appears to be the reason for our unhappiness as well. You can further surmise that part of being human is always wanting more. There is a theory that why the most popular landscape study shows a body or water in a flat foreground with a mountain in the background is because it speaks to our ancient brain. It shows us a safe place to rest and the excitement of the unknown over the mountain. To be happy usually also means to be content and the human mind just doesn't seem to want to accept what is there at face value but experience as much as life has to offer.
So what is it? Our nature dictates that we adventure and explore, that we remain unsatisfied and that we plan for the future and worry and all of these things also make us unhappy. Well, while the wandering mind is an unhappy one, a focused mind is a happy one. So being focused on a task at hand, no matter how simple, can bring a degree of happiness and protect your future from just staying in moments of bliss. Of course happiness can also only be achieved when our hierarchy of needs are being met, we have shelter and food and people in our lives we care for, but this is not enough. In order to experience true happiness we need to keep ourselves truly in the moment, be it because we are focused on an endeavor that requires our brains to think deeply or because we are having fun and experiencing joy; being truly lost in the moment of dance or some other leisure activity. Either way, the culprit comes down to allowing your mind to wander into worry and dread. I hesitate to say not to allow day dreaming because this is part of the creative process, but if you find yourself in the doom cycle of creating worst case scenarios worrying about things you can't really change, this is an issue. Ultimately the conclusion is that our happiness is something that we create and control. With the control of our thoughts and our minds, which you can better achieve with mindfulness practices, you can better control your mood. Your happiness, your choice. Reach out to us at info@bullionite.com with your comments and questions.