Can happiness be learned? What does science say about this?
We already know the esoteric teachers’ answer, a lot and well. But can we really change our inherited nature to see the glass as half empty?
In crisis situations, I used to tell frustrated family members that according to the current state of science, we only have one life. This life can be spent in constant worry, unhappiness, longing, and tension, but for what? The best strategy is to always find that moment in our life that can make you happy. Of course, you can’t go far with this wisdom, because I confess that no one has ever slapped his forehead and said, “Yes, from now on I will be happy,” and rose from his doubts with a haunted face. That’s why what scientists are saying is interesting, because let’s face it: it would be a big help if we could be happier in our single life than we usually are.
the IflScience He talks about this in his latest article. They say that happiness and sadness are not incompatible, and how
True contentment requires the ability to accept negative events and emotions.
“Happiness in life, as a concept, includes unpleasant experiences and our ability to integrate difficulties and adversity into growth, learning, and community building,” he said. Dr. Emiliana Simone Thomas, He is the scientific director of IFLScience, a research center on this topic at the University of California, Berkeley.
“If you think that happiness is pleasure, fun, and maximizing material comfort, you will never be happy,” he explained.
According to Simon Thomas, these people are called “Have fun in the squirrel wheel “They just trample, and that only leads to permanent disappointment.”
Factors such as money, fame, power, or even the Oval Office are less likely to bring lasting happiness than close connections with family and friends.
In other words, our general attitude is shaped by how we orient ourselves toward the world on a mental and emotional level. In 2014, Simon Thomas and his colleagues launched a course to help people learn this skill and they found it
Participants’ subjective happiness and life satisfaction increased by 5 percent after 10 weeks of training.
For example, developing the ability to connect with others is one of the most effective ways to increase happiness. “There are a lot of skills that can be developed through networking,” Simon Thomas said. “Including things like friendly conversation with people you don’t know, to feel trust and our shared humanity.”
It may seem strange, but a recent study found that people who were asked to strike up conversations with strangers during their commute in Chicago
They always rated the commute to work as more enjoyable than those who sat quietly.
Learning to break the silence, for example, can be the key to a more joyful life.
Before venturing into a conversation with strangers, all participants in the above study expected that talking to a stranger would be awkward and end in embarrassment. This pessimism represents what is called “negativity bias,” our very ancient prejudice.
In order to survive in the wilderness, we had to pay more attention to dangers than to the beauty of the landscape, so our brains evolved to focus on the negatives rather than the positives.
The existence of this ancient mechanism is clearly a serious obstacle to finding happiness, although it makes perfect sense from an evolutionary point of view, because it has been the key to survival for many thousands of years.
Fortunately, our brains are plastic, which means it is possible to create new neural pathways and change our nerves. It’s an old cliché among scientists who research the nervous system in which neurons,
They often stimulate each other, “bonding together”, and this mechanism is also the key to increasing happiness.
“The more we practice focusing on one type of thought or consciousness, the more routinely that thought or consciousness becomes prominent,” says Simon Thomas.
“So it will be easier for us to think about positive things if we practice thinking about positive things.”
For example, learning how to enjoy life’s most magical moments and cultivating gratitude—both of which can be accomplished by keeping a journal of all the things we’re grateful for—can help us develop a happier state of mind and increase the potential for positive emotions.
This has been shown
Consciously maintaining gratitude for the things that matter to us helps mitigate the effects of negative experiences.
“Many studies show the benefits of practicing gratitude.” – It is to explain.
According to the researcher, practicing gratitude strengthens the individual’s feeling that there are good things in his life. “This allows them to survive periods of shock.”
It is impossible, of course, to show clearly how far and to what extent this individual’s attitude toward things can be changed by such training. So no one expected it Turn your ears into a tiger Change is possible, but with a little practice, cultivating social relationships, and maintaining an outward sense of gratitude, everyone can achieve change.
