This Is Scientific Proof That Happiness Is A Choice
The Huffington Post
| By Carolyn Gregoire
One theory in psychology
research suggests that we all have a happiness "set-point" that largely determines our
overall well-being. We oscillate around this set point, becoming happier when
something positive happens or the opposite, afterwards returning to
equilibrium.
But this set-point, to a
certain extent, can be reset. Although our general mood levels and
well-being are partially determined by factors like genetics and upbringing,
roughly 40 percent of our happiness is within our control, according
to some experts, and a large body of research in the field of positive
psychology has shown that happiness is a choice that anyone can make.
As
psychologist William James put it, “The greatest discovery of any
generation is that a human can alter his life by altering his attitude."
Here are eight ways you
can take control of your own happiness.
Simply try.
A little effort can go a
long way in increasing happiness. Two small experimental studies, published this year in the Journal of Positive Psychology,
found that simply trying to be happier could actually elevate mood and
well-being.
In one study, two groups of students listened to "happy"
music -- one group was instructed to make a concerted effort to feel happier,
while the other group was instructed not to actively try to lift their mood.
The group that tried to feel happy experienced the most elevated moods after
listening to the music.
Make happiness your
number-one goal.
People who are happy
choose to make happiness among their top goals in life, according to
psychologist Tom G. Stevens, Ph.D., author of You Can Choose to Be Happy.
"Choose to take
advantage of opportunities to learn how to be happy," Stevens told
WebMD. "For example, reprogram your beliefs and values. Learn good
self-management skills, good interpersonal skills, and good career-related
skills.
Choose to be in environments and around people that increase your
probability of happiness. The persons who become the happiest and grow the most
are those who also make truth and their own personal growth primary
values."
Linger on those little,
positive moments.
According to Rick Hanson, neuropsychologist and author of
Hardwiring Happiness, our brains are wired to scout for all that's bad -- as he
puts it, the brain is like velcro for negative experiences and teflon for
positive ones.
This "negativity bias" causes the brain to react
intensely to bad news, compared to how it responds to good news. But we can
counter the brain's negativity bias -- which triggers us to form stronger bad
memories than good ones -- by appreciating and lingering on those tiny,
positive moments.
"People don't
recognize the hidden power of everyday experiences," Hanson told The Huffington Post. "We're surrounded by
opportunities -- 10 seconds here or 20 seconds there -- to just register useful
experiences and learn from them. People don't do that when they could."
Choose mindfulness.
The secret to happiness
could be as simple (and difficult) as becoming more mindful. Meditation -- a
practice that anyone can do, anywhere, so long as they're willing to sit and
try to silence the mind -- is thought to be a happiness-booster.
University of Wisconsin
psychology professor Richard
Davidson found in his research that a meditation practice might help to
shift brain activity from the right frontal area of the brain (associated with
depression, anxiety and worry) to the left, which has been found to correlate
with feelings of happiness, excitement, joy and alertness.
Smile your way to
happiness.
The secret to boosting
your mood could be as simple as making yourself smile. A 2011 Michigan State University study found that workers who
smiled as a result of cultivating positive thoughts exhibited improved mood and
less withdrawal. Fake smiling, on the other hand, resulted in worse moods and
withdrawal from work.
Practice gratitude.
Cultivating thankfulness
and gratitude is a scientifically-backed way to
increase happiness, and it's firmly within your control to choose to be
more grateful.
Grateful people tend to
appreciate simple pleasures, defined as "those pleasures in life that are
available to most people," according to a report in the journal of Social Behavior and
Personality.
Pursue happiness, find
happiness -- and success.
Conventional thinking
has it that pursuing success will lead to happiness, but research has shown
that it may be just the opposite.
Pursuing happiness leads not only to
happiness itself, but also to success, according to Shawn Achor, author of The
Happiness Advantage.
In his 12 years
researching happiness at Harvard, Achor found that cultivating a positive
mindset could boost well-being and improve workers' performance on many
levels, from productivity to creativity and engagement.
"People who
cultivate a positive mind-set perform better in the face of challenge," he
wrote in Harvard Business Review in 2012. "I call this the 'happiness
advantage' -- every business outcome shows improvement when the brain is
positive."
Let yourself be happy.
Bronnie Ware, a
palliative care nurse who spent years working with elderly people on their
deathbeds, noticed a common theme that came up repeatedly among her patients at
the end of their lives: They regretted not "letting" themselves be
happy.
Ware, the author of The
Top Five Regrets Of The Dying, wrote in a Huffington Post blog:
Many did not realize until the end that happiness
is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called
'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their
physical lives.
Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their
selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly
and have silliness in their life again ...
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life.
Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
Practice compassion.
Want to increase your
brain's capacity for happiness?
Try meditating on compassion. Brain-scanning
studies on French monk Matthieu Ricard found that when he was practicing loving-kindness meditation, his brain produced gamma waves
"never reported before in the neuroscience literature." Ricard has
the largest capacity for happiness ever recorded, thanks to neuroplasticity.
“Meditation is not just
blissing out under a mango tree but it completely changes your brain and
therefore changes what you are,” Ricard told the New York Daily News.
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