Our brain is wired this way. We have a primitive brain that is easily activated into a fight, flight, or freeze response. Much of the modern news cycle works to capture our attention by trying to scare us. This is the aim of modern politics, too. We can all feel the growing level of anxiety in our culture and globally. But there are other channels. We can also look around and see that there is enormous beauty in the world and zillions of acts of kindness at the very same time.
Depending on what seeds we water and where we direct our attention, we can live in fear and confusion or we can activate many other powerful dimensions of our own heart and mind—of caring, confidence, equanimity, and well-being. These are innate in us and with care can be enhanced and awakened. Whatever seeds we water will grow in our minds and hearts. JS: Do you think that individuals practicing gratitude impacts those around them? If so, how? JK: How could it not? When the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh explained this, he said that when the crowded refugee boats met with storms and pirates, if everyone panicked, all would be lost.
But if even one person in the boat remained centered and calm, it was enough to show the way for everyone to survive. We become that person on the boat of the world when we center ourselves with a peaceful heart, with a spirit of care and well-being. This affects all those around us. Caring has love, awareness, gratitude, and appreciation all in it.
You ask, can changing your inner life make a difference in the troubles of the world? Nothing else can! No amount of technology, computers, Internet, artificial intelligence, biotech, nanotechnology, or space technology is going to stop continuing racism, warfare, environmental destruction, and tribalism.
These all have their source in the human heart. The outer developments that are so remarkable in our human world now need to be matched by the inner developments of humanity. These inner developments can awaken compassion for ourselves and others. They grow from loving attention and awareness, they develop a deep sense of interconnection, of care and social and emotional wisdom.
People who are happy make more money, are more likely to get married, have stronger immune systems, and more friends. So it makes sense that as evolution favored happiness, we evolved to be happy. Studies show that, on the whole, humans are pretty happy as a species. Researchers compiled the results of nearly 1, surveys —which cumulatively polled 1. Even prison inmates eventually come to describe themselves as happy, after an initial period of unhappiness.
But while happiness has benefits, so does discontent. Both were necessary for early human survival, Lyubomirsky says. Similarly, some manifestations of happiness pdf that benefitted early humans are now detrimental to our emotional health. The flip side of the happiness early humans enjoyed from their success was the unhappiness they found in failure. That, too, was evolutionarily helpful, Buss says.
If they experienced jealousy, distress, or horror, it would spur them to improve their conditions and return to a state of happiness. For most of us, unhappiness is a more powerful driver than happiness. In a series of experiments, psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky demonstrated that we feel the sting of loss more than we enjoy the gain of the same amount. Unhappiness, and its cousins misery and pain, could prevent starvation and dismemberment, while happiness was a more subtle goad toward the better things in life.
As a consequence, no matter what amount of good fortune we encounter, we return to a base level of happiness. Living in a state of perpetual happiness would actually have been dangerous for early humans.
If humans reacted to every situation with the same cheerful attitude—treating enemies the same as friends, accepting barren environments as if they were fruitful—they would not last long, wrote Jerome Barkow, an emeritus professor of sociology and anthropology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Not all forms of happiness can be explained by evolution, particularly more recent manifestations. Culture plays an important role in adaptation, as different groups adopt different behaviors that help them navigate their unique worlds, Barkow said.
But this approach has recently been found to be too simplistic. Recent research instead suggests that individual differences play a great role in our psychological fit for happiness.
He suggested that a happy life involves experiencing the right emotions based on your values and beliefs. Therefore, happiness is not simply about a hedonistic pursuit of pleasure, but a meaningful engagement with life.
At times it may be appropriate to be sad or angry as well as being optimistic and hopeful that things can change. Meaning is a close relative of happiness. They often go hand in hand, but are two entirely separate constructs. It is possible to lead a pleasurable life, but without much meaning. It is also possible to experience a meaningful life dedicated passionately to a cause, but experience very little positive emotion.
My own forthcoming study has found that meaning is more predictive of happiness in the long run — over and above positive emotions. But meaning and pleasure can be subjective.
For one person, raising children in a stable and homely family house may be the best way to achieve meaning, while for someone else it may be travelling the world and learning as much as possible about it — with or without children. Research has indeed found that people with different personalities differ in their experience of happiness. For example, people who are extroverted are more likely to feel fulfilled by a hedonistic approach to happiness.
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