Secrets of Happiness

Recently I went to a conference at Stanford on happiness. It was very thought provoking and I would like to share some of my notes.

Rick Hansen's presentation was particularly interesting to me as it explained some of the biological underpinnings of our experiences of happiness or unhappiness.

• Flows of thought leave material traces in the brain. What you think about will impact your brain!
• Blood flow increases to the area of the brain being stimulated. This can be observed and measured. They have plotted out the effects of various activities on the brain.
• What we think can change the way genes are expressed in specific cells. In other words, the effects of thought are not transitory or momentary. They change the brain over time.
• Neurons that fire together, wire together (this is just like what they showed in the film What the Bleep. This is why it's hard to change habits. It takes about 40 repetitions to set a new pattern
• Imaginary activity also can leave traces in your brain. If you think about what you want to do, it will leave a trace in your brain just like you did it. I suppose that's why pornography is so successful.
• Attention is like a spotlight. What you "attend to" stimulates specific parts of the brain and that area is strengthened and becomes more developed. The brain is like a muscle. The more you exercise a particular thought, the easier it is to have that thought. Makes sense when you think about practicing a musical instrument. It's not just the hand or mouth that develops, the brain develops too.

 Morale of this story? Pay attention to what you're thinking and doing. It's effecting your brain!