Can happiness be learned?
We all seek happiness and think of it as something that needs to be pursued rather than a skill to be learned. However better understanding of the brain suggests that happiness is no different than learning to play the violin or a complex sport. If you practice it, you'll get better at it.
Author of The Emotional Life of Your Brain Richard Davidson has studied the brain’s ability to change itself and enhance emotional wellbeing through mental training. He suggests that our behaviours, thoughts and actions have a robust and measurable effect on brain function and structure.
Cultivating positive thoughts and behaviours can alter our brain at a biological level in a positive manner, according to the research. From this perspective, happiness can be viewed as a skill that can be practiced and learned.
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And according to Eric Karpinski, a biotech investor turned success coach, the solution is to change the perception of one’s life by paying more attention to what’s working right instead of unproductively fretting about what is wrong. According to Karpinski, in the workplace happy people are more capable of finding new opportunities than unhappy people, who fixate on what can go wrong.
These ideas aren’t original says Karpinski. There’s years of study into the field known as neuroplasticity. Not only can happiness be learned, but by treating people kindly, happiness can actually be spread. “Neurons that fire together, wire together,” Karpinski says, citing a neuroplasticity maxim.
This not only applies in the brain, but to groups as well. Visible changes in mood among one person are contagious in social settings, such as in an office environment, Karpinski said. If one person is angry or upset, the mood sours among the rest. These changes are communicated by mirror neurons, which capture the perceived emotions of others.
“Mirror neurons are something we can tap into to take advantage of our happiness,” Karpinski said. If a room contains happy and unhappy people, those most expressive of emotions will have the most influence, he said. Mirror neurons will most strongly pick up their emotions. So happy people shouldn’t hide it.
“If we actually share the good things, share what we’re grateful for, and start conversations that way... then we create that opportunity,” Karpinski says. Give away happiness and you’ll get back even more. Over a longer term, practicing an appreciation for what’s good can rewire the brain to a more optimistic outlook.
And a 2008 study in the British Medical Journal found that happiness tends to cluster in social networks. In other words, happy people tend to associate with other happy people.
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