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Born to be happy?
So what do you have to do to find happiness? Are we wired up to be cheerful, or are some of us destined to languish in abject misery? Check out this article in which Dorothy Wade reports on the new science of feeling good.
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on Tuesday, November 1st, 2005 at 7:37 am and is filed under Happiness News.
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November 1st, 2005 at 7:19 pm
wow doc happy - that’s the best article i’ve read in a long long time. i loved the “analytical” nature of it (well, for a non-professional like me!) i’m sure i’ll get even more out of it when i re-read it ….. i’d really recommend that anybody interested in the “deeper” side of happiness read it. Looks of ideas for more ‘net surfing …….
I’d like to make some comments in the hope that someone will answer them and we can interact ….
in no particular order…
- the article mentioned of the evolution of man. I know that scientists have predicted that around 1.7 million years ago, “mankind” are thought not to have any emotional thoughts or even feelings like allegences. So if a man was killed by a leopard, for example, the others probably didn’t express anything like unhappiness on the death. They had no emotions. I don’t know when scientists think that mankind started having any emotions etc, but if you think aout it, 1.7 milliion years ago is a LONG time.
- it says that “negative thinking is deeply ingrained in the human psyche” . I’d go further and say that negative thinking is “normal” for some people. Not just for hereditary reasons, but the biology of their brains. Everyone is born differently, and so it goes without saying that there must be some people born with brains that are more predisposed to feeling unhappy NORMALLY without any negative triggers. ie. they might have resting brain states that are negative.
Unfortunately the article also didn’t mention the overall role of the limbic system of the brain. It’s the part of the brain responsible for (amongst other things) emotions.
- they said that there are 6 universal emotions, but none are “unhappiness” or anything like it. The closest it comes is with “sadness” but this isn’t unhappiness, is it? I don’t think so. So i’m concluding that the definition of 6 universal emotions only includes unhappiness as an oppositve of the emotion of “joy” .. …. i don’t know if this is right or not. Interesting how the word “happy” or “unhappy” isn’tmentioned in the “6 universal emotions”…….
- later the article looks at the fact that people can crave something that gives them little pleasure. Maybe this can be related back to something else that they said - that people strive for happiness, but when they reach the stage where they wanted to get to to be happy, they then strive for more ….. so that they never experience the “happiness” because they’re always wanting more. interesting …….. i should look to see if and how this might happen with me………
A great read doc happy. Do you know of any places in real-life or online that discuss this type of thing ……… with a slight technical angle to it??