23 Feb 3 Tips A Neuroscientist Recommends For Becoming A Genuinely Happier Person
via MGB Health by Jason Wachob
When you think about it, happiness as a concept is a little elusive—what does it mean, really, and can you actually become a “happier” person? What does “searching for happiness” truly look like in practice?
We had to float the question over to communication pathologist and cognitive neuroscientist Caroline Leaf, Ph.D. Her answer? Yes, you can train your brain to become happier—although, the process looks different for everyone. “It’s your formula. You have to find your code for happiness,” she says on this episode of the mindbodygreen podcast.
Your specific inner work may look different from a friend’s or neighbor’s, but you’ll follow the same general flow. Here, Leaf offers three tips:
1. Redefine your meaning of happiness.
According to Leaf, we must gravitate away from the notion that happiness is synonymous with pure positivity. While a sunny, bubbly personality may come to mind when you think of what “happiness” looks like, Leaf says true happiness doesn’t always have to exude sunshine and roses.
“Redefine happiness as a sense of peace,” she notes. Inner peace can, of course, include smiles and laughter. But sometimes? Peace can be tranquil, quiet. Peace is acceptance. “That internal sense of ‘This is who I am,'” adds Leaf. “This is what I can do. This is what I can’t do, and I’m OK with that. I’m OK with feeling depressed sometimes, and I’m OK with being anxious sometimes.”
The first step is recognizing what happiness means to you, not how you think you should act…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE