Reasoning how to be happy

2023 Author: Katelyn Chandter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 13:08

Happy, optimistic people are more successful and wealthy. Happiness is sometimes too short-lived. How to manage and control your happiness? How to be happy and live happily?

Happy moments are so fleeting. You will not have time to look back - everything has already passed. Then we start looking for a new goal that will make us happy. It turns out that this is how our brain works.

There are "hormones of happiness" that are released when we do something pleasant - have a delicious lunch, argue or spend money (everyone has their own joys). But these chemical compounds break down quickly.

However, we can make these hormones appear - and make us happier - whenever we want to. Every day. At least five times. This article provides several ways to manage your happiness.

How to be happier

Even if you have discovered a new planet, the rush of "hormones of joy" will not last forever. Despite the fact that the brain desperately wants this sensation. In each of us, the level of these substances in the brain drops from time to time. This is how our brain works.

But a person is also a reasonable person, that if he wants he can control the "hormones of happiness" and cause them at the moment when it is needed. Of course, for this you will need to do your "homework". But the result is worth it - to be happy at will. So how do you control your happiness?

1. Manage your stress hormone

At times, everyone has a rush of the "stress hormone" cortisol. In the past, this sensation created a neural connection in the brain that works to keep you out of trouble today.

You can call it whatever you want - stress, anxiety, fear, or panic, depending on the severity of the sensation - but cortisol always makes you think that if you don't take decisive action right now, something terrible will happen.

We must learn to recognize negative feelings from the past. This will help you develop behaviors to resist them. When you realize that stress or anxiety is just an old response to an old threat, then stop looking for new evidence. And the negative feeling will just go away.

2. Go to the dream

Each step towards a goal that is important to us activates the synthesis of dopamine. Whether your goal is the perfect crime or living in a villa by the ocean, your brain releases dopamine as you take the next step towards your goal. This is why we can spend years becoming a rock star or a successful doctor. And we rejoice when we get a little closer to the dream.

Athletes spend so much time training because while they are exercising, their brains synthesize small amounts of dopamine with each step towards the expected reward. Winning a game or competition, on the other hand, leads to a powerful release of dopamine.

3. Train your neurons to be positive

You can train your brain for new, positive sensations. Start by identifying the neural connection that you would like to have.

Here's a simple example. Fred wants to fight his alcohol addiction. He decides to replace the craving for him with some hobby that would not have so many unwanted side effects. He thinks about it and remembers that in his youth he was very fond of drawing. He decides to pick up a pencil every time he is drawn to a drink.

At first, Fred doesn't like his drawings and doesn't like the fact that he deprives himself of the pleasure of drinking. After a while, drawing begins to seem like a gift to Fred, not a burden. He feels that the feeling of discomfort is going away. This was a restructuring of the neural structure.

The neural circuitry associated with drawing has grown to the point where it rivals Fred's alcohol addiction. Now he knows how to make himself comfortable.

4. Do the opposite

The brain loves to be in control of situations and feels great when you are in charge. However, our control is often limited and unpredictable, so sometimes there is a feeling of anxiety that "drives away" our happiness.

You can teach yourself to feel comfortable even when you are not completely in control of the situation. To create such a neural circuit, pay attention to the moments when you strive for control over everything, and do exactly the opposite.

For example, if you want to learn how to bake the world's best cupcakes, try skipping recipes for 45 days. Conversely, if you throw everything indiscriminately into the pan, follow the recipes for 45 days.

At times, you will inevitably feel weak and insignificant. This will lead to a release of cortisol (the stress hormone), but you can learn to feel safe even when you're not completely in control.

5. Seek support from loved ones

When you feel like you can count on someone else's support, that feeling comes from oxytocin. It also helps manage stress. There is no point in pulling your hair out because you feel uncomfortable, but switching to something pleasant for you is very correct.

People are arranged in such a way that communication with loved ones becomes this pleasant affair. The habit of communicating, and better to cuddle with relatives, is a good way to distract from problems, because touching strongly stimulates the production of oxytocin.

6. Don't expect the impossible

Life brings joy when the reality around us exceeds our expectations. Your successes and failures are highly dependent on expectations, which is why it is so important to correctly assess the latter.

Expectations are neural pathways. They are activated by electrical impulses when the brain expects information to arrive soon. They are activated in you subconsciously, because they are walking along the "beaten path" - along the chains along which they have already passed more than once. So patterns appear in the head that prevent us from realizing reality correctly.

Track your expectations. Write down on a piece of paper situations when you expected damage and actually experienced feelings of bitterness, as well as when you expected rewards and experienced this feeling. Once you get used to capturing high expectations, move on to small ones. This can even be done several times a day.

Once you learn to keep track of your expectations and the associated emotions, you can easily adjust them.

Each person is born with many neurons, but with very few connections between them. These connections are built as we interact with the world around us and ultimately create us as we are. But sometimes you have a desire to slightly modify these formed connections. And find new habits. The habit of happiness sounds great. And a great way to be happier.