Pack up your troubles!

While many people believe that happiness is as easy as winning the lottery, human experience will show that happiness is much more elusive than winning, power or cash, and history hold many a legendary tale of fabulous fortune and ultimate ruin.

In the past, the only tried and tested way of finding happiness lay in monastic pursuit, but somehow the habit of monks, the vows of chastity and never ending meditation never caught on, and somehow the vow of poverty could never quite make sense.

While happiness through sacrifice may feel good while you are doing it, the pleasure quickly fade in the face of our modern day living. But thanks to the research that started this journey to sense, we now have the answer again. And were it not for the fact that the secret was hiding in sight all the time, we may never have believed that it's as easy as making up our mind.

In his article that highlight the latest revelation on nature, Dumb Little Man provides his readers with the science behind the facts that make happiness a breeze. Take for example that only 20% of our reality experience is made up by perception, be that sensory or more, while a whopping 80% is preconceived and subject to choice.

It boggles the mind when you think that happiness is a decision, and in the absence of choosing it our feelings would default to any of a number of subconscious fears, assumptions, probabilities and presumption. That our live can change miraculously if we start to choose how we feel, and that lofty and noble ideas of mindful living, of being the change we want to see, of creating our own destiny and making the most out of every single moment of life are all in within reach.

If you think about it, it almost make sense, until you start living it. By living our life as nature intend, we begin to comprehend the the answer to most of the questions in life look for value and meaning, and most of the time we'd be happy to live it just as it is, if only we were happy to get it.

Got it?

Good!

Moral Judgement can be altered

With science feverishly studying everything our brain is capable of, we are finding many of the results challenging what we previously thought about our self. Take for example a recent discovery that our moral compass in life is as steady as the electromagnetic field applied to that area of the brain where they are stored. According to Liane Young, lead author of the research at MIT:

"You think of morality as being a really high-level behavior," she says. "To be able to apply (a magnetic field) to a specific brain region and change people's moral judgments is really astonishing."

Moral judgments can be altered

Feeling good

Have you ever been in a situation where you were having a good time and found yourself asking “Why are we having a party?” According to recent scientific research we don’t need a reason! It seems as if feeling good does not need a reason.
I do not know if you remember the very popular song “Celebrate!” by Kool and the Gang, but it reminds me of “I’ve got a feeling” by Black Eyed Peas. Both of these songs illustrate that we don’t need any reason to have a party, or to feel good.

Also have a listen to “Good Time” by Brazilian Girls.

How are you feeling today?

Trippy

Take for instance WOW. And for those not familiar with the term, we are not referring to the trippy expression of wonder and amazement that is often used on the discovery of something that we didn’t expect in our wildest dreams…
In this instance I am referring to a global online virtual gaming experience called World of Warcraft. According to its Wikipedia inscription at the time of publishing this article it is “a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Blizzard Entertainment.”
What is so trippy are the similarities between the virtual game and real life. If we consider that in real life we maintain a multitude of personalities, each with their own way of looking at the world to the extent that we change our value system according to each persona you come pretty close to the virtual gaming world.
And for those who scoff the dedicated players of this online world it may be interesting to quote that the latest exchange rate of WOW was in the region of 1000 Gold Pieces to 12 Pound. In , fact, the online gaming experience is so real that it may be better to describe the differences between WOW and reality.
In the game you cannot make any permanent mark on your environment, ie you cannot carve your name on a tree that those who come by next week can see it. Every player sees the world as it is in real time, without the influence of anyone that cannot be communicated with in real time.
This does not mean that there are many a legendry character in WOW, because word of mouth and human memory is an integral part of gameplay. But it means that you have to accept every experience as a level playing field for every character sharing your experience.
If one considers that as of January 22, 2008, World of Warcraft has surpassed 10 million subscribers worldwide, with more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and about 5.5 million in Asia it seems as if “making our mark” on the world has lost much of its earlier appeal.
It seems as if a massive number of individuals prefer to experience a reality that is un spoilt by the human hand. In that way they can expect that the experience of their fellow player is the same as their own, two weeks later, a phenomenon that has given raise to the existence of  cheat’s that can tell you exactly what to expect, where.
In the real world this is much akin to many pop culture psychology fads such as “the Secret”, and others that advertise anything from instant wealth to instant health and happiness. And just like those cheats in WOW, the cheat’s IRL may be free, or can be bought. Except that those in WOW can also be bought with real money, while such real life “self-help programs” cannot be bought with WOW Gold Points.
It makes me think, doesn’t it?

Positive pop

This summer, join researchers, practitioners, and other interested individuals for an online exploration of the Foundations of Positive Psychology taught by leading positive psychology expert Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar through the University of Pennsylvania's College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS). This new, non-credit course will examine the history and scientific underpinnings of this intriguing field and show you how its principles have been used to enhance work and home life.

In this course, Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar's weekly video lectures will explore the academic research underlying this new science. Class assignments and online interaction with Dr. Ben-Shahar and fellow students will help you formulate action steps for incorporating positive psychology into your daily routine.

Now you have three choices to guess what is being advertised:

a. A course on positive psychology? (Way too obvious of course.)

b. A exploratory journey to harmony and enlightenment? (Too floral, but probably worth exploring!)

c. Discovering your chackras' core? (Perhaps a bit technical?)

d. Learn to apply the science of happiness.

Really