Understanding Why Happiness is Biological
Understanding Why Happiness is Biological short cuts all the paths we take looking for it. It is sitting in front of our face and doesn’t require money to buy it. Many people without money are just as happy as those who are rich.
Sure, being rich has its perks, but not everyone that is rich is happy and sometimes after becoming rich and famous, people deteriorate rapidly as they try to settle into a new lifestyle. The reasons this happens are biological.
When Happiness Began
Since the beginning of time, the brain has guided us through inducing behaviors that will help us survive and thrive. You would be surprised how little you consciously control. Nature makes you hungry. Nature makes you desire sex. Nature makes you want to take care of your loved ones. Man’s nature without the hormones wouldn’t pursue any of these behaviors.
How does Nature entice you? The brain stimulates happiness hormones and neurotransmitters for these behaviors. Eating stimulates dopamine. That’s why it is such a pleasure. Sex does the same and so does looking after our families and friends. We are rewarded with the right behaviors that induce us to repeat them.
What are the Behaviors of Happiness
What are the natural behaviors that induce happiness brain chemicals that are productive? Learning. Nothing stimulates more rewards than learning new information or physical movements that the brain interprets as helping us survive and thrive. We have been pushing the envelope since the cave man days. We get high rewards for challenge and risk in the process of improving ourselves.
Why do we get stale, stuck and bored? We stop learning. We become complacent in what we know and maybe our work doesn’t require more learning, just rote routine. We stop challenging ourselves. Our brain goes to sleep, stops growing and starts to atrophy anticipating we must be ready to die.
Seeking Passions
The most lively people on the planet are those with passions. They are invigorated by achieving a goal and do not let any obstacles stand in their way. Their lives are filled with learning, challenge, and risk. Enter the entrepreneur or the extreme athlete. Both are seeking ultimate challenges.
People fully engaged can enter a state of flow. This is a state of peak creativity and peak performance. Adrenaline junkies. And normal people engaged in their challenge in which they can bar their distractions to fully focus. All the happiness brain chemicals are stimulated in this state to sustain it and then to addict us to it. We have to return to the activity to find that sweet spot again where we experience pure bliss.
So, in seeking happiness, look to your behaviors not your accumulated possessions.
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Lifestyles that Prioritize Fitness and Happiness
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