Think Happy!

A French Buddhist monk is, according to Scientists, the world’s happiest man. And the good news is that he is sharing his secrets to make the world a happier place.

The trick, he reckons, is to put some effort into it. In essence, happiness is a “skill” to be learned.

Matthieu Ricard, 60, abandoned his distinguished academic career in biochemsitry to study Tibetan Buddhism in the Himalayas. He now works as the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama and took part in studies aimed to demonstrate that meditation can cause significant and lasting change in the levels of happiness.

MRI scans showed that he and other long-term meditators – who had completed more than 10,000 hours each – experienced a huge level of “positive emotions” in the left pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which is associated with happiness. The right-hand side, which handles negative thoughts, is suppressed.

Further studies have shown that even novices who have done only a little meditation have increased levels of happiness. But Mr Ricard’s abilities were head and shoulders above the others involved in the trials.

Personally speaking, the most important factor in learning to relax has been studying Aikido. There are all sorts of reasons for that – and it is something that I intend to write on at length at some other time – but meditation has been a part of it that I have taken into my daily life. The form of meditation that we use as a method to relax, centre ourselves and unify body and mind involves ‘Ki breathing’. Ki breathing also has a number of physical benefits: improvement of circulation, strengthening the body’s immune system, delivery of fresh oxygen and bringing fresh ki into our body in great quantities…

However – and more experienced practitioners of Aikido may want to challenge me on this – in essence it is simply an advanced form of deep, slow breathing, similar to other techniques like yogic breathing. And, isn’t that the first thing that every parent teaches to a child who is stressed or panicking about something?

“Calm down. Breathe. Count to ten.”

Perhaps the path to happiness is less elusive and more natural than we may have thought?

John Wesley, over at Pick the Brain, has posted a wonderful list of online self-improvement resources.

The list includes everything from Productivity to Financial success. Now, if I’m honest the last item disappoints me, because I am regularly frustrated by those who link self-improvement with financial ’success’ – and this is possibly even more common on the web than off it.

Nevertheless, it is a useful list. In fact, the blogs that John has collected together are so helpful that there will be little reason for you to come back here once you’ve discovered them!

Some time ago, on my anabaptist spirituality blog, I introduced my readers to the joy of Zen Habits.

For those of you who don’t know, Zen Habits is the blog of Leo Babauta and covers: achieving goals, productivity, being organized, motivation, eliminating debt, saving, physical fitness, eating healthy, simplifying, living frugal, parenting, happiness, successfully implementing good habits…

Anyway, I thought that some of you might consider this post on 20 Ways to Eliminate Stress a worthy read:

I don’t believe that a stress-free life is possible. Stress is a response to challenges in life, and a life without challenges is too boring to contemplate. However, I do believe that most of the stress in our lives is unnecessary, and that it can be eliminated by taking some simple (and some not-so-simple) steps. It can’t be accomplished overnight — I’ve been eliminating stressors in my life for awhile now, and I’m still not done. But I think it’s a worthwhile goal.

It’s good stuff.

I’ve just come across a nice (very) introductory post on remembering items on a shopping list.

Here’s a taster:

First and foremost, determine what amount of information you would like to remember. Let’s take the grocery list we mentioned earlier… Once you have determined the amount of information to be remembered, you may now link this information with an adequate memorization tool

Know how to remember short lists. Short lists are perfect for the “link method” which is a very simple yet effective mnemonic technique. Using the items of your shopping list, create associations between them and a vivid image containing these very items.

See the whole post here.

Welcome to Think Happy!

Our aim here is simple: to document our own discovery of practical tips and useful steps on the road to good mental health and happiness.

From sharing handy memory aids, to pointing to ways to overcome anxiety, my aim is to record my own journey to mental wholeness – including both successes and failures.

I hope that you’ll come along for the ride, enter into the discussions and maybe some of you will consider joining the team and sharing your own experiences.

So, here’s to happiness!