The Science of Happiness

Some notes of an inspiring and funny TED talk by Shawn Anchor:

"In reality, if I know everything about your external world, I can only predict 10% of your longterm happiness. 90% of your longterm happiness is predicted not by the external world, but by the way your brain processes the external world. And if we change it, we change the formula of happiness and success, what we can do is change the way we can then affect reality. What we found is that 25% of job successors are predicted by IQ, 75% of job successors are predicted by your optimism level, your social support, and your ability to see the stress as a challenge instead of as a thread.

We push happiness over the cognitive horizon as a society. That is because we think we have to be successful, and then we will be happier. But the real promises are the brain works in the opposite order. If you can raise the level of positivity in the present, then the brain experiences what we call now a happiness advantage, which is your brain if positive, performs significantly better than it does in negative, neutral, stress. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy level rises.

Dopamine which floods into your system when you are positive has two functions: it does make you happier, it turns on all of the learning system in your brain, allowing you to adapt to the world in a different way.

We found there are ways you can train your brain to become more positive.

3 Gratitudes: writing 3 new things they are grateful for, for 20 days in a row. The brain starts retaining a pattern that scans the world not for the negative, but for the positive first.

Journaling: about 1 positive experience you have had over past 24 hours allows your brain to relive it.

Exercise: teaches your brain that behavior matters.

Meditation: allows the brain to focus on the task in hand.

Random Act of Kindness: praising or thanking somebody in your social network."