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Get Back to Being Happy
Our brain is tricky, and there are subtle ways to get it to be less depressed or anxious. If we are constantly feeling guilty, shameful or even worry a lot, the brain wants to continue that activity due to it providing a source of gratification to it.
Just as negative thinking keeps the brain in an inactive and dull state, positive thinking, or gratitude has the effect of boosting serotonin, that is beneficial for your health and mood.
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If there is a negative emotion, like anger, sadness, or stress, keeping it vague makes it affect everything around you.
If you name or label the emotion and use a symbolic metaphor to describe it, then its negative effect is diluted.
If you are constantly worried and anxious while making no decision on your problem, you will remain in a state of turmoil internally.
Taking a decision, even if it is not a perfect one, will provide closure to your mind and you will feel less stressed.
- Hugging someone with feeling and affection releases the chemical oxytocin in the body, which helps in uplifting your mood.
- Touching and even holding hands is shown to improve the positive feelings in humans.
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Doing little positive things is better for happiness than occasionally bagging an elephant:
- Enjoyable stuff
- Achievement stuff: Defeat your goals in single combat and feel like a conquering hero
- Meaningful stuff: Do volunteer work or just help someone
- Physical stuff: Exercise. Not only keeps you alive, but it’s like miracle grow for your brain
- Social stuff.
- Hypnosis works by first decreasing activity in the brains ‘dorsal anterior cingulate’ area, responsible for decision making and evaluation.
- Secondly, it connects two regions of the brain, the insula and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that increases the brain-body connection, making our body more receptive to our raw thoughts and emotions.
- Finally, it reduces connections between two different regions of the brain (medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex) reducing our cognitive tasks and neural activity, reducing our awareness of actions.
Meditation shows reduced activity in the amygdala, our brain’s threat detector. When the amygdala perceives a threat, it sets off the fight-flight-freeze response.
In a study, after practicing mindfulness for 20 minutes per day over just one week, participants showed reduced amygdala reactivity only while they were engaged in mindfulness, suggesting they need regular practice.