How To Become Habitually Happy 

Some would argue that you can’t be happy all of the time, while others will say that you can, claiming it as there own experience. Those who say you can’t will argue that in times of great loss, grief, disaster or tragedy, happiness is neither an appropriate or natural state. While this is true, and it is true that such troubling times will elicit a somber mood even in a person whose tendency is to be happy, it does not negate the fact that the person’s natural tendency to be happy will soon resurface as their dominant state and cause them once again to be in a buoyant, happy, disposition. 

Happiness is a habit. In some people, it is a natural habit, in other’s it is a learned, practiced, habit, but a habit nonetheless. The same can be said for misery. Now in saying this, I am not saying that a person intentionally chooses to be miserable, being miserable is a painful way to live life. But if due to circumstances, a person has become miserable, and they can find no way to break out of the misery they are feeling, it can quickly become a habitual state.

Habit is no more than the development of dedicated neural activity resulting from repetition. The more a habit is practiced, or repeated, the deeper it becomes planted in a person’s character. This is because the brain grows more neurons specifically for the practiced habit, making it more efficient, more dominant, and easier to do. The habit of happiness and misery are no more than two sides of the same coin, or more accurately, different aspects of the same brain. In the case of happiness, “the left anterior portion of the brain” is the part “most associated with joy” The Intention Experiment, (Lynne McTaggart). The more a person engages this part of the brain, the more developed it will become and the more happy a person will become. Literally, in time, through developing this one part of the brain, a person can become habitually happy.

Of course even knowing this, and knowing how to develop a habit of happiness, the idea of becoming habitually happy might still look impossible if your habit is one of misery, or discontent, or frustration, or…. The good news is you don’t need to feel happy to begin developing the habit and for the eventual state of happiness to arrive. 

Like every other feeling we have, both happiness and misery begins with a thought. But thoughts can be changed with time. Take beliefs for example. Many people believe that they cannot change their beliefs, but this is an error in thinking, because beliefs are also a result of habit. The more we think about something, the more it becomes our projected reality, the more real it seems to us. In fact, it becomes so real that our subconscious responds to our projected ‘reality’ and drives us to act in ways to substantiate it as true.

In order to develop the habit of happiness, one must practice positive thinking until it becomes the dominant way of thinking. This includes eliminating judgment, prejudice, envy, jealousy, worry, and any other toxic ways of thinking. The other thing that will rapidly accelerate this process, increasing the brains ‘happy’ neural density, is by making a practice of  inducing slower brainwave frequencies.

When we are awake, our thoughts tend to be hyper active, and we are commonly in the higher Beta brainwave frequency. In this brainwave range, our thoughts, the impetus for our feelings, are more likely to be colored in a negative way. But when we learn to slow down our brainwaves, we relax, and our overall sense of well being increases, giving us greater access to feelings of love, happiness, contentment, bliss and peace.

The most effective way of slowing down brainwave frequency is by entering a meditative state. While adopting a traditional practice of meditation is highly recommended, it is not the only way to achieve this state. Martial arts will achieve a similar result as will chanting, similarly becoming engrossed in an activity, something you can be passionate about, will achieve the desire result just as well. If none of these appeals listening to meditative recordings or binaural beats (designed to induce the same brainwave states as meditation) will do the trick for you. It doesn’t matter what technique you use, just as long as you maintain a consistent practice.

Practice and giving the practice time is key. Like everything else, the hardest part is overcoming the initial inertia, where it seems like nothing is happening. This is the time that most people give up because they are not seeing results fast enough. During this stage it is important to remember, nothing good and worthwhile happens out of nothing, overnight. All good things arrive with consistent effort over time. With practice you will, in time, re-model your brain, making it a happier brain and eventually happiness will become your natural habit.

 

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May All Beings Know: True Love, True Peace, True Happiness