Happiness practical ways to
improve your mood and wellbeing - The Intelligent Pursuit by
Ray Sahelian, M.D.
January 17, 2018
What is the secret to
happiness?
Back in 1994, after returning from an enchanting one month hiking trip to Machu
Pichu in Peru, I set out to write my first book. I called it Be Happier Starting
Now. Little did I know that writing it would eventually lead me to
become a bestselling author, not with a happiness book, but with books on health and
natural supplements. I put 2 years into this happiness book, day and night, and
weekends... the most intense endeavor I have taken upon myself since medical
school and residency. I wanted to create a unique work or written art. A
book
that combined philosophy, poetry, science, humanism, pragmatism, openness,
warmth, and love. The pursuit of happiness led me to write this happiness book.
Although I have not promoted this
happiness book much, it is very special to me and it has touched many lives. Sometimes
when I'm feeling a little down I pick up to read my own book, and it really does
make me happier! I had not planned on placing it on this page for sale until
recently when a dear friend of mine read it and was so moved by it that she
encouraged me to share the wisdom to a wider audience. "You can help so many
people be happier," she said.
Mood lifters, natural ways to improve happiness
Are there natural supplements that help with mood enhancement?
Yes, consider
SAM-e
for depression,
5-htp for mood stabilization,
it can help balance mood in some people who benefit from an increase in
serotonin availability, and St. John's wort herb. You can also try a formula called
Mind Power Rx. No supplement is as good as exercise, good food, and deep sleep.
If you would like a copy of Be Happier, please feel free to order it from
Amazon.
Be
Happier Starting Now has ten chapters:
1. DEVELOPING A HEALTHY PERSONALITY
2. CULTIVATING A SENSE OF CONNECTION
3. HEALING OLD WOUNDS
4. SETTING GOALS TO FOLLOW OUR DREAMS
5. FINDING SATISFYING WORK
6. BEING FINANCIALLY SECURE
7. PURSUING PLEASURE... INTELLIGENTLY
8. NURTURING PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH
9. LEARNING & CREATING
10. DEVELOPING A PERSONAL TRUTH
PLUS: THE ONE MINUTE HAPPINESS QUIZ
Circle a number in each category. The higher, the truer.
Score: Total _________
Quiz score interpretation:
Be Happier was written in the mid 1990s, but i still stand by with most of what I wrote... the thoughts and emotions seem timeless. If I were to update it, I would change the part in Chapter One about pharmaceutical medicines for mood enhancement. At the time I didn't know about SAM-e, St. John's wort herb, 5-HTP and other mood enhancing herbs and nutrients. SAM-e can be helpful for the temporary relief of anhedonia.
1. A Healthy Personality
People who were outgoing and energetic as young adults seem to be happier
with their lives by the time they hit retirement age. June 26, 2013, Journal of
Research in Personality, online
2. Connections
Love
Semir Zeki, a professor in the University College
London's Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging, and John Romaya, a senior
programmer, scanned the brains of 24 volunteers as they viewed pictures of their
romantic partners. The participants also looked at pictures of friends of the
same sex as their lovers, but to whom they were not attracted. While some brain
regions showed increased activity, when lovers viewed images of romantic
partners, others shut down, such as parts of the temporal, parietal, and frontal
cortex, which are thought to be important in judgment. That finding lends
credence to the adage that "love is blind," says Semir Zeki.
The role of marriage
Marriage reduces the risks of depression and anxiety, but these disorders are
more likely to plague people once the relationship is over.
Happy as single without deep relations?
Single people can be just as happy as those in romantic relationships -- but it
may depend on their temperament. Single people can, in fact, be just as
fulfilled as couples -- but it may partly depend on how they approach
relationships in general. The key is whether a person prefers to avoid conflict
and drama in relationships. In that case, the single life appears just as
satisfying as being coupled, on average. In contrast, people who are unfazed by
relationship ups and downs tend to be less happy when they're single,
Pets as connections
Pets inspire us to enjoy life's simple pleasures, to be more forgiving, to love
unconditionally, and to remember what's important.
4. Setting goals to follow your dreams
Having a strong sense of purpose in life may lower the likelihood of brain
tissue damage in older adults. Autopsies conducted among adults in their 80s
revealed that those who felt their lives had meaning had far fewer "macroscopic
infarcts" -- small areas of dead tissue resulting from blockage of blood flow;
March 19, 2015, Stroke.
6. Money and finance, money increases
happiness up to a point
One key to happiness might be whether you make more than your friends and
neighbors, regardless of whether that income is six figures or just a mediocre
take-home. We tend to be happy as long as we have more than the people
around us.
Building a successful business is often not easy, it takes years of education, learning, making connections with lots of people, having an idea that is different than what others have done, staying with it, sometimes giving up months or years of socializing, or at least keeping socializing to a minimum for a while, and perseverance. It is the ability to be creative and pragmatic at the same time, and focused, and having good money management skills, and getting along with others.
Saving money can have a significant positive impact on your well-being. It can make you feel better because it helps you face the unknown, gives peace of mind, and gives you independence.
Being poor affects your ability to think. Those coping with severe financial stress don't have the mental bandwidth to deal with all of life’s troubles.
People's emotional well-being increases along with their income up to about $75,000, researchers report in the 2010 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. For those making less than that, said Angus Deaton, an economist at the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University, "Stuff is so in your face it's hard to be happy. It interferes with your enjoyment." Deaton and Daniel Kahneman reviewed surveys of 450,000 Americans for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index that included questions on people's day-to-day happiness and their overall life satisfaction.
Experiences versus possessions
People's satisfaction with their life-experience purchases - anything from
seeing a movie to going on a vacation - tends to start out high and go up over
time. On the other hand, although they might be initially happy with the latest
high fashion clothing purchase or a new product purchased, their satisfaction
with these items wanes with time. Experience-related buys lead to more happiness
for the consumer.
Moving to a wealthier country
Immigrants who move to a wealthy country may not achieve the happiness they
expect from making a larger income, British sociologist David Bartram of the
University of Leicester says the grass is not necessarily greener on the other
side of the border because the pursuit of wealth does not necessarily equate
happiness.
7. Interests and Pleasures
Enjoy life, starting now
Vacations
We're happiest when looking forward to vacations, though once back in the office
or home that level of joy is comparable to non-vacationing individuals.
Essentially, vacations may not be the restorative respites they are chocked up
to be except in those who happen to have a very relaxing and special time.
Sexual enhancement through
various means, natural or prescription medications, can play a role in overall
vitality, especially in those middle aged and older.
Time, by Pink Floyd
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
8. Happiness and health, safety
In a study of healthy British adults, Dr. Andrew Steptoe of University
College London, found that those who reported upbeat moods had lower levels of cortisol -- a "stress" hormone that, when chronically elevated, contributes to
high blood pressure, abdominal obesity and dampened immune function, among other
problems. Women who reported more positive emotions had lower blood levels of
two proteins that indicate widespread inflammation in the body,
C-reactive protein
and interleukin 6. Chronic
inflammation is believed to contribute to a range of ills over time, including
heart disease and cancer. American Journal of Epidemiology, January 1, 2008.
Heart health
People who are usually happy and enthusiastic are less likely to develop heart
disease than those who tend to be glum. Enhancing positive emotions could help
cut heart health risks. European Heart Journal, 2010. Natural ways to a
healthy diet. Those
who have problems with
impotence can certainly
have their mood improved with natural therapies that work.
Safety precautions, avoid injury
Road crash injuries send several million Americans to emergency rooms each
year. Some common nonprescription medicines can impair your ability to drive and
operate other vehicles and machinery safely. Some of the most common of these
drugs include certain types of nonprescription antihistamines, anti-diarrheals,
and anti-nausea medications.
9. Learning and Creativity
The more I study
and understand a field of knowledge -- for instance art, architecture, history,
biology, human behavior, animal behavior -- the more fascinating it becomes
10. Developing a personal truth, philosophy, religion, a spiritual
practice
Performing small acts of kindness and gratitude can make people happier,
My viewpoints
The universe is indifferent to the existence of humans. Nature acts, moves,
changes and churns along at its own pace and tune, guided by the physical laws
of the universe -- whether this leads to the benefit, or harm, of the
people and animals who live on this planet.
My worldview sees no inherent meaning to life. It is up to each individual to create their own meaning. I choose to create mine or my philosophy by trying to maintain a healthy body and mind, having financial stability, nurturing loving relationships, helping others when I can, being kind, along with incorporating elements of humanism, pragmatism, hedonism and Epicureanism.
To me, spirituality is not necessarily what we believe, or how many books on the topic we have read, or how often we go to a place of worship, but how we behave towards others. Are we kind, forgiving, empathic, helpful?
No one religion can
justifiably claim absolute authority or absolute knowledge
Review of Be Happier Starting Now: A Medical Doctor Explores the Fascinating Field
of Happiness Reviewed by Sharon Presley
Happiness quote:
"There is no point in holding on to cobwebs of
archaic creeds if they are not enhancing your quality of life. Just
because you were taught something as a child does not mean it is correct .
. . . This age requires us to keep an open mind, revise, review, and
readjust our thinking patterns . . . ." - Ray Sahelian, M.D.
"Holistic" may be a clichéd term but I like it. It's a good word to describe Dr. Ray Sahelian's approach to charting the path to a happier life. Unlike the stereotyped physician only trained to treat the body, not the whole person, Sahelian integrates ideas from psychology, medicine, philosophy, nutrition, science, spirituality, and other sources. He understands what psychologists have known for years but many physicians (and scientific materialists) scoff at or simply ignore - there really is a connection between the mind and body, with each affecting the other in complex ways.
Let me make one thing clear from the start. Sahelian is not some New Age flake pushing tofu, out-of-body experiences and inner-child weekends. Not in my review! Not even close. There are no wild-eyed claims, no psychobabble, no mysticism. Just sensible, balanced suggestions based mainly on medical and psychological research journals and books. An annotated bibliography is included for those who want to read the original research. On the other hand, just because this book cites research, don't expect a dry, distancing catalog of mere facts. There's a real human being writing this book. Sahelian's style is gentle, joyful and exuberant, with a sweetly poetic flair that many will find charming (while some will decide it's not their cup of tea). It's possible to be poetic and scientific at the same time.
Here's what topics are included: developing a healthy personality, cultivating a sense of connection, healing the wounds, setting goals to follow our dreams, finding satisfying work, being financially secure, pursuing pleasure intelligently, nurturing physical and mental health, learning and creating, and developing a personal truth. An appendix discussing natural supplements that improve mood and describing mood-improving medicines is also included. (Not everyone will agree with his position on Prozac.)
Sahelian weaves together specific information and suggestions with his own personal experiences and his observations of others in a style that is easy to read but not fluffy. Though basic rather than encyclopedic, his book provides an integrated nondogmatic overview that does an excellent job of putting happiness into a proper perspective. No one thing brings you happiness; there is no one "magic answer." But a lot of things that help can be found in this book.
Start being happier now, here's a bit of advice from Dr. Sahelian: "Be timid no more. Life's a sumptuous banquet. Sample! Explore! Expand!"
Sharon Presley, Ph.D. is a social psychologist who writes and speaks frequently on topics relevant to critical and independent thinking. She is executive director of Resources for Independent Thinking.
Happiness through altruism?
• Pleasure occurs when giving to charity or helping people
• Pleasure in the brain centers -- the caudate nucleus and the nucleus
accumbens, known for pleasure -- are similar to areas for basic needs:
food, sex, shelter, social connection
• Pleasure in giving suggests existence of pure altruism.
The happiest countries have the
highest taxes
2009 - The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports people
in Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands are the most content with their lives.
The three ranked first, second and third, respectively, in the OECD's rankings
of "life satisfaction," or happiness. Northern Europeans pay some of the highest
taxes in the world. Danes pay about two-thirds of their income in taxes. Denmark
was one of the first countries in the world to establish efficient social
services with the introduction of relief for the sick, unemployed and aged.
Social welfare programs include health insurance, health and hospital services,
insurance for occupational injuries, unemployment insurance and employment
exchange services. There's also old age and disability pensions, rehabilitation
and nursing homes, family welfare subsidies, general public welfare and payments
for military accidents. Moreover, maternity benefits are payable up to 52 weeks.
2004 - Denmark - The Happiest
Country?
Americans are less happy today than they were 30 years ago thanks
to longer working hours and the deterioration in the quality of their
relationships with friends and neighbors.
If you're looking for happiness, move to Denmark. According to
Adrian White, an analytical social psychologist at the University of
Leicester in central England, Denmark is the happiest country in the world
while Burundi in Africa is the most miserable. Adrian White based his
study on data from 178 countries and 100 global studies from the likes of
the United Nations and the World Health Organization. The main factors
that affect happiness were health provision, wealth and education,
according to Adrian White who said his research had produced the "first
world map of happiness." Following behind Denmark came Switzerland,
Austria, Iceland and the Bahamas. At the bottom came the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Burundi. The United States came in at
23rd, Britain was in 41st place. Countries
involved in conflicts, such as Iraq, were not included. Countries in Asia
scored low, with China 82nd, Japan 90th, and India 125th. These are
countries that are thought as having a strong sense of collective identity
which other researchers have associated with well-being.
America
The United States may be the richest nation on Earth, but it's not the happiest.
A 2010 analysis of Gallup World Poll data suggests, however, that trying to
compare the happiness of one nation to another is not straightforward. Rather,
there are two major categories of happiness: overall life satisfaction; and more
moment-to-moment enjoyment of life. And while overall satisfaction of life is
strongly tied to income, meaning richer nations and individuals have more of
this overall bliss, how much one enjoys life (by measures such as laughing and
smiling) depends more on social and psychological needs being met. These include
having social support and using one's abilities, as opposed to sitting at a
mind-numbing job.
Happiness and the Common
Cold
Staying positive through the cold season could be a good defense
against getting sick. In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to
a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny
disposition were less likely to fall ill. The findings, published in the
journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a "positive
emotional style" can help ward off the common cold and other illnesses.
Researchers believe the reasons may be both objective -- as in happiness
boosting immune function -- and subjective -- as in happy people being
less troubled by a scratchy throat or runny nose.
The concept of will power
Willpower is like a muscle in that the more you work it the stronger it
gets. Some of us have more willpower than others. And while people may be
born with different amounts of innate willpower, we can probably all take
steps to boost our willpower.
Suppress unhappy memories?
People can suppress emotionally troubling memories and in some people this
may be a preferable approach than going through psychotherapy where all
these old memories are reactivated and brought to light again.
Research on happiness
I have collected some research articles I have
come across. I hope you enjoy them.
Older adults with a bright outlook on the
future may live longer than those who take a dimmer view.
Researchers in the Netherlands found that older men and women judged to have
optimistic personalities were less likely to die over the nine-year study period
than those with pessimistic dispositions. Much of this reduced risk was due to
lower rates of death from cardiovascular disease among the most optimistic men
and women in the study. They were 77 percent less likely to die of a heart
attack, stroke or other cardiovascular cause than the most pessimistic
group-regardless of factors such as age, weight, smoking and whether they had
cardiovascular or other chronic diseases at the study's start.
Create your own happiness
Feeling a little down? Maybe you can fake your way into happiness! You may have
more control over your mood than you think. People who choose
to act more outgoing or assertive can actually improve their outlook on life. The research
is published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Children and
happiness
I think it is important for children to be exposed to positive images and role
models, including television. What kids watch influences their behavior.
Preschool boys who watch violent TV programs, even in the form of cartoons,
become more aggressive than their peers later in childhood.
Unhappy kids are more likely to become materialistic than children who are happy with their lives.
Women who have not had children seem to be just as happy in their 50s as those
who did go down the family path.
The loneliest, least contented and most vulnerable women were found to be
mothers who were single, divorced or widowed in middle age. Being healthy and having a partner gave a bigger boost to women's
happiness and well-being than being mothers, with education, work and
relationships with family and friends also important factors. The findings are
based on two surveys of nearly 6,000 women aged between 51 to 61 years old that
were conducted in 1992 and from 1987-1988. "Whether you are socially integrated
or have concerns about paying the bills -- those things play a more direct role
in shaping psychological well-being among women in midlife," said researcher Koropeckyj-Cox. The research was published in the International Journal of Aging
and Human Development, and showed that the timing of motherhood was also
important to happiness. Women who had children in their teens were more
depressed and lonelier than those who had their children later. About 35 percent
of mothers who had children in their teens reported ever feeling lonely,
compared to slightly more than a quarter of women who had children in their 20s.
Mothers who delayed childbirth to 25 or older were happier and less lonely or
depressed than younger mothers.
Brain rewards us for laughing
Researchers report that
humor seems to activate brain networks that are involved in rewards. Humor is no
laughing matter, according to Dr. Allan L. Reiss of Stanford University in
California, who led the research. "Humor has significant ramifications for our
psychological and physical health," he told Reuters Health. Our sense of humor,
he said, "often dictates if, how and with whom we establish friendships and even
long-lasting romantic relationships." Humor is also a "universal coping
mechanism" for dealing with stress. Reiss added. Despite the importance of humor, Reiss said that little is known about the
brain mechanisms that underlie humor. The Stanford researcher noted that most
people are drawn to humor and that it makes people feel good. "We seem to feel
rewarded" by humor, he said. Now, Reiss and his colleagues report that they have zeroed in on the brain's
reward system for humor. In the study, volunteers had their brain activity
monitored as they read a series of cartoons. Some of the cartoons were supposed
to be funny, but others had the funny cues omitted. After viewing each strip, participants pushed a button if they thought the
comic was funny. Researchers found that when a cartoon made a person laugh, a
brain network that is known to be involved in reward was activated. In fact, the
areas activated by humor have been shown previously to be activated by
amphetamines and cocaine, according to a report in the December 4th issue of the
journal Neuron. "I believe that understanding humor is fundamental to understanding many
aspects of 'normal' human social behavior," Reiss said. Learning more about the
brain mechanisms that underlie humor may also help scientists who study
depression, according to Reiss. He noted
that the loss of the ability to appreciate humor is a common symptom of
depression. "We believe that utilizing studies such as this may be one way to more
specifically identify individuals at risk for depressive disorders," Reiss said.
The research may also be useful in measuring a person's response to treatment
for depression, according to Reiss. The humor reward system in the brain may
come "on line" even before symptoms of depression change, he said. Neuron, 2003.
Smiling at strangers can be a thankless exercise in some British cities, where a survey has revealed the famous stiff upper lip is rarely likely to crack a grin in return. Psychology students spent an hour smiling at 100 strangers in 14 British cities as part of the Comic Relief fundraising campaign, according to a report in The Guardian newspaper. Only 4% of people in Edinburgh, 12% in Nottingham and 18% in London returned the students' smiles. On the other hand, the residents of Bristol smiled back 70% of the time, and 68% of Glasgow citizens were cheery enough to raise the corners of their mouths. Pat Spungin, a psychologist who led the research, told the paper that social setting played a large role in smiling, which might explain why Londoners scored so low. "With a population of 7 million, which is very mixed and very mobile, it is difficult to feel a sense of community with other Londoners," he said.
Over time, people "catch mood" of friends, lovers
Laugh and the world laughs with you, the saying goes, and this is
especially true for couples and roommates, the results of a new study suggest.
It seems that couples and roommates tend to have similar emotional reactions as
time goes by. So if your roommate or lover laughs out loud at movies or gets
weepy over hurt puppies, you may too -- given time.
This so-called emotional convergence seems to be beneficial to friendships and romantic relationships, making them stronger and longer lasting. Everyday experience suggests that people are capable of "catching" the mood of a spouse or friend
Marriage won't guarantee happiness
Though individuals can enjoy a lifetime of happiness from marriage, the
difference between them and singles is smaller than expected. Although a person can enjoy a happy boost from marriage, the
person tends to return to his or her prior level of happiness, whatever that level might
have been before saying "I do." Married people are happier than these other groups, but they were happy when they
were single.
The formula for happiness?
Questions
I recently stumbled across your website and am
very grateful for this. I have read mind
boosters and am currently enjoying Be Happier Starting Now.
Does the act of smiling improve one's mood? If so, why? Is it
neurological? Psychological?
Yes, smiling does improve mood and it may be both
neurological and psychological. The change of the muscles around the mouth and
eyes can trigger changes in brain chemistry and the perception of one smiling
can have a positive psychological effect.
What are other benefits of smiling? Can there be downsides? Say, in sports,
where part of the game is intimidation?
When people see you smiling, they smile back and that can
improve your mood further. In addition, it can help you meet more people, engage
in more conversations, and expose you to different people with different views.
Perhaps it can have a positive effect at the work place and help you with
promotions if upper management believes you get along with people and you can
network better. The drawback, particularly in attractive people, is that it may
draw too much attention to oneself and many attractive people, especially women,
may have men give them too much attention or misinterpret the smile. It is
difficult to say the effect of a smile in sports, it may actually befuddle the
opponent, I think it depends case by case and the interpretation of the smile by
the opponent.
Can smiling ultimately make us feel more connected to each other?
Yes, because we live in an unfriendly, isolated world,
especially in big cities, and it is nice to feel acknowledged by others.
The pursuit of happiness with natural supplements and herbs
Is taking immune supplement such as
ahcc
extract influence mood?
I do not think it has an influence.
I take several supplements including
carnosine antioxidant,
Coq10 for more energy,
Graviola for cancer
prevention, Mangosteen
also for cancer prevention. Do they interfere with mood?
Limit graviola
intake to no more than twice a week. Carnosine and CoQ10 could improve mood.
I am on a regimen of
serrapeptase
as an anti-inflammatory,
saw palmetto for prostate
health, Sitosterol
also for prostate gland health, and
Vinpocetine for mind
enhancement. Do they have an affect on happiness?
A. These supplement do not have much of an influence on happiness.
Jokes
Hire a CPA who is not afraid to spend time behind bars
You know you have lived well and beyond your means when you loan banker tears up
at your funeral
A wedding is a happiest day of a man's life, and often his last