A Way To Habitual Happiness

Innate in each and every one of us is the desire to be happy and we spend our lives in pursuit of it. For many of us, happiness is an elusive state. We get a taste of it now and then, and just when we think we have it in our hands, it vanishes - again. But for the relative few, happiness is an altogether different experience.

Some people are almost always happy, even when something bad happens, they bounce back quicker than most, and despite their difficulties, still manage a buoyant disposition. We have all met individuals like this, perhaps even envied them? They seem 'blessed', lucky. But the truth is they are neither: more blessed nor luckier than the rest of us. But they do have something going for them that the rest of us don't: the habit of happiness.

Most of us make the mistake of thinking that happiness is derived from external circumstances. How many times have you thought that: if only a certain thing would happen, or if only you could have the career you want, or the partner you want, or any of the other things that you want, then you would be happy? And how many times have you acquired those things and for a moment felt happy because of them, only to find that your happiness soon evaporated and you were left wanting again? This is a common pattern for most of us and we play it out over and over. It starts when we are children and for those of us who do not learn how to overcome it, it inevitably robs us of true happiness.

True happiness cannot be achieved by accumulating stuff, because this kind of 'happiness' is based on an endless sense of wanting that never gets fulfilled. It is a merry go-round. This is not to say that achieving certain things in life is not desirable and not worth pursuing, indeed acquiring certain things certainly greases the ride, but to depend on them for your happiness will only prove fatal to it in the long run. For the great truth about happiness is that it is not an external event, nor is it dependent on external events, happiness is an internal point of view and it is an internal point of view that one can train oneself to maintain, becoming habituated to it.

The degree to which a person has a proclivity towards being happy or sad is based on one thing - mental conditioning. It was once thought that when we were born, our brains were hard set and so too were our personal tendencies. We now know this is not true. For example we know that different areas of the brain cater to different sensory experiences and mental states. In the case of happiness this happens in "the left anterior portion of the brain". The Intention Experiment, (Lynne McTaggart).

We also know that by practicing certain ways of thinking, causing certain ways of feeling, the areas of our brain associated with those thoughts and mental states will be developed and the natural tendency will be to continue to think in that way, be it good for us or not. This is because when we are repetitive, or practice something consistently, the brain develops more neurons to dedicate to that process making the doing of it faster, more efficient, and easier. Simply put, you can develop your brain so that you can, in time, become habitually happy.

To develop a state of habitual happiness, the first thing one must do is to slowly eliminate toxic thoughts such as: judgement, fear, worry, envy, jealousy, hatred and the like, replacing them with a persistent practice of positive thoughts, the more loving and compassionate the better. This can be very hard in the beginning, because believing the positive thoughts might seem impossible at first. This does not matter, remain persistent with them. In time you will come to believe them, because belief is also a result of habitual thought patterns and can be changed just like any other internal point of view.

The second thing that will accelerate the development of the 'happy part of the brain' is the practice of slowing down ones brainwave frequencies. In our usual awakened state, we are mostly in the higher Beta brainwave frequency. In this range our thoughts will be flowing rapidly and will tend to be colored in a more negative way. In this frequency range we experience anxiety, fear, anger and so forth. But when we slow down our brainwaves we become deeply relaxed and our thinking becomes more life positive.

There are a variety of ways that one can slow down their brainwave frequency, but by far, the most effective one is by achieving a meditative state. Traditional meditation is a powerful transformer of the mind, but it is not necessary to assume a traditional practice (although the author highly recommends it) in order to slow down ones brainwaves. Martial arts is a highly effective practice, and is in fact considered a form of meditation, similarly chanting, or becoming deeply engrossed in something you are passionate about will achieve the right result. If none of these appeal, there are also easy to use 'plug and play' solutions such as guided meditation recordings and binaural beats (designed to induce meditative states).

Of course developing a state of habitual happiness is a process and is not one that you can cheat on. In time it will become effortless, but in the beginning, like anything else worth the doing, time, practice and persistence are key. How long you might ask? Everyone's process is unique. This author felt subtle change after only a few weeks. Two years later and she is naturally high most of the time.

Striving for a conditioned state of habitual happiness, is truly a way to discovering ones internal pot of gold. It is priceless and will last a lifetime.

For more information please visit: www.positivemindstates.com