Re: Happiness In Hard Times Pdf Free 33
Abele Beardsley
On the other hand, we live in such difficult times that I have heard from many people that they feel almost frightened or foolish to hope that things in their world will be better. They, and I, have been alarmed and frightened by how much deceit and duplicity we see around us. It has been very hard not to get lost in the chaos and it takes strength not to dwell there.
First, there is hope in remembering that, over the course of my life, things have been bleak before, even bleaker than they are now. I am strong, and there is much within me that responds well to adversity. There is hope in that confidence.
A few years ago, I was teaching a stress-reduction workshop with women who work in domestic violence shelters. We asked the women to write down their sources of stress in one column and what they did to handle stress in the second. Many women said they handled stress by being in nature or pursuing a hobby. Yet they could not remember the last time they had done these things.
Do the best you can. Live according to your values and intentions, while knowing that you may not always succeed in your aspirations. Feelings of despair and inadequacy are part of the human condition. And when you find community with others, you know you are doing the best you can with what you have.
Sharon Salzberg is a renowned meditation teacher who played a crucial role in bringing mindfulness to the West. Sharon is a New York Times bestselling author of nine books, including Lovingkindness, Real Happiness and Real Love.
Of course, everyone knows that body posture can reflect our emotions. Picture an Olympic sprinter crossing the finish line with their arms in the air, and head thrown back in celebration. Or picture the audience in a horror movie, instinctively cringing and curling up when something goes bump in the night.
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No wonder that hospitals played it repeatedly over their public-address systems this spring as an auditory balm in some of the most stress-filled, soul-scorching places on the planet: the intensive care units overflowing with COVID-19 patients struggling to stay alive.
Feeling good may be the last thing on your mind as the coronavirus pandemic grinds into its sixth month in America. As we struggle to revive after arguably one of the world's worst health and economic calamities, is even talking about happiness self-absorbed and inappropriate?
Quite the contrary, countless researchers say. Pursuing happiness and, more importantly, finding it, matters more during dark times, says Laurie Santos, a professor of psychology at Yale University. Happiness gives us the resilience to get through. This is a challenging time because it's both a physical and mental health crisis. We need to focus on happiness more now, not less."
The emotional lift provided by that Beatles song shouldn't be underestimated, notes Lenox Hill nurse manager Amanda Griffiths. The song played some 20 times on a single day, Griffiths recalls, and each repetition made her feel better. It was an overwhelming sense of, wow, we're making a difference. I got very teary-eyed."
To better understand happiness and its role in hard times, AARP asked me to speak with the full spectrum of researchers and doctors focused on the topic to find out the deeper truths of joy. Here is what they want you to know.
In the wake of a life-shattering crisis or global disaster, something surprisingly positive often happens. Two months after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks in 2001, a University of Pennsylvania survey of over 4,000 Americans found that they felt more gratitude, hope, kindness and love than they did before 9/11. And the effect wasn't transitory. In a three-year State University of New York at Buffalo study of 1,382 American adults, 58 percent said they continued to see positive consequences emerge from the attacks.
Medical studies confirm it. They found that people dealing with a serious health crisis (like cancer, spinal cord injury or debilitating chronic pain) who found a higher sense of meaning in their plight also experienced better emotional well-being. How? By switching from nursing their personal sense of tragedy to encouraging empathy with others who might have it worse. That's why so many volunteers feel deep joy in what they're doing.
The good news is, we can all reach for it. After a crisis, it's estimated that up to two-thirds of adults actually experience an increase in well-being that the American Psychological Association calls post-traumatic growth.
The 10-session online class romps through all of the science-backed strategies for happiness you've probably heard about, like eating well, sleeping well, exercising and managing stress. But Santos also makes a big point of dispelling misconceptions that block true well-being.
Human connection is the classic recipe, the chicken soup for happiness, underscored by some of the most credible experts in the field. Among them is Robert Waldinger, M.D., director of the 83-year-old Harvard Study of Adult Development, considered the world's longest-running study of well-being.
Frank Infurna, an Arizona State University psychologist, has his own theory. He has just finished studying 360 midlife women and men and was struck by how much more stress they were under than he ever realized.
But there's an upside to these challenges. Decades of life experience combine with brain rewiring to create a new kind of happiness for people in their 50s and beyond, says Dilip Jeste, M.D., a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego. These later-life brain changes are as significant as the circuitry upgrades that turn teenagers into adults or that promote good parenting after a first baby.
In her Emotion & Cognition Lab at the University of Southern California, neuroscientist Mara Mather finds signs of these changes deep in the human brain. She's tracing how the brain reacts to information at different ages. Among her findings: Older people remember and pay attention to positive images (cute babies, happy couples, joyous families) better than negative images. They also remember more positive experiences from their past.
At recording time, John Lennon was recovering from a car crash, so he never contributed to the song. The day of the song's mixing was the last time the four Beatles were ever together in a recording studio. From such tension was born one of the happiest songs of our lives.
For some people, however, the lack of joy persists or appears out of the blue. This may occur in a mood disorder like depression. The inability to feel pleasure (also known as anhedonia) is even part of the diagnostic criteria for depression, and it's pretty common. Approximately 8% of US adults will experience depression in a given year, and approximately 20% will experience an episode of depression during their lifetime. A loss of joy may also accompany other mental illnesses, including psychotic illnesses and dementia. Certain medications, including (paradoxically) those that treat depression, can also cause emotional blunting and a loss of joy.
Joy and happiness are often used interchangeably. However, happiness technically refers to the pleasurable feelings (emotions) that result from a situation, experience, or objects, whereas joy is a state of mind that can be found even in times of grief or uncertainty. Thus, we can work on cultivating joy independent of our circumstances. Winning the lottery may trigger (short-term) happiness; spending time engaging in meaningful activities may result in long-term joy.
Although the neurobiology of joy is complex, there are a few neurotransmitters that stand out in promoting positive feelings: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. The good news is that many changes to our lives can increase these neurotransmitter levels. For example, running may produce a "runner's high;" spending time with a baby releases oxytocin, the "cuddle hormone" that makes you feel connected.
The effects of neurotransmitters on the body are broad, from relaxing your muscles to speeding up your heart rate, but they may result in a final common pathway of promoting positive feelings. Whether it's finding a sense of purpose or enjoying supportive relationships, the benefits on the mind and body are far-reaching.
During difficult times, it becomes twice as important to modify your routine, allowing yourself to experience joy. Here are some ideas, although it may take some trial and error to find what works best for you:
Regardless of the changes you make to your mindset or to your daily routine, increasing your ability to find joy may provide long-lasting health benefits. Your immune system can be strengthened by your mental state (immune cells even have receptors for neurotransmitters). Interventions to increase joy may also decrease stress hormones, improve pain, and relieve depression. Finally, finding joy can help you live longer.
A lot is going on in the world today. A global pandemic, floods, massive fires, economic crashes, and wars, to name a few. All of this can easily influence how we feel. So, how do we find happiness in hard times, especially when happiness seems to depend precisely on how we feel?
When something terrible happens to us, it is perfectly normal to react with frustration, anger, sadness, or anxiety. In troubling times, these emotions are natural and to be expected. However, the trouble happens when we start dwelling on how bad we feel. While finding happiness in unhappy times may seem far-fetched, it is often what and when we need it the most.
So, what can you do if you feel stuck in the loop of unhappy thoughts amidst so many depressing things all around you? The answer is simple, do things that make you feel good. No matter how small the action you want to perform, if it brings you happiness, then it can shorten your time of suffering. In other words, make happiness your responsibility.
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