MAN happiest

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We have become accustomed to believe that happiness is a kind of Olympic competi
tion to have more, be more successful, feel more pleasure and more things ...
We have become accustomed to believe that happiness is a kind of Olympic competi
tion to have more, be more successful, feel more pleasure and more things ...
Now researchers at the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University o
f Wisconsin gives us a surprise scientific foundation.
The happiest man on the planet is an individual living in a cell in two by two,
not the owner or executive of any of the Fortune 500 companies, not having sex f
or over 30 years, no cell lives or slope Blackberry is not going to the gym or d
riving a BMW, does not wear Armani clothes or Hugo Boss, known as Prozac and Via
gra or ecstasy, or even making Coca-Cola. In short, the happiest man in the plan
et is a man who has no money, professional success, sex life, or popularity.
His name is Matthieu Ricard, French, Western by birth, Buddhist by conviction an
d the only one among hundreds of volunteers whose brains not only achieved the m
aximum rating of happiness provided by scientists (-0.3), but completely out of
the "felizómetro "-0.45.
The 256 sensors and dozens of MRIs which underwent Ricard over several years to
validate the experiment does not lie: There where mere mortals levels is very hi
gh-stress, anger, frustration Ricard's brain, these negative feelings simply do
not exist.
By contrast, where most volunteers showed very low levels of satisfaction and fu
lfillment "existential," Ricard surpassed all indexes. That is, in each and ever
y one of the positive feelings, giving rise to the title of "the happiest man on
the planet"
(Www.elmundo. Is, 22 April)
The paradox of the case is not that he is a man so happy, but how it came to be:
Tear of everything in the West assume that happiness lies: faith in a saving Go
d, professional success, scientific expertise, money, possessions, human relatio
ns and consumption, consumption, consumption ...
And is that Ricard is no stranger to any of this: the son of emeritus member of
the French Academy Jean Francois Revel, Ricard was not to be dazzled by the Enli
ghtenment atheism of his father, or for his birthright, nor their cell genetic s
tudies at the Pasteur Institute brought him the desired satisfaction. With the w
orld at his feet and about to become a scientific eminence one day decided that
this was not the direction he wanted for his life.
He went to the Himalayas, adopted celibacy and poverty of the monks, learned to
read classical Tibetan and started a new life from scratch.
Today is the right hand of the Dalai Lama and has donated millions of euros from
the sale of its monasteries and librosa charity. But that is not the cause but
the consequence of his happiness ...
The cause must be sought elsewhere, says study leader, Richard J. Davidson, and
it is no mystery or divine grace: It is called plasticity of the mind. It is the
human ability to physically alter the brain by the thoughts we choose to entert
ain. It turns out that as the body's muscles, the brain develops and strengthens
the neurons we use most. A more negative thoughts, increased activity in the ri
ght brain cortex and consequently, increased anxiety, depression, envy and hosti
lity toward others. In other words:

On the contrary, who works in thinking well of others and see the bright side of
life, exercising the left cerebral cortex, raising pleasant emotions and happin
ess.
Ricard warns against trying to decide on life in pink from one day to another, b
ut to work systematically to weaken those muscles of unhappiness that we have st
rengthened both creyéndonos victims of the past, parents or the environment, an
d in parallel, start exercise your mental muscles that make us complete and dire
ctly responsible for our own happiness
(M. Ricard, In Defense of happiness, Ed.Urano).
In the end, the results of our consumer civilization, where Prozac is sold four
times more than it now Viagraconfirman scientific evidence in hand, what humanis
ts and prophets of all ages have been saying ... not that scientists are materia
lists or at least give credit ...
Namely: that happiness is a matter of spirit.
It does not depend on anything or anyone outside of the person
Buddha
The key to happiness dwells within each person
Jesus
Happiness is a habit, or the result of several habits
Ricard admits that his way is just one among many, but warns that happiness nece
ssarily going to stop blaming others for our unhappiness and look for the cause
in our own minds. "Living the experiences that life offers us, is mandatory; thr
eatens or enjoy them is optional."
FIN
Original presentation courtesy of Carlos Rangel Santiago de Queretaro, Mex. Nov.
2007