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Contemplative
Lf Lifestyle
The
Happiness comes from within, and it cannot be found by making the world conform to your desiresstriving to obtain goods and goals in the external world cannot bring you more than momentary happiness. You must work on your internal world.
- Jonathan Haidt, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia
[1]
Contemplation Lf Meditation
Happiness
fFor
centuries,
people
have
prac2ced
medita2on.
Their
reasons
for
doing
this
vary.
Some
do
it
to
gain
wisdom,
some
to
become
more
compassionate,
others
are
in
search
of
a
spiritual
experience,
and
some
simply
want
to
manage
stress
and
anxiety.
But
they
all
do
it
because
they
believe
it
will
somehow
lead
to
a
be?er
life.
But
is
this
true?
Psychologists,
neuroscien2sts,
and
medical
researchers
have
studied
medita2on
for
many
years,
with
the
rst
published
paper
in
a
western
journal
on
this
topic
coming
in
1963.
In
the
early
days,
it
was
very
much
a
2)
the
object
of
a?en2on
(that
is,
to
fringe
topic.
Recent
years
have
seen
a
what
are
you
paying
a?en2on?).
drama2c
change
in
the
landscape,
with
medita2on
becoming
an
extraordinarily
hot
research
focus.
Last
year
alone
saw
over
400
academic
papers
published
on
medita2on.
All
of
this
research
has
given
us
a
great
deal
of
knowledge
about
the
eects
of
medita2on.
[2]
fSustained
Happiness
fSo
Indeed, medita5on is perhaps the only interven5on that psychologists have found that overcomes the hedonic treadmill, which is the tendency for people to habituate to things that make them happy. (Try watching the same comedy every day for two weeks. The rst day it will make you laugh. The tenth day? Not so much.) Medita5on, so long as it is done regularly, leads to sustained increases in happiness. Medita5on has other psychological eects as well. It leads to increases in op5mism and feelings that one can accomplish things. It also leads to increased ability to focus ones a'en5on. Meditators also report having be'er rela5onships.
There appear to be few nega5ve eects associated with medita5on, but there are a few things to bear in mind. One of them is simply the commitment involved. Although posi5ve eects have been observed among novice meditators in even very brief sessions, the best eects are associated with a sustained, regular prac5ce. Research on the rela5onships between medita5on and happiness indicates that people who stop a regular medita5on prac5ce may slowly see their happiness levels revert to the old levels. Much like an exercise rou5ne, if you stop doing it, you slowly get out of shape.
seek out help from mental health experts for serious problems, or to discon5nue treatment for such problems without consul5ng their doctor (ironically, because medita5on makes them feel be'er).
There are also some ini5al indica5ons in the research literature Medita5on also has physiological (as well as from anecdotes) that eects. It is associated with people dier with regards to which reduc5ons in physiological medita5on technique will oer markers of stress, in part them the most benet. For because people are instance, a person who be'er able to manage already has high concern for their emo5ons and others, or who has a thoughts in response to tendency to feel guilty about www.UpBeatCafe.org nega5ve events. This their interac5ons with others, leads to a reduc5on in may not benet from nega5ve health outcomes related to compassion medita5ons. This is stress, including things as diverse as especially true for medita5on when psoriasis and migraines. Not it is used as a treatment for mental surprisingly, this has led medita5on illness. Some medita5on types to be used as a treatment for certain simply dont work for some forms of kinds of mental and physical health mental illness (and indeed may make problems. It has been used as a way things worse). A related issue is that to help people manage chronic pain, the allure of medita5on as a simple, binge ea5ng, panic disorder, and side-eect free way to deal with lifes depression, among others. problems may lead people to fail to
That
being
said,
a
great
deal
of
research
has
shown
that
a
medita5on
prac5ce
can
be
an
important
component
of
a
happier,
healthier
life.
Its
something
that
virtually
anyone
can
do.
So
nd
a
medita5on
teacher,
and
get
started!
For more on Happiness:
www.pathstohappiness.org
[3]