Practicing happiness

There are times when I am astounded at the different ways that we humans respond in times of stress. It's so very easy to throw a pity party when life doesn't behave exactly the way that we want. So often we let ourselves surrender to sadness and frustration when we could make the choice to frame any bumps in our road as an opportunity to practice steering toward health. That's why I found so much to love about Richard Davidson's new book, "The Emotional Life of Your Brain." In it, the acclaimed doctor of affective neuroscience uncovers insights from his decades of scientific research on the brain. He's studied countless brains, from those of lifelong meditators to those of veterans suffering from PTSD, and he concludes in his book that personality is composed of six basic emotional dimensions that reflect the discoveries of modern research.

Where would you fall on the spectrum of Resilience or Outlook or Self-Awareness? You can find out by completing the survey in Davidson's book, and then read about the ways we can train our brains to start living joyfully. As Davidson said when I interviewed him for the Wisconsin State Journal, "We often think that happiness and well-being are just fixed traits. But all the evidence now suggests that’s simply a misconception. You can think of happiness in the same way that you think of playing the violin. If you practice, you’ll get better at it."

Read the story at madison.com, and then resolve to practice joy.