Dial F for Happiness
Why are babies so relaxed all (or most of) the time?
Why do we take vacations?
Why is great food or great music is so enjoyable?
Why are we drawn to movies (with interesting plots)?
What is happiness?
The answer that binds all the above questions is a single word — FOCUS.
Please hear me out even if you find the answer bizarre or counter intuitive.
When human mind is focused on one thing only, it experiences what we term as joy or bliss or happiness. Distracting thoughts like regrets about the past, anxiety about the future, jealousy, fear, contempt, anger, mindless contemplation etc stop the mind from being focused on the present moment. Absence of these involuntary thoughts switches the human mind to the default state of happiness.
Absence of thoughts is Focus. Focus is happiness
Vacations help us forget the problems of our daily grind (to focus on present moment). Great stories or movies are so interesting (aka enjoyable) because they draw our full attention (or focus). We cannot enjoy great music without fully focusing on the melody. We cannot enjoy great food when we are distracted by thoughts.
Hallmark of a great experience or a happy memory is FOCUS.
By the same definition, non-focus or distraction is sadness (perceived as boredom). Chronically distracted people are often in a bored state. This is why mindless scrolling on social media is so boring — because you are distracting yourself one tweet at a time. A wandering mind is a sad (and bored) mind. Focus is the ultimate gratification.
Thoughts distract our mind from being focused on the present. A focused mind is a joyous mind.
FOCUS = deeply engrossed on a single thing
Babies tend to be happy because they do not have any thoughts distracting them from the present moment. This is also why all creative pursuits like painting, building something or even solving engineering problems is highly gratifying. Folks who are deeply engrossed in something are all happy. All creative pursuits also bring happiness for the same reason.
Focus is therefore a NECESSARY condition to be happy.
My Hypothesis — focus is also the SUFFICIENT condition to be happy.
If one is fully focused on something (anything), one enters the state of happiness as long as the focus sustains. No other conditions apply. You do not need anything else to be happy.
You do NOT need to buy that sexy car or spend a fortune on that exotic holiday to feel happiness. Sugary beverages also tend to focus our minds for a few minutes. Buying a new car or an expensive dress or scarfing down that entire cake is a temporary relief, a means to the end — to focus on something fancy. Even indulging in amorous thoughts or activities is a means to focus the mind onto something. Pursuit of happiness by such means may be highly expensive or fattening or may even be addictive not to mention unsustainable.
Pursuit of happiness does not have to be an indefinite unfulfilled pursuit.
You can deliberately make yourself happy by dispelling thoughts.
The biggest question people ask is what to do if someone can’t find something worthwhile to focus on?
Enter MEDITATION
If there is nothing that sustains your focus for a long enough time, meditation will give you a kickstart.
There are many techniques or definitions of Meditation. I define meditation as focusing on one thing only (for example breathing) which means total control over involuntary thoughts. Mindfully observing the thoughts might be a great way to get rid of the thoughts that come into the mind.
However, by this definition, meditation would also include getting completely lost in a work of art or building something or praying to a deity or even running a marathon. Even yoga is a meditation because you are so focused on how your body feels and behaves.
“The truth is, just having a concentrated mind — that’s not getting lost in thought — is just intrinsically pleasurable. It’s intrinsically blissful. It’s the emotional bass note of all the good drug experiences.”
Ancient Hindu texts go even further to tell us to forget all thoughts (even about the end result) and focus only on our work/job at hand(karma). Fully focusing on your work is called KarmaYoga in Sanskrit.
“You do not need to worry. You only have to do your karma.
You do not need to think about the end result”
(the summary of chapter 2 of Bhagawat Gita)
One big side effect of a focused or concentrated mind is that the greatest ideas only come in a focused mind. A chronically distracted mind can never rise above a mediocre life. Ancient Indian texts are replete with examples when focus transformed human to super human. For example — a local thug Valmiki focused his mind and was able to compose the greatest Indian epic Ramayana. A young boy meditated under a tree and was transformed into Buddha.
File that billion dollar patent, buy that winner stock, write that bestseller, solve that problem in the most ingeniously original way all result from a FOCUSed mind.
Actively meditating is the shortest shortcut to focus and to a life of high gratification.
THE SCIENCE
The prefrontal cortex is one of the most important parts of the human brain. It is directly responsible for many higher order functions like planning, strategy, problem solving, decision making and self control among other executive functions. The list of functions of prefrontal cortex is increasing by the day as we learn more about the human brain. Unfortunately the prefrontal cortex is also continuously engaged by the random thoughts that cloud our mind all day long. The endless chatter in the mind drastically reduces the fecundity of the prefrontal cortex.
When you meditate or get deeply engrossed in a work, the prefrontal cortex is freed up of the useless chatter or endless thoughts. The prefrontal cortex finally relaxes after a long time of useless contemplative thoughts. A rich fertile place is created for the greatest ideas to be born.
Greatest ideas are born in a calm FOCUSed mind
There are countless research studies like this one — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361002/ that directly link meditation to increased cortical thickness even endorphin release. Another study links meditation directly to increased cortical activity.
High level cognitive process can take place only in a calm prefrontal cortex. The results may stun the world but will give you lasting happiness.
