“All that time we spend staring at screens is time we don’t spend on things that can make us happier” (36).
When I picked up this book, it wasn't what I expected it to be. The Happiness Hack by Ellen Petry Leanse started out by explaining with science how the brain works to give us this feeling of what we call happiness. At first it was hard to get started, but it quickly got more interesting as I went. In the end, I learned about the things we can do to be happy and how we really need to get off of our phones. There were so many good points this book had to offer, so of course I’ll share a few, but if you’re interested in how the brain works, I strongly suggest this one! This book shared everything from facts to stories and it was hard to pick just a few of my favorite things to share. Something she shared that really stood out to me was when we take a picture, we barely retain the memory of what the camera saw. Our brain decides that we’ve outsourced that memory so it doesn’t bother to map it (37). That means when we go on vacation and spend half of the time taking pictures, our memory isn’t actually retaining any of it. How are we supposed to look back on that then and find happiness? Another thing she shared was that as we are directing our attention on things rather than people, our brains are adapting and rewiring to our “new normal.” Although this normal isn’t leading us to happiness, but rather feeling lost, out of sorts, and alone (45). It’s almost the opposite of happiness, which makes sense as we see depression rates rise and more and more people feeling unhappy. We have to focus on things that aren’t part of our automatic habits to find our happiness. It may even mean that we have to disconnect from them. We have to invest the energy and practice into activating parts of our brains that aren’t always used when in automatic mode. If we learn to take back some control, it can be a path to more happiness and satisfaction than we can find in our usual habits (25-26). I’m sure you’ve heard people say that taking a break is good for you, but to actually take a break means we have to not take the prior stress along with us. We have to focus on how we’re doing what we’re doing and be in the present moment, whether that is a walk or doing the laundry. If we “take a break” and just go through the motions we’re not refreshing the brain. Having a true break away from it could even help you overcome your roadblock (88). One of my favorite things she shared about is how a smile activates mirror neurons. That means that smiling is literally contagious! They activate neuropeptides that work to reduce stress and spread happy messages throughout the body. So make sure you do some smiling (39-40). With all of this information about how happiness works in our brain, what can we do to actually take advantage of it? (Besides smile of course). Remembering that you are here for a reason and your feelings and worth are what your happiness stems from. It is easy for that fact to get lost in all the noise and distraction of everyday life, but we need to remember to know and act on it (97). Before you do something, think about why you’re doing it. If it distracts you, why does it distract you and take your time? How does it serve you? (97). Your challenge this week is to choose one real-world thing you’d like to do more of and one screen-based thing you’d like to do less of. Next time you go into the coffee shop, remind yourself to say good morning before you place your order and put your phone away (46). If you truly want to find your happiness, take what you learned and put it in action. As Ellen says, “The journey of happiness is mapped by your brain, but it’s directed by you” (97). I want to end with a wonderful quote by Steve Jobs that she shared in her book: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life… don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become” (100).
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August 2022
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