We can spend our lives in pursuit of happiness and sometimes without realising; happiness is the experience of being fully engaged in life.
Happiness is fabricated in the frontal lobe of the brain, specifically the pre-frontal cortex and is a relatively “recent” human evolutionary adaptation.
Neither our prehistory ancestors nor any other creature on earth can simulate an experience without physically processing the stimuli.
Dan Gilbert, a Harvard psychologist, describes; the pre-frontal cortex is what processes the experience that “liver and onion ice cream” is “yuck” without having to eat it!
However, this uniquely human ability can also work against us; Gilbert writes: “our brains systematically misjudge what will make us happy.”
Gilbert’s happiness theory can apply to the pursuit of fitness, in particular to weight loss. For example, we may have feelings that if we were; 5kg, 10kg, 20kg lighter we will then be happy.
The reality is, we will feel no happier than we do today. We can confirm this by casting our minds back; 5,10, 20 years, and know that being lighter was not the reason for our happiness.
Happiness comes from having the ability to move freely, without pain and with a strong and energetic body and mind.
Routine vigorous exercise, like our Square Box Shape-UP program, equips both body and mind to react with vitality to life’s challenges.
I leave you with a quote by John B. Sheerin who was a pioneer in interfaith relations.
“Happiness is not in our circumstance but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are.”
Stay fit stay happy.
Anna
Recent Comments