The Path to Happiness; Take a Shortcut!

THE PATH TO HAPPINESS: TAKE A SHORTCUT
What is the one thing every human being on the planet has in common? What is it that drives us all into countless workshops, has us filling bookshelves with rows of self-help books and causes us to spent thousands of dollars and endless hours with a therapist?
If you answered the desire to be happy, you’d be right. Studies show that when people are asked what they consider to be most important in life, the answer is invariably “to be happy”. This wish outranks the desire for wealth, a good career, prestige, power, fame and sex. This is true for all cultures, races, religions, ages and lifestyles. Any yet how many of us have actually arrived at that elusive goal? How many of us begin our day filled with joy and enthusiasm, have the health and vitality to live our lives fully, expressing our gifts and talents, making a difference in the lives of those around us and reveling in an abundance of creative energy that demands to be expressed? An honest evaluation revels that there are precious few who enjoy that level of fun and happiness. In fact statistics reflect that:
• 30% or less people report being truly happy
• 25% of Americans say they are depressed
• By 2020, the World Health Organization predicts that depression will be second only to heart disease as a worldwide burden of illness.
IS HAPPINESS GENETICALLY DETERMINED?
Scientists have determined that 50% of our ability to experience happiness is genetically determined. Some people just seem to happier and more inclined toward optimism. The other 50% of our happiness level is learned. This means that your level of happiness is half determined by your genetics and the other half is dictated by the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs you hold that were formed in response to your life experiences. The good news is that of the 50% that is learned, only 10% of our happiness level is determined by circumstances such as wealth, marital status, and jobs. The other 40% results from our habitual thoughts, feelings, words and actions. These findings have exciting ramifications because we now have the ability to effectively improve our level of happiness dramatically by changing the negative thought patterns and programs that consistently run through our minds like a broken record.
THE PLAGUE OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS
According to scientists, we have about 60,000 thoughts a day. Out of those thoughts, 95% of them are the same thoughts we had yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. Our minds are constantly on, and it is almost always playing the same tune. The next statistic is the shocker: for most people, 80% of those thoughts are negative. That means that every day most of us are having about 45,000 negative thoughts a day! Dr. Daniel Amen, a world-renowned psychiatrist and brain imaging specialist, calls them automatic negative thoughts, or ANTS. It makes sense then that when our mind is overrun with ANTS, it has a profound negative impact on our physiology. Researchers at NIH (National Institutes of Health) have found that negative thoughts suppress our immune system, and activate areas of the brain that involve depression and anxiety. Positive thoughts enhance our immune system and lead to beneficial effects on the brain and body.
YOU CAN’T TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS, CAN YOU?
We used to believe that once we reached a certain age, our brains became hard-wired and changing our old habits was difficult if not impossible. Researchers have found however that our brains are extremely adaptable. A whole new branch of science called Brain Plasticity or neuroplasticity is finding how easy it can be to re-wire the neural networks that determine our habitual thought patterns. Dr. Bruce Lipton, cellular biologist and author of The Biology of Belief further emphasized the importance of our beliefs in this quote:
“The ‘secret of life’ is BELIEF. Rather than genes, it is our beliefs that control our lives.”
HOW CAN WE CHANGE OUR NEGATIVE BELIEFS TO POSITIVE ONES?
Many techniques like positive thinking and repeating affirmations are designed to move us out of the oppressive quagmire of our ‘stinking thinking’. Often these methods result in limited success or require daily effort to maintain the change. Two possible reasons for this are 1) our efforts are directed at the conscious mind from which only 5% of our daily thoughts and behaviors arise and 2) our goals are stated in abstract language the subconscious mind doesn’t understand.
A TALE OF TWO MINDS!
“Have you ever tried to change your mind, only to find that your mind has a mind of its own?” This is a questio
Rob Williams, originator of PSYCH-K® often asks in his workshops. We’ve all experienced the challenge of keeping our new year’s resolutions or following through on some new noble intention. It turns out that our subconscious mind, the part that regulates everything from respiration, digestion, motor functions, heart rate, etc. also governs habitual thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. It controls 95% of our day to day activities and strongly influences our decisions and actions. The subconscious mind is 1 million times greater in capacity than the conscious mind. To make changes in our lives and in the level of our happiness, we must make changes at the level of the subconscious.
PSYCH-K® - A SHORTCUT TO HAPPINESS
One very effective method of quickly changing some of those 45,000 negative beliefs into life supporting ones is PSYCH-K®. By using muscle testing which is a built in feedback loop between the conscious and subconscious mind, it is possible to determine what beliefs and patterns are held in the subconscious mind and re-write those files. By using simple processes that increase cross talk between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, resistance to change is reduced and negative beliefs are replaced with positive thought patterns that lead to a greater experience of happiness, health and well-being.
This process is easy to learn and can be put into immediate use in one’s life. The Basic PSYCH-K Workshop is offered worldwide, with upcoming trainings in Maui, HI and Cairo, Egypt. The next course in New Orleans will be offered Sept. 19th & 20th at the Uptown Holistic Center. To learn more about PSYCH-K visit www.marylousmith.com or www.psych-k.com.
Some ideas for this article were inspired by Happy for No Reason by Marci Shimoff with Carol Kline.