Has your brain ever delivered you a clear lesson from a dream? I was having a particularly vivid dream involving my favorite high school teacher. (It’s interesting what bizarre topics my brain thought he’d be quizzing us on; there was an extra credit history trivia question that was a nonsense combination of real world events).… Continue reading Subconsciously happy
Tag: happiness
Joy is not all ponies and rainbows
The last two posts make it sound like choosing happiness is easy - just a matter of programming ourselves to always do so. Let's be realistic, and not buy completely into the hype. First of all, many people are playing life on "hard mode," as they fight chemical dependencies, depression, or other neurological illnesses. Those… Continue reading Joy is not all ponies and rainbows
Using consistency to choose happiness
In my last post's story, the always-happy friend is concerned about self-consistency. That's not surprising, because consistency is a great tool to persuade our brains to behave the way we want to behave. Psychologists will tell you that, as humans, we want to be (and to be seen as) consistent with our self-image. We want… Continue reading Using consistency to choose happiness
Owning happiness
There's a (possibly apocryphal) story that a motivational speaker gave which has stuck with me over the years. It goes something like this: "I have a friend who I think was the happiest guy in the world. When people asked him, 'How are you?' he would respond, 'I'm great! Because I'm happy. I'm the happiest… Continue reading Owning happiness
The Joys of JJFoley 