The happiest people on Earth: features and interesting facts. The best day! In Vitebsk, a happy dad took his wife and daughter from the hospital in a wagon Meditation as a way to be happy

“Most people are as happy as they choose to be happy,” - Abraham Lincoln.

Scientific research has shown that we are all born with a certain level of innate happiness. This means that all babies born are approximately equally happy. Therefore, stop grumbling and complaining about your fate. The good news is that there are scientifically proven ways to experience happiness. So here are 10 things that can make you happier.

1. Meditate.

Yes, meditation is number one on this list. And this is not in vain!
Psychologist Sean Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, writes:

“Research has shown that for some time after meditation, we experience feelings of calmness and satisfaction, as well as increased awareness and empathy. Research has shown that regular meditation can permanently change the way you think, which can lead to increased levels of happiness. ”

In an experiment conducted by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, scientists compared the brains of people before and after taking an 8-week course of meditation. After completing the course, a group of 16 people demonstrated significant activation of the brain regions responsible for self-awareness and compassion.

2. Shorten your daily commute to work.

If possible, you should take care to keep your path to the workplace as short as possible. Or, in fact, can you find a new job?

Of course, you might feel that a higher-paid position can make up for that long journey to the office. But scientists think not.

A study by Swiss economists found that the cumulative negative effects of daily commuting between home and work outweigh the benefits of "owning a large home and a well-paid job."

Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert put it this way: "Driving in traffic is all kinds of hell at the same time every day."

3. Help other people.

Modern society is based on a culture of consumption, so things are often viewed in terms of benefits and pleasure. And it sucks in. This is why it may seem counterintuitive that the most successful, the happiest people are often the most generous.

Adam Grant, a professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, recommends one of his favorite techniques - “5 Minute Benefit”: “What if I wasted a couple of minutes each day helping other people? After all, it will not require much effort from me, but it can bring a lot of benefit to the people around me. "

4. Spend more on your free time.

In a joint study by researchers from Harvard Business School and the University of British Columbia, researchers found that people are happier when they spend money on saving time (paying to clean, to cook) rather than buying things.

The researchers studied interviewed over 6,000 people from Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States. The survey consisted of two simple questions: How much money do you spend each month to increase your free time? How many times a month do you make these “purchases”?
People who spent more than average were more likely to report the highest life satisfaction.

5. Get enough sleep.

In one experiment, sleep-deprived students tried to memorize a list of words. They managed to memorize 81% of words with negative connotations, for example, "cancer". And only 31% of words have positive or neutral connotations such as "sunlight". Some scientists believe that the hippocampus of the sleep-deprived brain is no longer responsible for processing positive or neutral memories.

6. 30 seconds to the rescue.

Do you often pay attention to how someone is trying to do something in which you can help? Maybe at this moment you will be ready to lend your shoulder or provide some other help?

Studies have shown that with just 30 seconds of helping someone, you can instantly fill your brain with hormones of joy and ensure a good mood for the whole day!

7. Be grateful.

Bren Brown, Ph.D., said this: "In 12 years of research, I have never interviewed anyone who has real joy that is not based on gratitude." Those who regularly practice gratitude:

Feel happier and less depressed
- notice an improvement in the quality of sleep;
- exercise more often.

8. Valuable life lessons.

Research has shown that people who have experienced adversity in life are generally much happier than those who have not experienced major shocks. According to research, these life lessons allow us to:

- to form and strengthen your identity;
- better cope with current and future stresses;
- increase stability;
- look to the future more optimistically.

9. Understand the constitution of happiness.

According to science, happiness depends on how satisfied you are with your life in general, as well as on how well you feel in your everyday life. In addition, happiness is 50% dependent on our genetic predisposition, 40% - on our actions, behavior and thoughts, and only 10% - on circumstances.

10. Work for happiness.

If you are willing to devote your time and work to the implementation of these recommendations, you have a chance to become a happier person. You don't have to be rich and turn a blind eye to problems to be happy. Happiness is a state of being satisfied with life.
You were born to be happy. And you deserve to be happy.

A little strange title - the happiest person on earth. But neuroscientist Richard Davidson argues that this is exactly what the French molecular biologist and now Buddhist monk Mathieu Ricard is. Now Mathieu is 66 years old, 40 years ago he left his life in Paris to go to India to study Buddhism. He is now the confidante of the Dalai Lama and a respected Western religious scholar.

But it turns out that daily meditation brought Mathieu another advantage: he enjoys life like no one else in this world. By scanning Mathieu Ricard's brain, Richard Davidson discovered the largest potential ever recorded. As Mathieu himself says, meditation changes the brain, which means it completely changes you. And he assures that everyone can become like him if he learns to let his thoughts float freely.

Neurologist Richard Davidson examined Mathieu as part of his study of people practicing advanced meditation techniques at the University of Wisconsin. He connected 256 sensors to the monk's head, and scans showed that during meditation on compassion, Mathieu Ricard's brain generates gamma waves. They are associated with consciousness, attention, learning and memory. Prior to this study, Davidson argues, no such reaction had yet been reported in the neurological literature.

Andy Francis and Antoine Lutz attach sensors to Mathieu Ricard's head. www.dailymail.co.uk

The scans also showed excessive activity in the left over the right prefrontal cortex, which the researchers believe indicates a decrease in negativity and an abnormal ability to experience happiness.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Research into the phenomenon of neuroplasticity is in its infancy, and Mathieu Ricard, along with several leading scientists around the world, was the first to experiment in this area.

Neuroplasticity is a property of the human brain, which consists in the ability to change under the influence of experience, as well as to restore lost connections after damage or in response to external influences. This property has been described relatively recently.

Believes that meditation can change the brain and help people enjoy more, just as regular weight training strengthens muscles.

For 12 years we have studied the short and long term effects of mind training through meditation on attention, on compassion, on emotional balance. And we found remarkable results in practitioners who have completed more than 50,000 meditation cycles, as well as in beginners who meditate for only 20 minutes a day for three weeks - such a regimen is, of course, more applicable to modern life. These are wonderful studies as they prove that meditation is not bliss under a mango tree, it is something that changes your brain and yourself.

Mathieu Ricard

Ricard has written several books. The first, "Monk and Philosopher", together with his father, the philosopher Jean-François Revel (Jean-François Revel). These are dialogues about the meaning of life. Ricard published his next book in 2011 - a practical guide "The Art of Meditation", which explains how and why everyone should master meditation.

1. A healthy mind should work like a mirror: faces are reflected in it, but they do not linger. So it is with thoughts: let them flow freely through your mind, do not stop them.

2. It is impossible not to let thoughts into your head, but a certain sound or calms the mind, bringing clarity. By controlling your mind, you do not limit your freedom, but you cease to be a slave to your thoughts. You need to control your mind like a boat.

3. Learn to be mindful, pay attention to the sensations of inhalation and exhalation. If you find yourself distracted, focus on your breathing. Use mindfulness to move into the present instead of lingering in the past or thinking about the future. Feel the warmth, the cold, the sounds you hear.

4. Once you have achieved some mastery, you can cultivate kindness or deal with disturbing emotions. You may even feel overwhelming love, usually this feeling lasts 15 seconds, but you can hold it by focusing on it during. When you feel that it is becoming blurry, revive it.

5. It can be compared to playing the piano: practicing for 20 minutes a day will give you more noticeable results than spending a few seconds on it. Regular practice is as necessary as water is for a plant.

6. You can use meditation to move away from negative emotions.

Your emotions are fire. If you are aware of anger, you are not angry, you are simply aware of it. When you are aware of anxiety, you are not alarmed, you simply know about it. By being aware of your emotions, you do not add fuel to the fire, and they will quickly burn out.
Mathieu Ricard

7. After a month of constant practice, you will see improvements: less stress, more overall well-being. Those who say they have no time to meditate should understand the benefits. If meditation gives you the strength to have a good 23 hours 40 minutes, then 20 minutes were well spent.

The book became a bestseller, and my peace of mind came to an end. Suddenly I was transported to the Western world. I talked a lot with scientists, and everything started to get out of my control. I became involved in scientific research and the science of meditation.
Mathieu Ricard

Now the famous monk Mathieu Ricard from Shechen Monastery in Kathmandu allocates his time of the year for meditation, scientific research and accompaniment on his trips to French-speaking countries and scientific conferences. He spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos during the 2009 financial crisis to tell the assembled politicians and business leaders that it was time to ditch greed in favor of "enlightened altruism."

Mathieu was awarded the French Order of Merit for his work to preserve Himalayan culture, but his work on the science of happiness characterizes him better. Mathieu Ricard seems to be living a good life and showing compassion not because religion requires it, but because it is the road to happiness.

Check to be believed. Buddhism tries to figure out the mechanisms of happiness and suffering. This is the science of the mind.

Everyone, perhaps, will answer this complex and multifaceted question differently. And even one and the same person at different periods of his life and in different moods can give different definitions of this state. And all because it is deeply subjective.

Happiness is scientifically defined as a state of contentment or a response to the satisfaction of a need. Everyone's needs are different, so the concept of happiness is also different.

Based on a scientific definition, sociologists are constantly trying to find out which country has the most happy citizens. So where do the happiest people on Earth live, who are they? Do their particular worldview, material factors, or something else determine their level of happiness?

How can happiness be measured?

To determine the happiest place on earth, you must use a conventional measure of happiness. What is he like?

Based on the scientific definition of happiness, you need to look for the happiest people on earth where the needs of people are most fully met. As it turned out as a result of research, the needs of people are not so many, and they can be systematized into groups:

Social guarantees of the state;

The level of material well-being;

Environmental Safety;

Life span;

Freedom.

The happiest nations in the world according to international statistics

The latest research by international experts was conducted in 2017, using data from 155 countries for 2014-2016. So where do the happiest people in the world live, and by what criteria did sociologists determine this?

They assessed, among other things, the level of GDP, life expectancy, the feeling of support and trust in the government, as well as anxiety, anger, sadness and other negative feelings of the country's residents.

Based on the results of these studies, the happiest people on earth live in Northern Europe. Norway was named the happiest country. This state is in first place in the world in terms of the level of social services. Norway has the largest GDP per capita in the world, as well as the fairest financial distribution system in the world. 95% of Norwegians are satisfied with the level of freedom.

Last year, this country was only in fourth place. Denmark occupied the leading position, and it was in the first place three times in a row.

Denmark is known for its rather strong family institution, strong ties of children with their parents. The basic right of the citizens of this country is quality free medicine. Gender equality is also a priority for the Danes.

The five countries where the happiest people on earth live are also Iceland, Switzerland, Finland.

In them, the standard of living of the population is quite high, there are more wealthy and healthy people. But material well-being is far from the only indicator of happiness ...

Friendship and cohesion are the keys to life satisfaction

As it turned out, in order to feel happy, it is important for people to feel support - both from the state and from their fellow countrymen.

In the countries officially named the happiest, helping one's neighbor is “in the blood”. It is believed that in the states where the happiest people on Earth live - Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Sweden - people feel satisfied with life thanks to an unspoken set of rules that regulates life in a society that does not recognize the right to individualism - the so-called Law Yante. This "law" actually helps to create a friendly and highly cohesive society. Could it be this cohesion and a sense of fellowship that is the main reason why people in the Nordic countries feel so happy?

And citizens also feel satisfied when they realize that their activities are needed by society. In other words, if the citizens of a country consider themselves an important link in its life, then they feel a surge of enthusiasm and happiness. Participation in the life of the state, the true power of the people develop mutual trust in society, which is a component of social capital. And such capital is no less important than material capital.

Maintain a delicate balance

Material well-being, no doubt, is very important for a person to be comfortable and comfortable. But this is far from the most important factor that makes you feel happy. Even a very prosperous person living in abundance is extremely unhappy. And a resident of a poor country can feel absolutely happy only because the sun is shining and close people are nearby.

Accumulation of material wealth, according to the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama, can only achieve external happiness. But it will be fleeting without inner, spiritual happiness.

An unspiritual person loses the ability to perceive the world in all its versatility, and even having all the riches of the world, cannot feel happy. This feeling is available only to those who combine the spiritual and the material. Everyone should certainly take care of their body and its needs, but it should be treated as a receptacle for the soul. The Dalai Lama perceives the soul as a subtle matter that gives meaning to the physical existence of the body.

Only the one who manages to maintain this balance of the spiritual and the material can safely be called a happy person.

The happiest people on earth: who are they?

We already know about the happiest countries and peoples, but there are also individuals whom everyone calls the lucky ones.

The Buddhist monk Matthew Ricard, officially known as the happiest man on earth, received this status as a result of research aimed at identifying the effect of meditation on the brain.

The research, led by the neuroscientist Richard Davidson, involved hundreds of people. As shown by magnetic resonance imaging, Matthew's brain during meditation produces a level of gamma waves that has never been described by science before.

In Buddhist monk Matthew Ricard, a friend of the Dalai Lama, scientists also found high activity in the left cerebral cortex, which is responsible for a positive outlook on the world.

A man with eight lives - isn't he lucky?

Famous for his luck that never left him, and Frano Selak from Croatia. This man was on the verge of death 7 times, but he always managed to deceive her. The first time this happened was in the 60s. Frano Selak was on a train that went off the rails and went under water. Since this disaster took place in the freezing cold, the chances of survival for the passengers were slim. But this man managed to be one of the few who survived.

A few years later, Frano Selak was again in mortal danger. The plane on which he flew, during landing, touched the top of the mountain with its tail. The blow was so strong that the door opened. At that moment, there were only two unfastened people on the plane: a pretty stewardess and a passenger who decided to hit her and followed the girl to the tail section. This passenger was our hero. Through the opened door, both flew out when the plane was 600 meters from the ground. During the fall from such a height, Frano's life was preserved by a large snowdrift, in which he landed. The girl also survived, clinging to a tree branch. A year later, these two were legally married and feel like the happiest people on earth.

Frano not only miraculously escaped death many times, but also won the lottery, as befits a favorite of fortune. And he won as much as a million dollars! With this money, the lucky Croat reconstructed the Temple, built the chapel of the Virgin Mary. He spent the remaining dollars on travel or simply gave out to family and friends. Frano is sure that at his age you need to get the most out of money!

If smiles are taken as a criterion

If the opinions of the inhabitants of the countries themselves are made the criterion for measuring happiness, then the picture will differ from the official one. The happiest people on Earth, in their own opinion, live in far from rich countries of Latin America: Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, as well as in Asian states - Fiji, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam.

Interesting conclusions were made after analyzing 150 million photos from the popular social network "Instagram". The analysts made the number of smiles in the pictures a criterion of satisfaction with life.

Most often in the photo residents of Latin America smiled.

In Asia, the most smiling were the inhabitants of the Philippines, the second in smiles were the residents of Kazakhstan. And the most gloomy in Asia are the Uzbeks.

In Europe, judging by the smiles in the photo, the inhabitants of Macedonia are happiest, and the Romanians are not far behind.

Happiness is in ourselves

Everyone wants to be happy. But for some unknown reason, many believe that happy people live somewhere far away, in rich countries. And dreaming of living in one of such happy states, they do not know how to find joy and satisfaction in the most important things that fill a person's life with meaning: in love, respect, support, creativity, spirituality. But it is from these components that happiness is formed ...

Who is the happiest person in the world? If you try to search the answer to this question on Google, you will find the name of Mathieu Ricard.

Ricard, 69, is a French-born Tibetan Buddhist monk who has been called by scholars "the happiest man in the world."

The reason for this was his participation in a 12-year study of the brain, conducted by a team of researchers led by neurologist at the University of Wisconsin Richard Davidson. Davidson plugged 256 sensors into Ricard's head and found that his mind was unusually bright while meditating on compassion.

Scans have shown that when he meditates on compassion, Ricard's brain emits unusually high levels of gamma waves - associated with consciousness, attention, learning, and memory - that have never been recorded before. Studies have also shown significantly greater activity in the left prefrontal cortex of the monk's brain compared to the right, which allows him to have an abnormally high potential for happiness and a decrease in the tendency to negative thoughts.

Ricard - who says that he sometimes meditates for many days - confesses that he is, in general, a happy person. Although he understands that the name of "the happiest person" is an exaggeration of journalists.

Here are his tips on how to be happy.

Stop thinking "me, me, me."

According to Ricard, the answer to the question boils down to altruism. The reason is that constantly thinking about yourself and how to do the best for yourself is exhausting, stressful and ultimately unhappy.

If you want to be happy, Ricard says, you should strive for “goodwill,” which will not only make you feel better, but will also change you in a positive way.

Of course, that doesn't mean you should let other people use you, he warns, but you should strive to be kind, within reason.

Of course, this sounds great in theory, but how can a person actually become altruistic, benevolent and not allow selfish thoughts to take over?

Start training your mind, similar to how you train to run a marathon.

Ricard believes that everyone has the ability to have a lighter mind, because every human being has the potential for good (unless you are a serial killer, of course, and unless something chemically abnormal is actually happening to your brain).

Like marathoners who have to train before they can run 42 kilometers, people who want to be happy need to prepare their minds. According to Ricard, meditation is the preferred method for this.

So how do you train your mind to be happy?

Just take 15 minutes nonstop every day to think happy thoughts.

Start thinking happy thoughts for 10 to 15 minutes a day, Ricard says. Usually, when we experience feelings of happiness and love, this is a fleeting vision, and then something else happens, and we move on to the next thought. Instead, you need to focus on positive emotions without letting your mind get distracted.

If you do this type of activity every day, even as little as two weeks later, you will be able to experience positive mental results. And if you stick to this method for 50 years, like Ricard, then you have every chance of becoming, like him, a true professional in the field of happiness.

If you know how to say no and leave when you want, then you are a happy person.

Leave early. Leave often. Know how to leave when needed.

This does not mean leaving something, because it is difficult. It means moving away from the things that spoil your life. From what prevents you from being truly happy.

Sometimes leaving is the right thing to do, and sometimes it's the only thing to do. We don’t always have to finish everything we start, and sometimes it’s better to leave something behind to start over and go in a new direction if we want to achieve happiness.

1. Quit a job you hate. Or from a job where you have been working for years and do not see progress or appreciation. It's easier than you think to find what you like best, start a new career, or find someone who believes in your talent and is ready to give you a chance.

2. Stop making excuses for your mediocre life.Stop believing that circumstances are stronger than us. We think we are doing ourselves a favor by forcing ourselves to be content with what we have, or to accept a life that we are not happy with. But the best comes from when we take risks, when we try harder, when we go for broke, when we stop justifying our mediocre life.

3. Leave undefined love. Leave toxic relationships, those that make you miserable, those that you don't know what to call. Give yourself time to get over the breakup, cry, but go away, end it, because it will definitely be better without them.

4. Get away from friends who humiliate you. Those that allow nasty jokes about you, that try to rise at your expense, that don't make your life better, that point out your flaws. Throw off this extra burden from yourself.

5. Leave the city that you no longer belong to. Where nothing ever changes, where you already know every corner, where everyone knows who you are. The city that has broken you too many times. Leave it to start over in a new city, leave painful memories and try to rediscover yourself.

6. Stop saying yes when you want to say no.Stop putting your health and well-being at risk because you don't want to upset other people. Stop feeling like you should be present wherever you are invited. Stop giving in to the pressure. Say no more often and see how it will change your life.

7. Stop worrying so much about what others will think. Stop adjusting to others to please them, stop living on someone's approval. Stop thinking about what they said, stop believing that they know you better than you know yourself.

8. Leave your past. You no longer live in it, and it shouldn't haunt you every time you try to move on. Leave past mistakes, failures, the past that no longer characterizes you.

9. Stop lying to yourself. Deep down, you know what you have to get away from. Your heart knows when to do it right. Your mind knows that you will be fine when you leave. So stop telling yourself that you cannot leave, stop saying that leaving is bad. In fact, this can be your salvation.

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