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 truck Meditation as a way to be happy

"Most people are only as happy as they choose to be" - Abraham Lincoln.

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

1. Meditate.

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

“Studies have shown that for some time after meditation, we experience a sense of calm and contentment, as well as heightened awareness and empathy. Studies have proven that regular meditation practice can permanently change the way you think, which will increase your level of happiness.”

In an experiment conducted by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, scientists compared the brains of people before and after an 8-week meditation course. After completing the course, a group of 16 people showed 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 journey to the workplace as short as possible. Or, in fact, maybe you can find a new job?

Of course, you may think that a higher paying position can compensate for this 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 "having a big house 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 from the point of view of benefit and pleasure. And it sucks. That is why it may seem counterintuitive that the most successful, the most happy 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, the 5 Minute Benefit: “What if I spent a couple of minutes every day helping other people? After all, this will not require much effort from me, but it can bring a lot of benefits to the people around me.

4. Spend more on your free time.

In a joint study conducted by researchers from Harvard Business School and the University of British Columbia, scientists found that people are happier when they spend money on saving time (paying for cleaning, cooking), 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 were able to remember 81% of words with negative connotations, such as cancer. And only 31% of words have positive or neutral connotations, such as "sunshine." Some scientists believe that the sleep-deprived brain's hippocampus is no longer responsible for processing positive or neutral memories.

6. 30 seconds to help.

How often do you notice how someone is trying to do something that you can help with? Maybe at this moment you will be ready to lend your shoulder or provide some other help?

Research has shown that just 30 seconds of helping someone can instantly flood your brain with happy hormones and provide good mood for all day!

7. Be grateful.

Bren Brown, Ph.D., said: "In 12 years of research, I have never interviewed a single person who is capable of experiencing real joy that is not based on a sense of gratitude." Those who regularly practice gratitude:

- feel happier and less depressed;
- notice an improvement in the quality of sleep;
- More exercise.

8. Valuable life lessons.

Studies have 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 their identity;
- better cope with current and future stresses;
- increase stability;
- be more optimistic about the future.

9. Understand the constitution of happiness.

According to science, happiness depends on how satisfied you are with your life in general, as well as how well you feel in the conditions of 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 dedicate your time and effort to following these recommendations, you have a chance to become a happier person. To become happy, it is not necessary to be rich and turn a blind eye to problems. Happiness is a state of satisfaction with life.
You were born to be happy. And you deserve happiness.

A slightly strange title - the happiest person on earth. But neuroscientist Richard Davidson argues that this is exactly what French molecular biologist-turned-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 Dalai Lama's confidante and a respected western expert on religion.

But it turns out that daily meditation brought Mathieu another advantage: he enjoys life like no one else in this world. Scanning the brain of Mathieu Ricard, Richard Davidson discovered in him the largest potential ever recorded. As Mathieu himself says, meditation changes the brain, which means it changes you completely. 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 advanced meditation practitioners at the University of Wisconsin. He connected 256 sensors to the monk's head, and scanning 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, such a response had not yet been reported in the neuroscience literature, Davidson states.

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 prefrontal cortex compared to the right, which the researchers believe is indicative of reduced 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 start experimenting 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 restore lost connections after damage or as a response to external influences. This property has been described relatively recently.

He believes that meditation can change the brain and make people feel more joyful, just like regular weight training strengthens muscles.

We have been studying the short and long term effects of mind training through meditation on attention, compassion, and emotional balance for 12 years. And found remarkable results in practitioners who have completed over 50,000 meditation cycles, as well as in beginners who meditate for only 20 minutes a day for three weeks - such a regimen, of course, is more applicable to modern life. These are marvelous studies because 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, "The Monk and the Philosopher", along with his father, the philosopher Jean-François Revel (Jean-François Revel). These are dialogues about the meaning of life. Ricard published the following book in 2011 - 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 do not linger. It is the same with thoughts: let them flow freely through your mind, don't 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 the mind, you do not limit your freedom, but you stop being 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 awareness to move into the present instead of dwelling on the past or thinking about the future. Feel the heat, the cold, the sounds you hear.

4. When you achieve some mastery, you can cultivate kindness in yourself or deal with interfering emotions. You may even feel an all-consuming love, usually this feeling lasts 15 seconds, but you can keep it by focusing on it during. When you feel it getting blurry, revive it.

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

6. You can use meditation to let go of negative emotions.

Your emotions are fire. If you are aware of anger, you are not angry, you are simply aware of it. Being aware of anxiety, you are not disturbed, you are just aware of it. Being aware of your emotions, you do not add fuel to the fire, and they will quickly burn out.
Mathieu Ricard

7. A month later constant practice you will see improvements: less stress, more overall well-being. Those who say they don't have time to meditate should understand the benefits. If meditation gives you the strength to make good use of the remaining 23 hours and 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 began to get out of my control. I got involved in Scientific research and the science of meditation.
Mathieu Ricard

Now the famous monk Matthieu Ricard of Shechen Monastery in Kathmandu divides his time of the year into 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 politicians and business leaders gathered there that it was time to abandon greed in favor of "enlightened altruism."

Mathieu has been awarded the French Order of Merit for his work in preserving Himalayan culture, but his work on the science of happiness characterizes him better. It seems that Mathieu Ricard lives a good life and shows compassion, not because religion requires it, but because this is the road to happiness.

Check to believe. Buddhism tries to unravel 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 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.

Scientifically, happiness is defined as a state of satisfaction or a response to the satisfaction of a need. Everyone has different needs, 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 worldviews, material factors, or something else determine their level of happiness?

How to measure happiness?

To determine the happiest place on earth, it is necessary to use a conditional measure of happiness. What is he?

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 satisfied. As it turned out as a result of research, people have not so many needs, and they can be systematized into groups:

Social guarantees of the state;

The level of material well-being;

Environmental Safety;

life expectancy;

Freedom.

The happiest nations in the world according to international statistics

The latest research by international experts was conducted in 2017, using data on 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 for the government and trust in it, as well as anxiety, anger, sadness and other negative feelings of the inhabitants of the country.

According to the results of these studies, the happiest people on earth live in Northern Europe. And Norway is named the happiest country. This is a state by level social services is in first place in the world. Norway has the world's largest GDP per capita, as well as the world's most equitable financial distribution system. 95% of Norwegians are also satisfied with the level of freedom.

Last year, this country was only in fourth place. And the leading position was occupied by Denmark, and in the first place it turned out to be three times in a row.

Denmark is known for its rather strong family institution, strong bond between children and parents. The basic right of the citizens of this country is high-quality free medicine. Danes also prioritize gender equality.

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

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

Friendship and solidarity are the key to life satisfaction

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

In countries that are 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 governs life in a society that does not recognize the right to individualism - the so-called Law Jante. This "law" actually helps in creating a friendly and very close-knit society. Perhaps it is precisely this unity and sense of comradeship that is the main reason why people in the Nordic countries feel so happy?

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, 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 convenient. But it's far from the best main factor which 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 just because the sun is shining and close people are nearby.

Accumulation wealth According to the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama, only external happiness can be achieved. 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 must certainly take care of his body and its needs, but it must 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 spiritual and 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.

Buddhist monk Matthew Rickard, officially known as the happiest man on earth, received this status as a result of a study whose purpose was to identify the effect of meditation on the brain.

Hundreds of people took part in the research, which was led by neurologist Richard Davidson. Magnetic resonance imaging has shown that Matthew's brain generates a level of gamma waves during meditation 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 who has eight lives - isn't he lucky?

Known for his luck, which 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 it happened was in the 60s. Frano Selak was on a train that derailed and went under water. Since this catastrophe occurred in a freezing cold, the passengers had little chance of surviving. But this man managed to be among the few who survived.

A few years later, Frano Selak was again in mortal danger. The plane on which he was flying, during landing, touched the top of the mountain with his tail. The impact was so strong that the door opened. At that moment there were only two people not wearing seatbelts on the plane: a pretty stewardess and a passenger who decided to hit on 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. Frano's life when falling from such a height was saved by a large snowdrift, into which he landed. The girl also remained alive, 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 the favorite of fortune. And won neither more nor less - a million dollars! With this money, the happy Croat reconstructed the Temple, built the chapel of the Virgin Mary. The remaining dollars he spent on travel or simply distributed to relatives and friends. Frano is sure that at his age you should get maximum pleasure from money!

If smiles are taken as a criterion

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

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

Most often, Latin Americans smiled in the photo.

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

In Europe, judging by the smiles in the photo, the people of Macedonia live the happiest of all, and the Romanians are not far behind them.

Happiness is in ourselves

Everyone wants happiness. But many, for unknown reasons, believe that happy people live somewhere far away, in rich countries. And dreaming of living in one of these 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 for the answer to this question in Google, you will find the name of Mathieu Ricard.

69-year-old Ricard is a Tibetan Buddhist monk originally from France, whom scientists have called "the happiest man in the world."

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

The scans showed that when meditating on compassion, Ricard's brain emits an unusually high level of gamma waves - associated with consciousness, attention, learning and memory - that has never been detected before. Also, studies have shown significantly more activity in the monk's left prefrontal cortex compared to the right, which allows him to have an abnormally large potential for happiness and a decrease in the tendency to negative thoughts.

Ricard - who says that he sometimes meditates for many days - admits that he is, in general, a happy person. Although he understands that the name of "the most happy 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 comes down to altruism. The reason is that constantly thinking about yourself and how best to do for yourself is a tedious task that causes stress and ultimately leads to unhappiness.

If you want to be happy, Ricard says, you must strive for "goodwill" that will not only make you feel better, but change you in a positive way.

Of course, that doesn't mean you should let other people take advantage of 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 like you train to run a marathon.

Ricard believes that it is possible for everyone to have a lighter mind because there is potential for goodness in every human being (unless you are a serial killer, of course, and unless something actually chemically abnormal is going on in your brain).

Like marathon runners who must train before they can run 42 kilometers, people who want to be happy must prepare their minds. According to Ricard, the preferred way to do this is through meditation.

So how do you train your mind to be happy?

Just spend 15 minutes non-stop every day thinking happy thoughts.

Start thinking happy thoughts for 10 to 15 minutes a day, Ricard says. Usually, when we experience feelings of happiness and love, it 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, not letting your mind get distracted.

If you do these exercises every day, even after only two weeks, 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 real 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. Feel free to leave when needed.

It doesn't mean walking away from something because it's hard. It means moving away from what spoils your life. From what prevents you from being truly happy.

Sometimes leaving is the best 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 in order 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 many years and do not see progress or due appreciation. It's easier than you think - find what you like best, start new career or find someone who believes in your talent and is willing to give you a chance.

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

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

4. Walk away from friends who put you down. The ones that make nasty jokes about you, those that try to rise at your expense, those that don't make your life better, those that point to your shortcomings. Get rid of this extra burden.

5. Leave a city you no longer belong to. Where nothing ever changes, where you already know every corner, where everyone knows who you are. The city that broke you too many times. Leave it to start over in a new city, leave behind 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 have to be present wherever you are invited. Stop giving in to pressure. Say "no" more often and see how it changes your life.

7. Stop worrying so much about what others think. Stop adapting to others in order 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 doesn't have to 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 is the right time to do it. Your mind knows that you'll be fine when you're gone. So stop telling yourself that you can't leave, stop saying that leaving is bad. In fact, it can be your salvation.

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