HAPPINESS.
There’s plenty wrong in the world.
Acting gloomy won’t fix any of it. If you agree – read on.
You can “cultivate” the emotions you want to have in the future.
“If you know that your brain uses your past in order to make sense of, and create the present, then you can practice cultivating positive emotions today so that your brain can automatically use that knowledge when it’s making emotions tomorrow,” Barrett says.
By practicing particular emotions, you can “rewire” your brain, she says. “Your brain grows new connections that make it easier for you to automatically cultivate these emotions in the future.” So when you start to feel a negative emotion, such as sadness or frustration, you can more easily swap that negative feeling for a positive one, such as awe or gratitude.
For example, when I am video chatting with somebody in China, I can feel irritated very easily when the connection isn’t very good,” Barrett says. “Or I can feel awe at the fact that someone can be halfway around the world, and I can see their face and hear their voice, even if it is imperfect, and I can be grateful for that ability.”
In this way, emotions are a bit like muscle memory. If you practice the finger patterns for a chord on the piano, a few minutes each day, eventually your fingers can play those chords with little thought. The chords become second nature.
Give it a try, there is nothing to lose.
Awe is similar to wonder, but also contains elements of reverence and respect. Awe happens when we realise the insignificance of our own existence. We stand in awe of Allah’s creation which surrounds us, but we are negligent.
Cultivating gratitude in our life, a life of perpetual Hamd & Shukr for big and small blessings helps in inspiring us with ‘awe’.
You need not fly over the Everest or have a boat ride in the mist of Niagara Falls to be in awe. It is indeed ‘awesome’ but you can consciously cultivate to be in awe each day of Allah’s Creation around you. Start looking and you will surely find and learn to be amazed and in awe of small simple things in life.
The following research will surely motivate you, as it has long time health benefits, and as it is tangible and not abstract, just mere words and thoughts, I know you will give it a try.
Awe boosts your immune system. ( Badly needed now with Omnicron variant making headlines ) According to researchers at UC Berkeley, experiencing awe decreases our levels of cytokines, which cause inflammation and cause the immune system to have to work harder to keep you healthy. Co-author of the study, psychologist Dacher Keltner said,
“That awe, wonder and beauty promote healthier levels of cytokines suggests that the things we do to experience these emotions – a walk in nature, losing oneself in music, beholding art – has a direct influence upon health and life expectancy,”
Feeling awe also makes us feel less rushed: People who experienced awe had an expanded sense of time, which made them feel like they had plenty of time to do tasks required of them.
It also helps us to be become more generous and boosts creativity.
So start cultivating Gratitude & Awe in your life.
I stand in awe if any of my reader manages to read my post till and end and tenders a reply :)) by doing Hamd & Shukr.
hikmaahblog 