In a time of destruction, create something: a poem, a parade, a community, a school, a vow, a moral principle; one peaceful moment.
MAXINE HONG KINGSTON
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February 27, 2016 — 11:59 AM Share on: When we ask ourselves what makes us happy, we often think of the circumstances, possessions, or people in our lives. In reality, happiness is largely a chemical experience. Four main neurochemicals, hormones, and neurotransmitters generated in the brain are fundamentally responsible for creating the sensations and emotions we've come to associate with happiness. This is actually great news. It means even when circumstances, possessions, or people in our lives aren't exactly as we'd like them to be, there are simple ways we can increase our happy brain chemicals and alter our moods. I talk about this with my mindfulness students in elementary school, and they really understand the concept. I'll often have a kid tell me about the rush of dopamine she just got from getting an A+ on her spelling test, or the hit of oxytocin a boy felt from giving his mom a hug. Here's how you can do the same. 1. EndorphinsEndorphins are opioid neuropeptides, which means they are produced by the central nervous system to help us deal with physical pain. They also make us feel lightheaded, and even giddy at times. One non-painful (well, not too painful) way to induce endorphins is exercise. Endorphins are released after both aerobic and anaerobic exercise. In one study, as little as 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill for 10 days in a row was sufficient to produce a significant reduction in depression among clinically depressed subjects. 2. SerotoninSerotonin may be the best-known happiness chemical because it's the one that antidepressant medication primarily addresses. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is naturally triggered by several things we can do each day. Exposure to bright light, especially sunshine, is one way to increase serotonin. Exercise and happy thoughts also stimulate production of this chemical. Some research has found that a higher intake of tryptophan-heavy foods, relative to other foods in the diet, may do the trick as well. Article continues below3. DopamineDopamine is a neurotransmitter often referred to as the "chemical of reward." When you score a goal, hit a target, or accomplish a task, you receive a pleasurable hit of dopamine in your brain that tells you you’ve done a good job. But you can also get a natural dose of dopamine when you perform acts of kindness toward others. Volunteering has been shown to increase dopamine as well as have other long-term health benefits. And some research has even found that it only takes thoughts of loving kindness to bring on the dopamine high. 4. OxytocinMothers may be familiar with oxytocin, the hormone produced in abundance during pregnancy and breastfeeding. It's also the high behind MDMA, a popular party drug, which releases oxytocin in the brain. Oxytocin is primarily associated with loving touch and close relationships. This hormone provides a multiple whammy of warm fuzzies, by stimulating dopamine and serotonin, while reducing anxiety. To get your hit of oxytocin without popping ecstasy, give someone you love a cuddle. Even a pet will do. If you're like me, happiness may at times feel like the unachievable holy grail of emotion. But luckily, our brains and bodies are constantly undergoing complex chemical processes that we can affect with our daily actions. Once we understand how our feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters work, we may be able to trigger them more easily than we realized. https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-23924/the-brain-chemicals-that-make-you-happy-and-how-to-trigger-them.html Inspirational Thoughts About AltruismWe would all love to be more selfless. There are obvious benefits in helping others, from reciprocity to being aligned with our values to simply feeling good. Unfortunately, in the midst of day to day life, stress and competition can make it easy to forget how important it is to be altruistic. The following inspirational quotes can serve to remind us as to why altruism is so important.
“A day wasted on others is not wasted on one’s self.”– Charles Dickens “I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.”– Kahlil Gibran “When you are able to shift your inner awareness to how you can serve others, and when you make this the central focus of your life, you will then be in a position to know true miracles in your progress toward prosperity.”– Wayne Dyer “Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you’re already in heaven now.”– Jack Kerouac “Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others.”– Brian Tracy “Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish. Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to, because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs, something that no other species has ever aspired to do.”– Richard Dawkins Inspirational Thoughts About KindnessFrom stoicism to Buddhism to Christianity, all the world’s great religions and philosophies have emphasized the importance of kindness. These thoughts, by some of the greatest teachers of compassion and kindness in the world, can inspire us to extend that attitude to our work and personal lives. “Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”– Lao Tzu “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”– Dalai Lama XIV “Kindness is a source of relief to the soul of the giver, creating a sense of fortitude that is incomprehensible to those who do not know what kindness is all about.”– Janvier Chouteu-Chando “One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession.”1– Sophocles “Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.”– Og Mandingo When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”-Helen Keller “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”-Mark Twain “When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”-Audre Lorde Read more: http://www.keepinspiring.me/famous-quotes/#ixzz5KfUq8QTA "Nothing can make our lives, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness." --Tolstoy
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