Psychology Archives - Mindful Happiness

December 6, 2017 By Admin

Profile on Characteristics of Happiness – Post 2

Happiness Characteristics – Post #2

Below I will note a few key characteristics of experiences and attitudes associated with happiness. Do your best to experience some of these each day – as much as is possible. Here is the first list.

Being Fully Alive to Experiences – Do your best to be fully involved in mind-body ways in any and all positive experiences you encounter. No matter how small or short-lasting, be the experience. This means we should savor each moment as a precious moment, a precious moment that may never come again (Omar Khayyam). Emily Dickinson suggests that is what makes human life so sweet. Arnold Toynbee noted that when possible we should make work into play. Ellen Degeneres suggests that we should pretend to be butterflies, with a lifespan of about two weeks. If you had only two week to live would you be able to find joy in the moments? Use all your senses when you encounter any form of joy.
Bliss Consciousness is Part of it – Joseph Campbell advised us to follow our personal bliss. This type of experience may awaken us to higher consciousness. Be the bliss, and experience it in your true self. Deepak Chopra tells us that nothing is more important than connecting with your inner bliss Guru Nanak recommended that we meditate in our solitude as a means to attain pure bliss, and Swami Sivananda notes that blissful meditation brings us to intense inner joy. William Wordsworth suggested that bliss of solitude brings deep pleasure to the heart.
Contentment is the Recognition of Pleasant Joy – To Osho, perhaps the core of contentment is experiencing the serenity of satisfaction about what is right now. Henry Ward Beecher suggested that happy contentment is an ability to find happiness in very common things and experiences. Oprah Winfrey noted that having gratitude for what you have now opens up the way to have even more. The way we live each day ends up to be the way we spend our life (Annie Dillard).
Delight is a Part of Happiness – We feel delight when our hearts and souls are are light and gladdened. Kahlil Gibran noted that the joy of delight can be found when we look deeply into our own hearts. Take delight in the wonders of nature and life – it always changes (The Buddha and Marcus Aurelius). Go with the flow of the changing.
Enlightenment may be End-Stage Happiness – Huston Smith informed us that intense, lasting suffering led The Buddha to enlightenment, which was an understanding of how the mind works and how to discipline it. Such awareness may lead to compassion and inner peace. Denis Waitley noted that happiness is purely spiritual and related to love, gratitude, grace and wisdom. Japanese Zen Master Dogen suggested that sincere practice leads to enlightenment. Like The Buddha, Albert Einstein advised that happiness and enlightenment require liberation from the self.

Here you have the first five characteristics of happiness as presented by Louise Baxter Harmon (2015). Happiness a-z: The Gleeful Guide to Finding and Following Your Bliss. New York: MJF Books, pp. 1-37.

December 2, 2017 By Admin

Forms of Happiness from Buddhist Psychology

Given the season “to be jolly” I plan to write several posts on the topic of happiness. The following information notes five stages or levels of happiness. Read them over and see what stage/level may be appropriate for you at this time in your practice. Note that some meditation leaders do their best to separate out happiness from the goals of Buddhist meditation; in fact, some imply you should simply give up trying to become a happier person. Others imply that eventual progress in meditation practice applied to life will allow us to experience more happiness via various changes and practices. Some indicators include generosity, gratitude, compassionate practices, impermanence, no-self, dependent origination, and ultimate emptiness. Here are the levels – or stages as some people prefer.

Minor Happiness – This may be a slight sense of awe in the present moment of experience. It arises and falls quickly, but you know you have experienced it. You may perceive a subtle sense of lightness and inner joy.
Momentary Happiness – This experience comes into consciousness in a flash; it may be quite intense and short-lived. You again experience lightness and joy but with a bit more awareness.
Showering Happiness – This is a stronger experience via sensation and emotion. You perceive it as being longer in duration. You may feel happiness flowing inside and outside of your body. This is the form of happiness that we learn to crave and desire. We want more and more of this in our emotions and sensations. If we are not careful, our too strong pursuit may end up in dissatisfaction, thus more suffering. “You can’t alway get what you want.”
Uplifting Happiness – This experience may be so strong that we may perceive our body being lifted up. It is energetic and longer lasting. This may be a form of higher consciousness, experienced as “happiness consciousness.” We tend to like this experience a great deal.
Pervading Happiness – This is an experience of deep inner serenity and calmness, and is registered as sublime happiness. This form of happiness is an experience on stable tranquility and joy. Such experiences support our long path toward liberation from Samsara. This experience implies we have learned and practiced Buddhist Meditation and Wisdom well.

For more information refer to Fryba, M. (1989). The Art of Happiness. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, pp. 77-110.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

New Edition of Mindful Happiness in Production…Coming soon!

Vipassana for Depression, Anxiety, Trauma, and Addictions The integration of Vipassana meditation with various forms of therapy has for many years been a standard of treatment worldwide and in Vermont, especially when impulse control and emotion regulations issues are included. Buddhist Psychology offers clear explanations why this intervention may be helpful for so many suffering […]

Meditation on the Feeling of Letting Go – Pacification! Pacifying the mind is a desired outcome of regular, stable meditation practice. Pacification may be done via meditating on the breath, general mindfulness awareness, vipassana, and various other forms of meditation. However, the wise mind skill of “letting go” of unhelpful, negative, and harmful thoughts and […]

Approaches to Treating Chronic Pain Chronic pain is one of the most common and costly physical conditions in the United States. The following approaches have proven to be somewhat effective in reducing personal suffering from chronic pain. Although some of these can be practiced on your own, it is wise to work with a pain […]

Mindfulness & Happiness – Tools In this post I will provide basic instructions for several mind-body practices that allow calm equanimity both at rest and in action. We will cover RAIN, RAINDROP, Cloud Journeying, Gratitude, Tapping, and other Body-Based practices. RAIN (Tara Brach) – This simple to use approach helps you to maintain a cognitive […]

Trauma Therapy: Basics from Some Expert Clinicians For many years trauma therapist have used many approaches in their psychotherapy. Most of these approaches lack strong empirical support for outcomes, and are often the “favorites” of these therapists. One might wonder what benefits therapists derive from using approaches that are not evidence-based. If an intervention fails […]

Mediation: Conscious or Not? A true, in depth understanding about what human consciousness is and how it works has eluded mind and brain scientists for many years. A few very interesting ideas have been presented by Stuart Hameroff, professor emeritus and director of the University of Arizona’s Center for Consciousness Studies. Consciousness rests in the […]

Gratitude Along with Sadness and Fear – It Is Life The famous Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh gently advises us to appreciate the many things that we may take for granted. For example, when he does walking meditation he believes and feels that the the earth below his feet is, itself, a miracle of reality. […]

So Many Ways to Self-Medicate – It Just Brings More Suffering Very often poor child-parent (child-caretaker) object relations, attachment with care takers, and attunement by care takers negatively impact young children early in their lives. The well-documented scientific fact that environmental conditions play a more important role in gene-expression than pure genetics implies clearly that […]

More on Self-Compassion Practices Suffering and happiness represent opposites in human emotional experience. In our culture we often equate happiness with what we HAVE and suffering with the GAP between what we have versus what we want. Material possessions tend not to lead to intrinsic happiness; joy based on materials gains is often short-lived – […]

Using Creativity in Clinical Supervision Effective clinical supervision is a combination of hearable direction about clinical practice, gentle-direct leadership, clinical “Know-How,” evidence-based skills, complex psychodynamics, and the willingness to work with others on their developmental processes. There are risks involved. I have provided clinical supervision and consultation to other clinicians for 43 years without a […]

Yoga Nidra and Your Inner Peace Yoga Nidra will allow you to relax like you may never have relaxed before. Follow these modified instructions for your best relaxed state. If at any time during Yoga Nidra you feel uncomfortable, simply stop and breathe in a manner that restores equilibrium. Although this uncomfortable outcome is highly […]

In-Depth Means to Discover and Be Your True Self Henry David Thoreau reminded us that it is not what you look at, but it is what you see that matters. How do you SEE yourself? John Muir reminded us that the sun shines in us as well as in our souls. Do you find “the […]

Secular Meditation and Addictions Treatment Today we have ample research evidence (NIH, NIDA, SAMHSA, etc.) that mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and mind training all have some effectiveness in improving addiction disorders. In recent meta-analyses the primary effect was through improved emotion regulations, whereas there was a more direct positive impact on chronic pain, depression, and anxiety. […]

Psychological Research on the Dangers of Smartphone Abuse There is no doubt that smartphone technology bring us a great deal of advanced technological access to a world of information and communication. There is a downside. Recent research published by The American Psychological Association in March, 2017, and opinions in The Atlantic warn of potential and actual biopsychosocial […]

Henry David Thoreau & Walking Meditation Henry David Thoreau is, perhaps, the most individualistic of the American Transcendentalists. He asked us to consider what we have learned that is useful as we travel our own “stream of life.” He cautions us not to regret when we die that we “had not lived.” He advised us to […]

Today’s Troubled World Needs More Self Compassion and Compassion This is an interactive activity on contemplation between your executive brain, your conscious mind, and your emotional brain areas. Looking at the world today any aware person must admit the human race is in serious trouble. This reality impacts the developing, industrial, and post-industrial cultures of […]

Three Meditation Practices to Further Your Expansion Based on the ongoing “bad news” about various domestic and world events, and the knowledge that people DO NEED more compassion and self-compassion in their hectic and challenging lives, I am writing three brief meditation practices on different aspects on compassion-wisdom as noted on my site. Hopefully, these […]

The Holy Year of Mercy Like the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet, Pope Francis in The Church of Rome, is sharing his opinion on compassion and mercy in life. Although Pope Francis distinguishes compassion (a human action) from mercy (a divine action), the two positive conditions are quite similar in values, attitudes, and behaviors. Pope […]

Mindfulness On Loss, Grief and Mourning Mindfulness about personal loss, grief, and mourning may encompass many things. Here I will focus on the process and what people can do to better handle their suffering and pain. One way to look at it is through the lens of radical acceptance; another is via the reality of […]

Meditation for Managers and Helpers Let’s Talk – Contact Me – Click Here I am a Licensed Psychologist-Doctorate and a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor with 35 years of clinical experience in community clinics, schools, professional organizations, and universities (OSU, UVM, etc.). I have been the past Clinical Director of Howard Center, and Past President […]