How can we find happiness? Is there a tangible path to happiness or is it some illusive feeling that comes and goes according to what happens around us? According to the Dalai Lama, happiness can be cultivated like all other things. The structure of the human brain is optimally designed to allow us to affect our behaviors, personality and patterns. Ultimately giving us the power to lead either unhappy or unfulfilled lives or to live inspired, happy full lives. The choice is ours.

"The systematic training of the mind- the cultivation of happiness, the genuine inner transformation by deliberately selecting and focusing on positive mental states and challenging negative mental states - is possible because of the very structure and function of the brain. We are born with brains that are genetically hardwired with certain instinctual behavior patterns; we are predisposed mentally, emotionally, and physically to respond to our environment in ways that enable us to survive.

These basic sets of instructions are encoded in countless innate nerve cell activation patterns, specific combinations of brain cells fire in response to a given event experience or thought. But the wiring in our brains is not static, not irrevocably fixed. Our brains are also adaptable. Neuroscientists have documented the fact that the brain can design new patterns, new combinations of nerve cells and neurotransmitters (chemicals that transmit messages between nerve cells) in response to new input. In fact, our brains are malleable, ever changing, reconfiguring their wiring according to new thoughts and experiences. And as a result of learning the function of individual neurons themselves change, allowing electrical signals to travel along them more readily. Scientists call the brain's inherent capacity to change "plasticity."

Simply put we may not be able to alter existing neuropath ways, but we can develop new patterns or neuropath ways that are stronger and therefore become the dominant pattern.

"This is known as the practice of "Dharma." This is the constant battle within of replacing previous negative conditioning or habituation with new positive conditioning."

No matter what activity or practice we are perusing there is not anything that isn't made easier through constant familiarity and training. Through training, we can change; we can transform ourselves."

So I guess the saying practice makes perfect is true? So, what do you practice to cultivate happiness?

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Are you living an inspired and happy life?

Stay Well and Healthy,

Michelle