Your brain has a way of finding what it wants to find. Your brain will find confirming evidence for any belief that you hold to be true. This is true for any belief:

1. If you choose to believe in God, your brain will find confirming facts that prove the existence of God and his positive influence in your life
2. If you choose to be a racist, your brain will find confirming facts regarding any abysmal belief you have about blacks, Jews or any other race. Your brain will confirm that that the term “race” is a meaningful and useful distinction.
3. If you choose to believe that war and violence solves problems, your brain will find situations where force solves problems. You will also find confirming evidence that reason and negotiation do not solve problems effectively.
4. If you choose to believe in UFOs or extraterrestrials, your brain will seek and find the confirming evidence you need to sustain your belief.     

Think for a moment, how can this fact about your brain improve your search for happiness?

What if you believed that:

1. You can be happy no matter what.
2. You can be happy for no reason.
3. You can be happy all the time.
4. You can be happy and in pain at the same time.
5. You can look at anything and find a reason to be happy about it.

The funny thing about the above five beliefs is that these beliefs might not even be TRUE. It does not matter if they are true, your brain will find confirming evidence for them, and you will reap the amazing benefits:

1. You will probably begin enjoying your job more
2. You will love your family more, and your family will love you more
3. You will probably make more money
4. You will be a better friend
5. You will be more popular
6. You will be a better person

Think of all the crazy things that people believe. Some of these beliefs are completely implausible, yet the brain does not care. Some people’s beliefs cause them physical harm (e.g., think religious martyrs, or Johnny Knoxville and the teenagers in Jackass-The Move). Why not choose to believe in happiness? Even if your beliefs about happiness are wrong, your life will work better. You cannot lose.    

This entry was posted on Monday, January 29th, 2007 at 12:35 am and is filed under Happiness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.