HAPPINESS MADE SIMPLE?

This blog post postulates the question of happiness e.g. its form, function and the possible underlying mechanisms. 

Some people can be uncomfortable repeatedly (every year to every month); they can feel empty, have an urge, an itch or the need for something, anything ... just to feel FULL? 

This could include needing food and objects, to even jumping from relationship to relationship, or the constant need for attention from anyone ... just to feel that tad bit happier.

If you're not happy in your own skin, afraid of being alone and doing your own thing then sinking into depression may be common...

If you're not getting a source of constant love and admiration from another in order to feel happy ... well, perhaps.. just perhaps ... you are not balanced? 

Science can only tell you so much... you can have all the knowledge of a person or humans and their behaviours ... but you can never truly understand it.... many just JUDGE it.  

Can the quality of a lived experience be measured and quantified so another can really UNDERSTAND and not just know it? 

OK, so let's look at the SCIENTIFIC perspective..... 

Try to be a bit more CRITICAL to all the scientific evidence? 

Is there  a more holistic view towards  happiness? 

Facts from different cultures are insightful; however, how about the  PHILOSOPHY of it all????? 

SO happiness can be embodied in 1+ perceptions, ways and possible models!!!  Best to perhaps tackle them all??? 

PUT SIMPLY: It is not about doing it in a SET MANNER e.g. the pursuit of happiness.

But it may be more: being mentally aware, e.g. to think about oneself, love oneself and self validate actively.

Perhaps it's this rather than being on autopilot doing things that we may feel bring us happiness.... which can become a maladaptive cycle that can lead to the repeated feeling or mistakes that something is missing. 

Is it a solidified unknown? Perhaps it's less unknown if one allows themselves to be just as they are? 

The Battle of NEUROSCIENCE against INTUITION

FREE WILL: MADE SIMPLE? 

What is free will? It's the impossible questioned asked, debated and researched by many in the social science fields. 

To date there still is no universally agreed decision; ironically we may develop flying cars or even a pill to reverse ageing before we will be anywhere near to finding the real answer to the possible illusion of FREE WILL.

PHILOSOPHY: oh how I had a love/hate relationship with it. Initially, I really did think WHY! However, after being forced to study a module, I realised that a lot of science has emerged from PHILOSOPHY and it's not without it's own merits. 

I have tried to break it down as simply as possible. 

NEUROSCIENTISTS firmly are COMPATIBALIST SUPPORTERS; however, though they give insight into the superficial brain level activity of FW, it is not without its limitations & issues. 

PUT SIMPLY

Neuroscientists argue classically that people can volitionally be willed to an act, but still have the ILLUSION of being FREE.

 

I was a strong supporter of Neuroscience, enjoying hard, solid and concrete facts of life, initially believing that our choices are pre-determined. BUT...

I OPENED MY EYES a bit more & did not just rely on fancy brain scans & numbers. For instance, culture & personality can impact the debated degree to which FW appears to be an illusion. 

Brain area activation for moral reasoning increases during highly emotional scenarios. Studies also show that individual FW perception depends on the context.

NO ONE ANSWER is therefore suffice in science, but based on my research I do lean towards the notion that FREE WILL is NOT an ILLUSION, if a person actively chooses so. 

PUT SIMPLY 

It doesn’t matter if you subscribe to theology-based, scientific or a lay-person understanding of FW.  I believe that how we feel intuitively that ‘our decisions can be our own’ matches up with the true nature of FW.