The 4 Jewels of Well-being

According to neuroscientist Richard Davidson, well-being is a skill, and it can be developed with practice. It’s like learning to walk or playing the piano. The more you practice it, the more you strengthen the neuronal circuits associated with well-being, and the better you get at it. These neuronal circuits are plastic and thus can be expanded and trained. They are awareness, connection, insight, and purpose.

Awareness

I like to say awareness is your ability to scan reality. As a scanner, you are not meant to process or edit data but to really look at what is there. Mindfulness-based practices, such as mindful coloring or mindfulness meditation, are great tools to develop this circuit and expand your awareness. If you are a beginner in this topic, you can listen to my free guided introduction to Mindfulness Meditation here.

Connection

Human beings are wired for connection and bonding. If you look at the old and yet fascinating experiences of Harry Harlow with baby monkey rhesus, it becomes obvious that the desire to connect with comforting figures fulfills an important need: the need for closeness. Once your basic needs (e.g. food) are satisfied, affection speaks louder and our attention goes towards building empathic relationships with others.

Insight

Know thyself is an ancient adage, supposedly written in Apollo’s Temple at Delphi, Greece. Self-knowledge is essential. Knowing your emotions, thoughts, and modus operandi work as a personal guide and compass. If you don’t invest time in knowing yourself, you will eventually feel lost and with no direction to go. As Socrates said, the unexamined life is not worth living.

Purpose

Through Insight, you can find Purpose and Meaning in life. A person who lives towards a greater purpose has a reason to live, and studies have shown that people with purpose tend to live ten years more. What makes you feel happy and uplifted is linked to your purpose. The more you ignore that, the more likely you are to be depressed, anxious, and even physically sick.

Concluding Thoughts

I would say these four neuronal circuits are the four jewels of well-being. Once you put your effort and attention into developing these, you will be on the fast track towards greater happiness and well-being. Practice takes patience but it also brings great transformation.

Highly Sensitive People Who Are Also High Sensation Seekers

If you are a Highly Sensitive Person and you often find yourself with one foot on the gas, and another on the brake, make sure you find the right balance for you between engaging in stimulating activities and resting. Also, incorporate as many sources of positivity as possible into your daily life as it helps…

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Is Happiness a Realistic Goal?

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

Dalai Lama

People have demoted me from the pursuit of happiness more times than I can count. They either say happiness is impossible to achieve, or they tell me I’m a hopeless fantasy seeker. At the end of the day, these are two different ways of saying exactly the same. Yet, if we believe each negative situation has a hidden positive intention, then I must say people demote fantasy seekers like me because they either don’t want us to get hurt, or they want to shake off their failed attempts at being happy.

We all wish for happiness and the world would be a better place if we were taught about it in school.

The funny thing is that people also disdain me when I’m unhappy, grumpy, or less energetic. This somehow proves that you will never be able to please Greeks and Trojans. So what shall you do? I think you should follow your heart and what you believe to be true, but if you worry about whether happiness is a realistic goal or not I can assure you that it is not only realistic as well as possible and desirable. We all wish for happiness and the world would be a better place if we were taught about it in school.

If you look at Hawkins’ Scale of Consciousness, you will see that joy and happiness are closer to enlightenment than anger and shame. This scale was developed by David Hawkins thanks to a set of muscle testing and kinesiology measures. According to Hawkins, consciousness can be conceived as a multi-staged continuum of vibrational frequencies, with 1 being simply alive and 1000 in an advanced state of enlightenment. As it’s only natural, our level of consciousness can fluctuate and change due to multiple variables: what we eat, who we hang out with, and how we think are only a few examples.

Learning about what makes you happy and including more of that in your life is something that is far from silly. It is mandatory if you want to raise your consciousness and help humanity evolve as a kinder species.

For those who are interested in raising their consciousness, happiness is a realistic goal and a desirable one. It is rather impossible to be happy all the time, of course, and it is rather difficult to be in a pure state of bliss on a regular basis. However, we can aim to develop skills and strategies that enhance our level of consciousness. For instance, Horror films used to be my favorite genre of movies but I can’t watch them anymore because I don’t like the way I feel and think afterward. I no longer listen to heavy metal as I used to for the same reason.

I also like to plan my day and activities to make sure I manage my energy to the best of my ability. This allows me to experience a greater level of consciousness throughout the day and be a better person for myself and others. I know this can be a different and odd way to approach self-organization and life in general but I learned the hard way what is best for me and how I can be the best version of myself on a more regular basis. As a Sensitive person, I can only handle a certain amount of stimulation before I get tired and drained so I take energy management very seriously.

The pursuit of happiness is part of my toolbox to cope and recover my energy level. I like to add to my days what makes me feel good, not from a pure hedonistic point of view, but from a soul level. The list includes daily walks, listening to motivational talks, enjoying my surroundings, paying attention to natural motifs, reading a useful book chapter, and having a peaceful moment with coffee in the morning. As such, learning about what makes you happy and including more of that in your life is something that is far from wrong or silly. It is mandatory if you want to raise your consciousness and help humanity evolve as a kinder species.

Other blogs you may like to read:

What Is Positive Psychology? The Science of Well-being

Positive Psychology is a field of study within Psychology that focuses and promotes well-being and happiness. One of its goals is to help people live and perform at their best by putting people’s strengths and virtues to work for themselves and their community. Although it’s a relatively recent field, Positive Psychology has embraced and researched…

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BOOK REVIEW: How To Make One Hell Of A Profit and Still Get To Heaven by Dr. John Demartini

Are you passionate about a service you wholeheartedly provide and yet feel awkward when it comes to charging for it? Do you struggle to know the value of the work you do? Or did you ever wonder how could you overcome money consciousness issues? If you said yes to at least one of these questions, then Dr. John Demartini’s book is for you.

I included this book on my 2022’s reading list because I wanted to become more confident about putting a value on the services and products I provide to people. I have been always interested in helping others but I never really felt comfortable about charging for my helping services. This is a huge problem when you are in the helping professionals league and you want to take charge of your financial well-being.

This and other videos on my YouTube channel

Although I was expecting a lot more from this book, I found precious examples and philosophical nuggets that have inspired me to stay on track and keep learning. My goal is to find solutions that allow me to help other people, which I love to do, and make a living for myself and my family at the same time. After all, if you provide a service or product to people, it’s only fair that you receive something in return, as Dr. John Demartini describes in its “Principle of Fair Exchange”.

Principle of Fair Exchange: Paying a fair price for a fair service in a timely manner. (Dr. John Demartini)

One aspect I love about Dr. John Demartini’s philosophy is that he approaches money and business from both material and spiritual perspectives. He puts great emphasis on the quality of your consciousness and values. If you want to do work that you love, your intent must be fully aligned with your values and the natural laws of the universe. You can find what your intent and values are by putting the book’s exercises into practice. In each chapter, you will find at least two of them.

Philosophy apart, you will also find some investing guidelines in chapter 7, Evolutionary Investing. I found this chapter rather interesting and yet a tad rushed through. After reading it once, you might need to come back to it a few times in order to grasp what Dr. John Demartini suggests you do. I wish the book had more of this kind of information and that it was written in a more intelligible way for those who are not so familiar with money investing.

If you are interested in learning more about how relationships and your life purpose can make a difference in your business development and growth, I highly recommend you this book. It’s a good start to rethink business and to see it as a service to humanity rather than a means to an end. It also helps you feel empowered to pursue a career in which you do what you love, and you are also fairly paid for it. After all, it’s possible as Dr. John Demartini illustrates in this book.

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